Pro-life protests have helped to block legal changes which would have made the UK an even more place for unborn babies than it is already. Two proposed amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill, which would have allowed abortions to take place for any reason, right up to the point of birth, have been withdrawn.
The UK already has one of the most extreme abortion laws in the world, resulting in well over 200,000 abortions per year, but a very real possibility that it could get even worse has been thwarted - at least for now.
Pro-abortion Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Dame Diana Johnson had tabled two extreme amendments to the Government’s Criminal Justice Bill that would have allowed abortions to take place for any reason, right up to the point of birth – even for sex-selective abortions.
Amendment NC1, proposed by Dame Diana Johnson MP, aimed to remove all criminal sanctions for a woman who has an abortion, no matter at what stage of pregnancy, or at what danger to herself or her unborn child.
Amendment NC2, proposed by Stella Creasy MP, would have gone even further by repealing Section 60 of the Offences Against the Persons Act, which makes it illegal to hide the body of a dead newborn baby. Section 60 is important in stopping individuals from preventing an investigation into the cause of a baby’s death when infanticide is suspected.
This is a significant victory and a direct result of the strong opposition and advocacy from pro-lifers, and for the views of most British women. A poll of over 2,000 British adults showed only 1% of women want the abortion time limit extended to birth. 70% of women actually want a reduction in the current 24-week limit, and a huge 91% want to see sex-selective abortion explicitly banned.