{"id":312282,"date":"2024-05-14T06:51:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T11:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=312282"},"modified":"2024-05-13T15:02:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T20:02:29","slug":"pro-abortion-amendments-uk-sex-selective-abortions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-abortion-amendments-uk-sex-selective-abortions\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-abortion amendments to UK bill would legalize sex-selective abortions, says group"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Right to Life UK<\/a>) The campaign group against sex-selective abortion, Stop Gendercide<\/a>, has raised concerns that pro-abortion amendments to a Government Bill would make sex-selective abortions legal in England and Wales.<\/p>\n

Ahead of a vote on amendments<\/a>\u00a0introduced by Stella Creasy MP and Diana Johnson MP to the Criminal Justice Bill that would make extreme changes to abortion laws, Stop Gendercide have said<\/a> that this proposed amendment \u201cwould likely lead to a significant increase in sex-selective abortions taking place here in the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n

At present, the Government maintains<\/a> that, under our current legislation, abortion on the grounds of the sex of the baby is illegal because it is \u201cnot one of the lawful grounds for termination of pregnancy\u201d set out in the Abortion Act (which stipulates that abortion can only be performed under specific grounds).<\/p>\n

Extreme abortion amendments would make sex-selective abortion legal in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, Diana Johnson\u2019s amendment (NC1<\/a>) would remove offences that make it illegal for a woman to perform her own abortion at any point right through to birth.<\/p>\n

The explanatory note<\/a> to Johnson\u2019s amendment confirms that it applies at any gestation, which would mean a woman could perform her own abortion on sex-selective grounds throughout all nine months of pregnancy.<\/p>\n

The amendment does not outline circumstances in which it would continue to be an offence for a woman to perform her own abortion \u2013 the changes to the law would apply throughout all nine months of pregnancy and would not exclude sex-selective abortions.<\/p>\n

By amending the abortion law in this way, self-abortions will, de facto, become possible up to birth for any reason including abortions for sex-selective purposes, as women could mislead abortion providers about their gestational age (as in the case of Carla Foster<\/a>, who pretended to be 7 weeks pregnant but took pills at 32-34 weeks gestation<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Under Stella Creasy\u2019s amendment (NC40<\/a>), the Abortion Act and the grounds under which abortion is permitted would be made redundant up to 24 weeks, allowing abortion on demand, for any reason, including sex-selective abortion.<\/p>\n

Sex-selective abortion would be available on-demand through to 24 weeks.<\/p>\n