Abortion is legal in England and Wales up to 24 weeks’ gestation unless the baby is thought to have a disability, in which case abortions can be performed up to birth.
The notable rise in the number of abortions comes amid a backdrop of pressure for abortion to be decriminalized, which would effectively allow abortion up to birth for any reason in England and Wales.
Pro-abortion campaigners are arguing that decriminalization is necessary after the case of Carla Foster made U.K. headlines last week. The case revealed that Foster had illegally obtained abortion pills when 32-34 weeks pregnant, resulting in a two-year prison sentence for the mother of three.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, England and Wales has permitted abortion providers to send abortion pills via mail for women to take at home if they are 10 weeks pregnant or less, but Foster lied about how advanced her pregnancy was in order to obtain the pills and abort her daughter, Lily, whom she delivered stillborn.
“The reporting on this significant rise in abortions has come as abortion campaigners, led by abortion provider BPAS [British Pregnancy Advisory Service], cynically use the tragic case of the death of Baby Lily at between 32 and 34 weeks’ gestation to call for the full decriminalization of abortion, which would permit abortion for any reason up to birth,” Robinson said in her statement.
“It seems this tragic number of lives being lost to abortion is not enough for abortion campaigners, and they are set on doing everything they can to introduce extreme abortion legislation that would likely see even more lives lost to abortion,” she said.