Peers move to ban sex-selective abortions to ‘wreck’ decr...

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Peers move to ban sex-selective abortions to ‘wreck’ decriminalisation law

Peers plan to push an amendment which would ban women having sex-selective abortions in a move campaigners believe is meant to wreck attempts to decrominalise terminations

David MaddoxPolitical EditorSaturday 22 November 2025 14:30 GMTComments

CloseMPs vote to decriminalise abortion in biggest change to reproductive rights in decades Brexit and beyond

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A row has broken out over an attempt by peers to push through what is being described as a “wrecking amendment” to legislation decriminalising late abortions.

A cross party group of peers have laid an amendment to ban sex selective abortions for the first time in UK history and ensure that they remain illegal. The issue is expected to come up this week when peers continue the committee stage of the Crime and Policing Bill.

Supporters of the original amendment to the bill brought by Gower Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi believe the proposal to change it in the Lords is an attempt to wreck decriminalisation which was overwhelmingly backed by MPs in the Commons.

Currently abortions are allowed up to 24 weeks in England and Wales but women having later terminations can be prosecuted. Ms Antoniazzi’s amendment would prevent legal action but critics claim it is a back door way of allowing abortions up to a full term.

open image in galleryCampaigners supporting decriminalisation of abortions (Getty)

The decriminalisation amendment, passed in the Commons by 242 votes, is due to come before peers in the next few weeks with a number of amendments already being tabled.

But if passed, the ban on sex-selective abortions could scupper the proposal by effectively invalidating decriminalisation where questions are raised over the motive for any termination.

Ms Antoniazzi told The Independent: “The notion that this is remotely in the interests of vulnerable women is frankly absurd.

“For women themselves, the allegations around sex-selective abortion often focus on how women from some cultural backgrounds may face control and coercion from family members to end a pregnancy on the grounds of sex.

“To be clear - there is absolutely no scenario where a woman in an abusive relationship should be criminalised for being forced to end her pregnancy. How, exactly, does that protect them? It doesn't.”

Sex-selection abortion is the termination of an unborn baby based on that baby’s sex which campaigners argue almost exclusively involves the aborting of girls.

The issue blew up in Scotland last week where proposals for a change of the abortion law in Scotland allows sex selective terminations.

open image in galleryTonia Antoniazzi, Labour MP for Gower, put forward the amendment to decriminalise abortion (UK Parliament)

Tory peer Baroness Eaton will be launching a bid to stop the practice in England, by tabling an amendment, to rewrite the abortion clause in the Crime and Policing Bill (191) to stop it from legalising sex-selective abortion.

Critics of clause 191 introduced by Ms Antoniazzi in the Commons after 46 minutes of debate in the Commons argue that there was no prior consultation with the public, no Committee Stage scrutiny and no evidence sessions.

KC Stephen Rose has given a legal opinion to supporters of Baroness Eaton’s proposal that the effect of Ms Antoniazzi’s amendment is that sex-selective abortions “would be legal” up to nine months.

Devi Shah, spokesperson for the Stop Gendercide campaign, said: “It’s a heartbreaking reality that, here in the UK, many women face pressure from partners or family members to have a termination simply because they are expecting a girl.

“If sex-selective abortion is made legal, it will make it much more difficult for women to refuse pressure from relatives or partners to have an abortion based on the baby’s sex.”

Campaigners argue that data from India and China support their claims over abortions being used because people do not want daughters.

A 2018 Indian government report estimated that 63 million women were missing from the country’s population because of terminations. In China there was a ratio of 114 boys to 100 girls born when the normal ratio is 105 to 100.