Dear John,
An investigation published yesterday by The Sunday Times has revealed that two women in England, who have both endured years of police investigations, are currently being prosecuted – and facing up to life imprisonment – for seeking to end their own pregnancies. The investigation also found that since 2015, 52 women have been reported to police for potentially breaching our archaic abortion laws.
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What kind of society treats women in this way?
There was global outrage when Trump suggested that women should be punished for abortion, yet here in the UK, our arcane 19th Century abortion laws allow for just that
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Under a law passed in 1861, abortion in Great Britain is still a criminal offence. The 1967 Abortion Act did not decriminalise abortion – it simply made it legal in certain, fixed circumstances. Any woman who undergoes an abortion without the permission of two doctors – for example by using pills bought online – can be prosecuted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
You can help to protect women from prosecution today.
Please take one minute to email our Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab, and call for:
- Women to be removed from the pieces of legislation which criminalise abortion.
- For all ongoing investigations and prosecutions of women in relation to ending their own pregnancies to be halted.
With two women currently on trial, we must act NOW.
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Best wishes,
The BPAS team
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PS We appreciate that times are challenging for many people, but if you are able to support the fight for abortion rights with a one-off donation, big or small, you can do so via our Paypal.
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