Peers vote through extreme abortion measure

The House of Lords has voted to allow women in England and Wales to kill their unborn babies at any stage of pregnancy without sanction.

During a debate on the Crime and Policing Bill, Peers voted by 185 votes to 148 to reject Baroness Monckton’s amendment to remove Antonia Antoniazzi MP’s controversial Clause 208 which decriminalises abortion up to birth for the mother.

They also voted to reject an amendment by Baroness Stroud to reinstate in-person consultations with a doctor in order to receive abortion pills by 191 votes to 119. A return to such appointments, removed during lockdown, would have better protected against women taking the pills after the ten-week limit which they are designed for.

‘No legal protection’

In a dignified speech, Baroness Monckton was clear: “Clause 208 would allow mothers to self-administer the abortion of the unborn child for any reason, at any stage of pregnancy, right up to full term. This is not just its consequential effect; it is its intended effect.

“The Clause states: ‘For the purposes of the law relating to abortion, no offence is committed by a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy.’ The unborn child, in many cases more developed than those successfully looked after in premature child units, would have no legal protection.”

She added that the clause “endangers women” by moving late-term abortions away from a clinical setting.

Abortion pills are not supposed to be used beyond very early stages, but the current ‘pills-by-post’ scheme allows women easy access to the drugs regardless of their child’s gestational age.

Abortion Decriminalisation Debate:
‘Unsafe for women’ – Baroness Monckton explains why decriminalising women who have late-term abortions will actually put women’s health at risk. pic.twitter.com/WnShKKl9Bj

— The Christian Institute (@christianorguk) March 18, 2026

Backstreet abortions

In her speech, Baroness Stroud explained: “Under Clause 208, the DIY backstreet abortion will be back for any woman more than 24 weeks pregnant.

“In 2023, Carla Foster was convicted of an illegal abortion after she admitted lying to the abortion provider BPAS about her gestational age, claiming to be seven weeks pregnant, when her gestation was actually between 32 and 34 weeks.

“Carla Foster was both a perpetrator – ending the life of a baby capable of living outside the womb – and also a victim. A victim of a scheme that meant she could obtain abortion pills with no meaningful safeguards or medical care.

It is unutterably grim that the House of Lords has voted to permit a woman to take the life of her baby just days before birth.

“After calling paramedics, she described being traumatised by seeing the face of her dead baby. An in-person gestational age check would have saved both the life of her baby, and spared the trauma caused by her actions.”

Abortion Decriminalisation Debate:
‘Backstreet abortions will return’ – Baroness Stroud urges Peers to reinstate in-person appointments for abortion pills, and highlights the dangers of the amendment to decriminalise women who have late-term abortions. pic.twitter.com/5ItXrACKTn

— The Christian Institute (@christianorguk) March 18, 2026

Dehumanised

The Christian Institute’s Simon Calvert said: “It is unutterably grim that the House of Lords has voted to permit a woman to take the life of her baby just days before birth.

“They have shown little regard for public feeling which is strongly opposed to this. They have dehumanised the unborn to a shocking new degree. And they have abandoned women.

“Those of us who care about the unborn and their mothers must renew our efforts to expose the consequences of what our politicians have done today so that, one day, it can be reversed.”

Voting continued past midnight. An amendment to make it a criminal offence to obtain abortifacients by false representation was defeated but a pro-abortion amendment to delete all past criminal convictions under abortion law was passed by 180 to 58.