Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics
Episode: 100th Episode of Double Jeopardy - Terminating the Cruelty of Victorian Era Abortion Laws: The Campaign to Decriminalise Abortion Across the UK
Description:
In three of the four nations of the UK, abortion remains a crime under legislation passed in 1861, subject to the exemptions from criminal liability in the Abortion Act 1967. Paradoxically, abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland in 2019, so that it is now seen as a matter of healthcare rather than the criminal law. Recent prosecutions in England under section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 have reignited debate over whether abortion belongs in the criminal courts at all – https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/13/i-hate-sitting-in-silence-now-nicola-packer-on-clearing-her-name-after-the-trauma-of-her-abortion-trial
Â
https://doctorsforchoiceuk.com/abortionlaw#:~:text=UK%20abortion%20law%3A%20Ov...