Vulnerable women in England are continuing to face arrest and police investigations over suspected illegal abortions, despite parliament backing changes aimed at decriminalising abortion.
Data obtained through freedom of information requests revealed that both Nottinghamshire Police and the Metropolitan Police arrested women suspected of illegal pregnancy terminations between June last year and January this year.
Abortion providers say the real number of cases may be higher, noting that several police forces either declined to respond to the requests or reported that they had not recorded arrests under the relevant legislation.
Last June, MPs voted overwhelmingly to support a legal amendment that would prevent women in England and Wales from being prosecuted for ending a pregnancy outside the existing legal framework. However, the legislation is still moving through parliament and has not yet come into force.
One case occurred after the parliamentary vote. A woman attended hospital and shortly afterwards miscarried at around 17 weeks. During a medical examination, tablets were discovered in her vagina and the police were called.
Officers arrested the woman in the hospital’s delivery suite, while her home was searched as she remained on the labour ward.
The woman denied attempting to end the pregnancy. She also suffers from unstable diabetes, a condition that can become particularly difficult to manage after delivery. Police seized her electronic devices, which she used to monitor her health and control her insulin pump.
She later said she felt betrayed by both the NHS and the police and no longer felt safe seeking help from these services. A clinician involved in the case said: “When I called the police, I really thought they would offer her support and protection. What happened was horrifying.”
The amendment to the crime and policing bill was introduced by Labour backbencher Tonia Antoniazzi and passed in the House of Commons with 379 votes in favour and 137 against. The change followed growing concern about an increase in prosecutions related to suspected illegal abortions.
Supporters described the vote as the biggest step forward for reproductive rights in England and Wales in 60 years.
However, the wider legal framework surrounding abortion remains unchanged. Women must still obtain approval from two doctors, and the existing time limits for legal terminations remain in place. Doctors who act outside the law can still face prosecution.
In another case involving a different police force, a woman in her 40s was arrested over Christmas. She believed she was in the early stages of pregnancy but delivered a foetus inside its gestation sac, which was later estimated to be around 24 weeks.
She called an ambulance, and paramedics reported that she was hyperventilating and panicking when they arrived. Professionals involved in the case raised significant safeguarding concerns, noting that the woman had previously been a victim of domestic abuse.
Her children witnessed the police intervention and were forced to leave their home over Christmas while officers searched the property. One professional involved said: “The search may well have included opening their Christmas presents.”
Antoniazzi criticised the continued arrests, saying: “The dystopian treatment of women continues under this Victorian-era law despite the House of Commons being clear that this has no place in modern society. The police and wider criminal justice system cannot be trusted with abortion law.”
She added: “Women have been targeted, vilified and imprisoned following complications in their abortion treatment, miscarriage, stillbirth or premature labour. Forced to endure acute trauma at the worst moments of their lives for absolutely no reason, because criminalisation is completely unnecessary for upholding abortion law and safeguards.”
There have also been additional cases in which women were reported to police after June, with some investigations still ongoing.
In one instance, a young mother living in a deprived area was referred to the police. She had been described as “vulnerable” and at “high risk of being in an abusive relationship”.
She sought an abortion through the NHS during Christmas 2025 and later delivered a foetus initially estimated to be around 16 weeks. Although medical professionals later confirmed the foetus was “definitely under 24 weeks”, the legal time limit for abortion in most cases, the NHS still contacted the police and referred the case to a coroner for a postmortem.
Jonathan Lord, co-chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists abortion taskforce, said the investigations themselves often cause the greatest harm.
“It is the investigations that cause most harm; few progress to charging and fewer still to prosecutions,” he said.
“The police and CPS have shown consistently – in multiple areas and in numerous cases – that they do not act appropriately or with sensitivity. In several cases they have only targeted the woman, and not investigated potential abuse by a coercive partner.”
Harriet Wistrich, solicitor and chief executive of the Centre for Women’s Justice, also criticised how some cases have been handled.
“In some of the cases we have seen women being arrested from hospital shortly after the abortion when they may be extremely traumatised and certainly there is no need to arrest them then and there,” she said.
She added that decisions about arrest and prosecution should take public interest into account. “There is a strong argument to make that in circumstances where the House of Commons have voted by a large majority to stop criminalisation, that discretion should be exercised in the public interest not to arrest.”
Amendments to abortion law are expected to be debated again in the House of Lords this week. Peers have proposed several possible changes, including removing the decriminalisation clause, pardoning women previously convicted under the law, and ending ongoing police investigations.
Louise McCudden, head of external affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices UK, said the debate represents an important moment.
“We know from providing reproductive healthcare across six continents that criminalisation harms women and makes abortion less safe,” she said.
“The House of Lords now has a historic opportunity to end the threat of prosecution once and for all, pardon women who have been previously convicted and drop ongoing investigations.”
“At a time when we are seeing rollbacks in reproductive rights around the world, most notably in the US, it’s encouraging that our parliament is standing up for women.”
A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said investigations into pregnancy loss are not routine.
“Police do not routinely investigate unexpected pregnancy loss. An investigation is only initiated where there is credible information to suggest criminal activity, and this would often be because of concerns raised from medical professionals,” the spokesperson said.
They added that each case is assessed individually and handled with care.
“We recognise how traumatic the experience of losing a child is, with many complexities involved, and any investigation of this nature and individuals will always be treated with the utmost sensitivity and compassion.”