Labour has vowed to rip up Victorian abortion laws by overhauling historic legislation which contains criminal sanctions for women and doctors.
The party's manifesto, launched by Jeremy Corbyn on Thursday, contains a pledge to "uphold women’s reproductive rights and decriminalise abortions" if Labour scores a dramatic victory in next month's election.
Under the 1967 Abortion Act, women can legally seek a termination up to 24 weeks of pregnancy and each procedure must be signed off by two doctors.
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However, the previous 19th Century law was never repealed when the Act was brought in, which means it remains a criminal offence to breach these conditions in England and Wales.
These strict regulations mean those who buy illegal abortion pills online, often out of fear of seeking help at a clinic, could face a life sentence in prison. Doctors who fail to comply with the regulations also face criminal sanctions.
Labour's pledge would bring England and Wales in line with Northern Ireland, which has the most liberal abortion laws in the UK since MPs repealed the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act in the country last month.
Northern Ireland was always exempt from the 1967 Act, creating a strange scenario where the country transformed overnight from the most restrictive part of the UK on abortion rights to the most liberal.
Labour's Stella Creasy told The Independent: "By decriminalising abortion we finally will treat women as capable, breathing citizens.
"Right now, if you’re a woman, you can’t actually choose to have an abortion in England and Wales – somebody else makes that choice for you in the shape of two doctors who have to decide that if you ask for one and didn't get one you would be harmed either mentally or physically.
"Without their agreement a woman risks prosecution for making her own choices about her own body at any age.
"Decriminalisation means that women would have the same equal rights over their bodies that men have because if you take away the criminal element of the law you can have a fully medical procedure where their consent matters and where medical need- not the threat of prosecution- can be upheld."
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Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson (left) during a visit to the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Temple in Glasgow
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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meets Colin and his mother after a speech at the University of Lancaster
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Britain's Green Party co-leaders Jonathan Bartley, Sian Berry, and deputy leader Amelia Womack, wave during the launch of the party manifesto at the Observatory at London Wetland Centre
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Scottish Nationalist Party leader Nicola Sturgeon meets voters and activists at Cafe Roma in Clarkston, Glasgow
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Protestors participate in an anti-Boris Johnson rally in his constituency Uxbridge, west London
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson on a tug boat in the port of Bristol
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Green Party Co-Leader Sian Berry has a selfie taken with a supporter at the Observatory, London Wetlands Centre
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Boris Johnson at the unveiling of the Conservative Party battlebus in Middleton, Greater Manchester
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Nigel Farage holds a fish during a stop at the Grimsby Seafood Village
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Scotland's First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon visits the Cafe Gelato in Rutherglen, Glasgow
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The Green Party launch in Bristol
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Farage enjoys some chips at the start of a nationwide tour for the 2019 general election, in Whitehaven
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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn unveils the Labour battle bus in Liverpool
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Boris Johnson reacts as he talks with workers whilst weighing packaged tea bags at the Tetley Tea Factory in Stockton-on-Tees
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Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage on the campaign trail in Whitehaven, where he was confronted by Karl Connor
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Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson speaks to volunteer Rosie Squires in the Stainforth 4 All charity shop during a visit to Stainforth in South Yorkshire to meet people affected by flooding
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Nicola Sturgeon poses with candidates during the SNP general election campaign launch in Edinburgh
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Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn with Laura McAlpine, the party's candidate for Harlow
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Anti-Boris Johnson protesters demonstrate outside the hall where the Conservative Party were launching their campaign in Birmingham
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Green Party Co-Leader Sian Berry (left), Deputy Leader and Parliamentary Candidate for Newport West Amelia Womack (right), and Bristol West Candidate Carla Denyer (centre) at the launch of the party's general election manifesto in Bristol
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The PM tastes whisky during a visit to Diageo's Roseisle Distillery near Elgin, Scotland
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30/50
Nigel Farage poses with boxer Dereck Chisora during a visit to a boxing gym in Ilford
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Jo Swinson visits a science class at Hinchley Wood School near Esher
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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon holds a guitar as she visits Dalkeith Community Hub
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A man heckles as Jeremy Corbyn gives a speech at the Senior Citizens Hall in Macclesfield
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Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn visits residents affected by flooding in Conisbrough
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Boris Johnson gestures as he helps quality control staff during a visit to the Tayto Castle crisp factory in County Armagh, Northern Ireland
AFP via Getty
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Nigel Farage visits a butcher's shop in Sutton-in-Ashfield
Reuters
38/50
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon visits Blosson Tree children's nursery
AFP via Getty
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Jeremy Corbyn laughs during a visit to the Scrap Creative Reuse Arts Project, Sunny Bank Mills
Getty
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson hold Rosie the rabbit during a visit to a primary school while on the campaign trail in Taunton
AFP via Getty
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Jo Swinson playing with children at the Battersea Arts Centre in Lavender Hill
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Farage addresses supporters at the Washington Central Hotel in Workington
PA
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Jeremy Corbyn poses with Labour activists as they canvas in Govan, Glasgow
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44/50
Nicola Sturgeon during a visit to The Shed, a Climate Challenge community project at North Edinburgh Arts
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45/50
Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets six month old Willow Rose Anderson, at the Lych Gate Tavern in Wolverhampton
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47/50
Jeremy Corbyn tries a scone in Bentley, Doncaster
PA
49/50
Boris Johnson hauling a consignment of frozen chocolate gateaux, during a visit to Iceland Foods HQ in Deeside
PA
50/50
Jo Swinson puts on a high visibility jacket during a visit to Sigma Pharmaceuticals, a family run pharmaceutical wholesaler in Watford
AFP via Getty
Former shadow health minister Diana Johnson tried to change the law in the last parliament but her attempt to place regulation with professional bodies, rather than the police, were unsuccessful.
"I know from the two votes on decriminalisation that I brought to parliament, there is a majority who see this as a healthcare matter between a woman and her doctor and not a matter for the criminal law," the Labour candidate told The Independent.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which provides advice on terminations, hailed the move to change a law that was "decades – centuries – out of date".
A BPAS spokesperson said: "The current criminalisation of abortion in Britain fails women.
"No woman should be threatened with prosecution for ending her own pregnancy, and yet today in the 21st Century any woman who does so without the permission of two doctors can go to prison for life.
"Our archaic legal framework creates unnecessary barriers to care too, meaning some vulnerable women are prevented from accessing the treatment they need - leaving them no option but to continue an unwanted pregnancy that risks their health."
The Liberal Democrats have committed to decriminalise abortion across the UK while retaining the existing 24-week limit and legislating for access to abortion facilities within Northern Ireland.
The Greens also pledged to "extend the EU’s charter of fundamental rights to give women in all EU countries access to legal, safe and affordable abortion services".
Any move to change abortion law is unlikely to be included in the Conservative party manifesto, which is expected on Sunday.
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