New Zealand Justice Minister Andrew Little has confirmed that he will ask the country’s Law Commission to review the country’s abortion laws with a view to potentially removing the procedure from criminal law. Humanists UK, which campaigns for the decriminalisation of abortion in the UK as part of the We Trust Women coalition, has welcomed this announcement and called again upon the UK Government to review its own abortion regulations.
This announcement followed a commitment by the ruling Labour Party to decriminalise abortion if returned to power in 2017. New Zealand’s Abortion Supervisory Committee stated that the current law, which dates from 1977, no longer reflects the medical reality of abortion, where women shouldn’t be required to undergo the procedure in a registered clinic and should be able to take abortion pills in their own homes. Currently, abortion is a crime in New Zealand and only permitted in cases where the pregnancy arose from incest, there is a serious foetal abnormality, or to preserve the pregnant woman’s physical or mental health.
Similarly, in the UK abortion law is governed by the 1861 Offenses Against the Person Act, which specifies abortion is a crime punishable by life imprisonment. The 1967 Abortion Act creates exceptional circumstances in which safe and legal abortions can be obtained in England, Scotland, and Wales. However, it remains the case that if a woman has an abortion outside of these circumstances, or she lives in Northern Ireland where the 1967 Act does not apply, she will be committing a crime and could face prison.
Separately today the UK’s Royal College of Nursing has announced that it, too, is consulting its members with a view to potentially changing its policy on abortion decriminalisation.
Humanists UK’s Campaigns Officer Rachel Taggart-Ryan commented, ‘If New Zealand’s Government believes that 41 years is old enough to make an abortion law archaic, then our Government should think the same about our two laws, which are 51 and 157 years old. At the then age of 57 years old, the older law was even archaic when the first women got the vote.
‘We believe that abortion should be taken out of the criminal law. It should be governed by the same robust regulatory and ethical frameworks which govern all other medical procedures in the UK. In the 21st century we should be trusting women to make their own decisions about their own pregnancies.’
Notes
For further comment or information, please contact Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson on richy@humanists.uk or 020 3675 0959.
Read more about Humanists Uk’s campaign work on abortion: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/public-ethical-issues/sexual-and-reproductive-rights/
At Humanists UK, we advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail. Our work brings non-religious people together to develop their own views, helping people be happier and more fulfilled in the one life we have. Through our ceremonies, education services, and community and campaigning work, we strive to create a fair and equal society for all.
Humanists UK recently changed its name from the British Humanist Association: https://humanists.uk/2017/05/22/bha-becomes-humanists-uk/