MPs call for an end to unregulated home abortions

MPs have called for an urgent review of DIY abortions, after a woman was able to obtain home abortion pills when she was around 33 weeks pregnant.

In a House of Commons debate following the case, several MPs backed the re-introduction of in-person consultations after Carla Foster pretended to be seven weeks pregnant in order to abort her daughter Lily.

In Britain, abortion is legal for most reasons up to 24 weeks. Temporary regulations from the coronavirus pandemic allowing women who are less than ten weeks pregnant to take abortion pills without medical supervision became permanent last year, following pressure from pro-abortion activists.

‘Distressing’

Sir Edward Leigh MP said: “When the House debated whether it should be possible to receive an abortion pill through the post, we warned that there might be a tragic case such as this.

“Some people in the abortion industry are now using this tragic case to argue for some sort of legal right to abortion up to birth. Given that many babies are surviving at 24 weeks, that is an obscene and cruel proposal.”

Martin Vickers MP added: “I always find it distressing, when these issues are debated, that so little concern is expressed for the welfare of the unborn child. Surely that should be an equal priority, alongside the mother’s health.”

so little concern is expressed for the welfare of the unborn child

Unborn lives

Nick Fletcher MP urged his colleagues and country “to think of those unborn babies. They are lives—after six weeks old, those babies are fully formed and it is just a case of them growing, as we continue to do when we are outside the womb”.

In response to the debate, Justice Minister Edward Argar stated that “abortion continues to be a matter of conscience”.

He explained that “any changes to the criminal offences relating to abortion or to the Abortion Act 1967 would normally be subject to a free vote and a matter for Parliament, rather than a matter for His Majesty’s Government”.

‘Weaponise’

Last week, abortion activists used Foster’s case to push for the removal of legal protections for the unborn. Clare Murphy, the CEO of BPAS which supplied the pills to Foster, claimed there “has never been a clearer mandate for parliamentary action and the need has never been so urgent”.

Speaking to Sky News, Labour MP Stella Creasy called for the law to give women a “legal human right to a safe abortion at the time of her choosing”.

The Christian Institute’s Ciarán Kelly said: “The loss of life is always a tragic event, and we grieve for the death of baby Lily. It is appalling that activists who lobbied to end in-person consultations are now weaponising this situation to push for abortion on demand.

“They have persistently ignored warnings that home abortions exacerbate all the risks. Haemorrhaging, cramps and excruciating pain without medical help close at hand is hardly good care for women. We should be seeking to care for women and the unborn, not cause them harm”.