police still detaining people over basic right

Police in England are still making arrests and investigating ‘illegal’ pregnancy terminations, according to the responses to a Guardian Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

That’s in spite of the fact that legal amendments decriminalising abortion are currently passing through parliament. The move was part of Labour’s Crime and Policing Bill, submitted by backbencher Tonia Antoniazzi. In June 2025, it progressed with a massive 379 votes in favour, versus just 137 against.

Abortion: ‘Victorian-era law’

Antoniazzi stated that:

The dystopian treatment of women continues under this Victorian-era law despite the House of Commons being clear that this has no place in modern society. The police and wider criminal justice system cannot be trusted with abortion law.

Women have been targeted, vilified and imprisoned following complications in their abortion treatment, miscarriage, stillbirth or premature labour. Forced to endure acute trauma at the worst moments of their lives for absolutely no reason, because criminalisation is completely unnecessary for upholding abortion law and safeguards.

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The amendment would decriminalise abortion in England and Wales. This means that an individual could no longer be prosecuted for obtaining a termination, whether within or outside of a legal framework. However, the popular change has not yet passed into law.

Currently, the framework sets limits on the timeframe for an abortion, and requires two doctors’ signatures. The proposed amendments would do nothing to alter this legislation.

‘Utmost sensitivity and compassion’

The Metropolitan Police and Nottinghamshire Police both responded to the Guardian’s FOI. Both confirmed that, between June and January, they had made arrests over suspected illegal terminations.

However, abortion providers also highlighted the fact that we’re not seeing the full picture from these responses. They stated that they were aware of arrests by polices forces which refused the FoI. Worse still, some of the forces which did respond also made arrests for illegal termination, but didn’t record the cases under relevant legislation.

A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said:

Police do not routinely investigate unexpected pregnancy loss. An investigation is only initiated where there is credible information to suggest criminal activity, and this would often be because of concerns raised from medical professionals.

Each case would have a set of unique factors to be assessed and investigated depending on its individual circumstances.

It would be at the discretion of the senior investigating officer leading the case to determine which reasonable lines of enquiry to follow, again depending on the merits of the specific case.

We recognise how traumatic the experience of losing a child is, with many complexities involved, and any investigation of this nature and individuals will always be treated with the utmost sensitivity and compassion.

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That claim of the “utmost sensitivity and compassion” is a bare-faced lie.

Inappropriate, insensitive and harmful

Jonathan Lord, a co-chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ abortion taskforce, explained:

It is the investigations that cause most harm; few progress to charging and fewer still to prosecutions.

The police and CPS have shown consistently – in multiple areas and in numerous cases – that they do not act appropriately or with sensitivity. In several cases they have only targeted the woman, and not investigated potential abuse by a coercive partner.

In one case, police arrested a woman in her 40s, who had safeguarding concerns and a history of being targeted by domestic abuse.

She called an ambulance after delivering a foetus still inside its gestation sack. Paramedics found her panicking and hyperventilating. Despite believing that she was still early in the pregnancy, the foetus was found to be around the 24-week mark.

Her children witnessed their mother’s arrest, and were forced to leave their home over Christmas whilst police searched the house.

‘What happened was horrifying’

In another case, a woman miscarried at 17 weeks, shortly after arriving in hospital. Staff called the police after finding tablets in her vagina. At the time, a clinician claimed that:

When I called the police, I really thought they would offer her support and protection. What happened was horrifying.

Cops arrived to arrest her whilst she was still in the delivery suite, in spite of her denial of seeking an abortion. Officers searched her home while she was detained on the ward. They confiscated devices that the woman used to monitor her unstable diabetes, which is notoriously difficult to control after pregnancy.

The woman later said that she felt unsafe around both police and the NHS, following their betrayal of her trust.

Harriet Wistrich, chief executive of the Centre for Women’s Justice, stated that:

In some of the cases we have seen women being arrested from hospital shortly after the abortion when they may be extremely traumatised and certainly there is no need to arrest them then and there.

But arrest, investigation and charging will be determined by two tests – is there sufficient evidence that an offence has been committed and if so is it in the public interest. There is a strong argument to make that in circumstances where the House of Commons have voted by a large majority to stop criminalisation, that discretion should be exercised in the public interest not to arrest.

‘A historic opportunity’

Louise McCudden, head of external affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices UK, said:

We know from providing reproductive healthcare across six continents that criminalisation harms women and makes abortion less safe. The House of Lords now has a historic opportunity to end the threat of prosecution once and for all, pardon women who have been previously convicted and drop ongoing investigations.

At a time when we are seeing rollbacks in reproductive rights around the world, most notably in the US, it’s encouraging that our parliament is standing up for women.

On 18 March, the House of Lords will debate Antoniazzi’s abortion decriminalisation clause. The proposed amendments run the gamut from striking the clause altogether, to halting ongoing police investigations, and even pardoning people who were already convicted under the previous law.

Investigations for suspected illegal terminations serve only to deepen the distress of the victims of heavy-handed policing. Our parliament must show their compassion by passing Antoniazzi’s amendment – or confirm themselves willing participants in the degradation of reproductive rights.

Featured image via the Canary