On 18 June 2025, the UK Parliament voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales. This legislative shift repealed Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, finally removing the threat of life imprisonment for women and healthcare providers involved in abortion care. This reform reframes abortion as a matter of public health, not criminality. However, while legally significant, decriminalisation alone does not resolve the profound structural inequalities that limit genuine reproductive choice.

1. Legal Reform: What Decriminalisation Means

Contrary to alarmist claims, the decriminalisation of abortion does not mean unrestricted access to abortion at any stage of pregnancy. The 1967 Abortion Act remains in force, regulating access and limiting routine abortions to 24 weeks of gestation, except under exceptional clinical circumstances. These include serious risk to the woman’s life, severe physical or mental health concerns, or substantial risk of foetal abnormalities (Department of Health and Social Care, 2023).

The repeal of archaic criminal statutes acknowledges the reality that abortion is a healthcare procedure — one that should be governed by clinical, not criminal, frameworks. Women and clinicians should not fear prosecution for making evidence-based medical decisions.

1. 🧬 Why Some Abortions Happen at or After 24 Weeks

Abortions performed at or after 24 weeks are exceptionally rare. In 2021, only 274 abortions were conducted beyond 24 weeks in England and Wales, representing less than 0.1% of the total (Department of Health and Social Care, 2022). These procedures are typically undertaken for one of three primary reasons:

• Severe or fatal foetal abnormalities diagnosed in the late second trimester (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists [RCOG], 2010)
• Serious threat to the woman’s physical or mental health
• Delayed access due to socioeconomic or systemic barriers (e.g., abusive relationships, late detection)

Medical guidelines by the RCOG confirm that foetal pain perception is unlikely before 24 weeks due to incomplete neurological development (RCOG, 2010). Thus, the claim that abortion after 24 weeks equates to “infanticide” lacks scientific credibility.

Mental Health Is Health: A Clinically Valid Ground

Approximately 98% of all abortions are carried out under Ground C of the Abortion Act, which allows termination to prevent injury to a woman’s mental or physical health (Department of Health and Social Care, 2023). The trivialisation of mental health grounds — suggesting they are exploited for convenience — undermines both clinical evidence and women’s lived experiences.

Mental health conditions such as perinatal depression, anxiety, and trauma following sexual assault can have severe consequences for maternal and child wellbeing. The World Health Organization (2022) affirms that comprehensive abortion care is essential to safeguarding women’s mental and physical health

2. 💷 The Poverty Connection: Why Law Alone Isn’t Enough

a. Single-Parent Family Context

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS, 2023), there are nearly three million single-parent families in the UK, accounting for 16% of all families with dependent children. Of these, 89% are headed by women (Gingerbread, 2024). Single-parent households are disproportionately affected by poverty:

• 43% of children in single-parent families live in relative poverty (Child Poverty Action Group [CPAG], 2024)
• 66% of single parents are in paid work, often in low-paid or insecure employment (Gingerbread, 2024)
• 36% of these families have no savings, and 13% rely on food banks (Gingerbread, 2024)
• 81% of single parents on Universal Credit find new 30-hour work requirements unmanageable, citing adverse impacts on mental health and parenting (Save the Children, 2024)

These figures illuminate the structural constraints under which reproductive decisions are made. A woman choosing abortion may do so not because she devalues life, but because she understands the economic impossibility of providing for another child under current welfare policies.

b. The Child Maintenance Gap

Financial insecurity is compounded by the failings of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). Government data indicate that 41% of paying parents under CMS made no payments in a recent quarter (Department for Work and Pensions, 2023). Today’s Family Lawyer (2024) reports that 37% of paying parents made zero contributions, and only 43% paid more than 90% of what they owed.

The consequences are stark: 70% of receiving parents state that payments are insufficient to cover basic needs (DWP, 2023). These failures contribute directly to child poverty and force lone mothers into impossible choices.

3.✅ What Decriminalisation Achieves — and What Still Needs to Be Done

Achieved by Decriminalisation	Still Required Today
✅ Removes threat of imprisonment for women and doctors.	💷 Reform punitive welfare policies (benefit caps, work requirements)
✅ Aligns abortion regulation with other healthcare	💳 Enforce child maintenance payment and protect single parents
✅ Criminalisation reframed as healthcare continuity	🍼 Scale childcare, mental health support, and living incomes

4. Critical Analysis: Decriminalisation Without Socioeconomic Reform

The removal of criminal sanctions is an essential step toward modernising abortion law. However, its impact will be limited if not accompanied by broader socioeconomic reforms. Legal rights without material support render choice theoretical rather than practical.

Women in poverty — particularly single mothers — often experience what Loretta Ross (2007) terms “stratified reproduction”: the ability to make reproductive choices is shaped by race, class, and access to resources. Decriminalisation must be paired with policy changes, such as:

• Abolishing the two-child benefit cap (CPAG, 2024)
• Strengthening CMS enforcement and accountability
• Expanding access to affordable childcare and mental health services
• Supporting flexible, well-paid employment

Without addressing these systemic inequalities, reproductive autonomy will remain disproportionately inaccessible to those most in need.

Conclusion

The decriminalisation of abortion in England and Wales is a long-overdue correction of historical injustice. Yet for the 3 million single-parent families navigating poverty, inadequate child support, and inaccessible services, legal change alone is not enough. True reproductive justice requires that all women — regardless of income or circumstance , have both the right and the means to make choices about their bodies and futures.

Reference List

Child Poverty Action Group (2024) Poverty in the UK: Statistics and Evidence. Available at: https://cpag.org.uk (Accessed: 19 June 2025).

Department for Work and Pensions (2023) Survey of Separated Parents: Summary. London: GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/survey-of-separated-parents (Accessed: 19 June 2025).

Department of Health and Social Care (2022) Abortion Statistics, England and Wales 2021. London: HMSO.

Department of Health and Social Care (2023) Abortion Statistics, England and Wales 2022. London: HMSO.

Gingerbread (2024) Single Parents: Facts and Figures. Available at: https://www.gingerbread.org.uk (Accessed: 19 June 2025).

Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023) Families and Households in the UK. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk (Accessed: 19 June 2025).

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) (2010) Fetal Awareness: Review of Research and Recommendations for Practice. London: RCOG.

Ross, L.J. (2007) ‘Reproductive justice as intersectional feminist activism’, Souls, 9(1), pp. 286–298.

Save the Children (2024) Shining a Light on Inequality in Single-Parent Families. Available at: https://www.savethechildren.org.uk (Accessed: 19 June 2025).

Today’s Family Lawyer (2024) ‘37% of Parents Not Complying with Child Maintenance Payments’, Today’s Family Lawyer, 14 May. Available at: https://todaysfamilylawyer.co.uk (Accessed: 19 June 2025).

World Health Organization (2022) Abortion Care Guideline. Geneva: WHO.