Exclusive:Illegal abortions: dozens of women investigated by police for ending their pregnancies in England and Wales

English and Welsh police officers subjected dozens of women they suspected of having illegal abortions to criminal investigations between 2014 and 2021, NationalWorld can reveal.

The sentencing of a woman to 28 months in prison over an illegal lockdown abortion in Stoke-on-Trent on Monday (14 June) has provoked a fierce backlash from women's groups, politicians, and medical professionals alike, reinvigorating calls for abortion to be decriminalised across the UK. 

Now an investigation using Freedom of Information Act requests has confirmed that at least 36 women faced similar police probes for allegedly ending their own pregnancies outside of the strict requirements of the 1967 Abortion Act between April 2014 and December 2021. The true total is likely far higher. 

Any abortion – both before and after the legal limit of 24-weeks – is a criminal matter if done without the approval of two doctors, who need to sign off that they believe the woman’s health is at risk by continuing the pregnancy or, if after 24 weeks, that her life is in danger or there is a serious risk of foetal abnormality. 

Women’s mental health charity WISH described the figures as “alarming”, adding it is “deeply concerned about the criminalisation of women who seek to end their own pregnancies whilst distressed”.

“Vulnerable women who are already facing difficult situations are being pursued by law enforcement, causing further distress and potentially exacerbating their mental health issues,” the charity said. “It is crucial that we advocate for legislative reform to ensure women's reproductive rights are protected, their mental health is prioritised, and they are not subjected to unnecessary scrutiny and criminalisation."

While existing public data could reveal how many abortion-related crimes had been recorded by police in England and Wales, it could not show whether the suspects were pregnant women themselves. Abortion laws can be used to prosecute a range of people, including those who assist others to get an abortion, sellers of abortion pills, and those who assault or kill women resulting in pregnancy loss. 

Many of those investigated were men, data revealed by a Freedom of Information request to the Home Office revealed last year, although police officers had not told the government the sex of the suspect in many cases. 

NationalWorld has since submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to 45 police forces across England, Wales and Scotland, asking how many crimes had been recorded in which pregnant women themselves were suspected of ending their own pregnancies. Twenty such cases were recorded under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which outlaws abortions in all circumstances, while 15 were under the 1929 Infant Life (Preservation) Act, which created an offence of ‘child destruction’ in pregnancies of at least 28 weeks. Lancashire Police, which recorded a 36th case, would not say which offence was prosecuted. The figures are based on responses from 35 forces.

All were recorded in England and Wales. The true number of investigations is likely higher. A case against an Oxford woman which was dropped by prosecutors last year is likely a 37th, as Thames Valley Police – the force that covers the city – refused to answer our request. West Midlands Police also recorded six cases involving female suspects but could not say if they were the pregnant woman herself. And nine forces in total either failed to respond or refused to release information, while others could not provide data for the full time period. 

Staffordshire Police, which investigated the Stoke-on-Trent case, had not recorded this as an abortion crime, despite the subsequent prosecution. It has now amended its crime records after being challenged by NationalWorld – but the question of whether other police forces have failed to record accurate data remains. 

The data reveals at least four women were charged (likely not including the case in Oxford). Another case was still open at the time of the FOI, pending a charging decision. The data only covers where a formal crime was recorded. There may be other incidents that were reported to police or that officers looked into without recording an offence.

Questions also arose about who police officers consider to be victims in abortion cases. In 10 of the cases investigated police had cited the victim’s support or lack of support in charging decisions. One police force, when refusing to release information, made repeated references to the “physical and mental health of the victim” to justify doing so. 

On Wednesday we also revealed how British Transport Police had recorded a case of child destruction following the suicide of a pregnant women in 2018. Zdenka Yabani jumped in front of a train while eight months pregnant after being failed by mental health services, an inquest later heard. Police recorded a formal crime – with Zdenka as the offender. 

In recent years there have been increasing calls from among the medical profession for abortion to be decriminalised, and moved into the sphere of medical regulation rather than criminal law, with the British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal College of GPs, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the Royal College of Midwives all advocating for the change. 

“Abortion is, as with any other medical procedure, something that doctors should be able to regulate for themselves,” said Dr Emma Milne, an association professor at Durham University and expert on abortion law. “And yet the criminal law is involved. It determines how abortion should be able to take place, when abortion should be able to take place.

“The nature of the law means that women have no right to an abortion. We only have the right to ask a doctor if they will allow us to have an abortion. In 2023, that's an incredibly bizarre and unjust situation for us to be in.”

The use of abortion laws to criminalise women is also dangerous for unborn babies, Dr Milne said, as if women who experience problems in pregnancy fear they could be suspected of trying to procure their own abortions they will avoid seeking medical help. Healthcare leaders have expressed concern in recent months that police are being notified when women experience unexplained pregnancy loss and seek healthcare, even if there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. 

“Say, for example, a woman who's been using controlled substances,” she said. “If she's aware that the hospital will phone the police if she presents because she's pregnant, what she will do is she won't go to hospital.

“And one of the things we absolutely know is that if women don't seek medical care during pregnancy, that's incredibly dangerous for both her and for her unborn baby, so foetal homicide laws not only are they incredibly dangerous for women and for women's rights, they are also incredibly dangerous for unborn babies.

“I think it is time for Parliament to step in and to properly look at the law.”

Downing Street has this week confirmed there are no plans to update the law. The Prime Minister’s spokesperson said: “Through the Abortion Act, all women have access to safe abortions on the NHS up to 24 weeks and we have made changes so that now includes taking abortion pills at home. We think this approach provides the right balance and [...] there are no plans to change this.”

The spokesman added: “We recognise that this is a highly emotive issue and obviously we recognise the strength of feeling on all sides.”