Right now in the UK, people are being investigated by police for having a miscarriage. Stillbirths are being investigated as potential crimes. Abortion remains criminalised under a Victorian law from 1861.

In 2025 — in a so-called progressive democracy — people face the risk of police knocking on their door during one of the most traumatic moments of their lives and asking: “Did you do this on purpose?”

Who is affected?
Everyone with a womb — especially women, non-binary people, and trans men — are at risk.

Abortion in the UK is still governed by the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, a law written before women could vote, before antibiotics were discovered, before modern medicine existed. While the 1967 Abortion Act allows legal access, it requires approval by two doctors — and does not repeal the underlying criminal law.

Now, new policing guidelines from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) instruct police to investigate pregnancy loss, including miscarriage, stillbirth, or self-managed abortion, as potential crimes.

Police have been advised to comb through:

• Personal phones
• Search histories
• Period tracking and fertility apps

All to determine whether a pregnancy loss was deliberate.

This is not theoretical. It’s already happening — and it disproportionately affects:

• Working-class people
• People of colour
• Survivors of abuse

Those already more likely to be harmed by policing systems are now being targeted again.

This isn’t compassionate healthcare.
This is surveillance. This is criminalisation.

What is at stake?
If this continues, pregnancy itself could become a police matter.
Grief could be treated as guilt.
Miscarriage could lead to interrogation.
People could be imprisoned for medical decisions — or for outcomes entirely outside their control.

This isn’t just about abortion.
It’s about power.
Control.
Privacy.

It’s about who gets to decide what happens to your body — and whether being pregnant makes you a suspect.

Why now?
Because this is already happening — quietly, strategically, without public debate.

The NPCC guidelines slipped in with barely any scrutiny, framed as “rare case” exceptions. But we’ve seen this before. In the U.S., after Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion bans led to:

• Surveillance
• Arrests
• Prosecutions

Now, the same wave of anti-abortion ideology is rising here in the UK.

We must act before:

• Grief becomes evidence
• Miscarriage becomes a legal risk
• Reproductive rights are erased

Why your signature matters now more than ever:
There’s a window for real change — but it may not last. Two MPs — Stella Creasy and Diana Johnson — are preparing to introduce amendments this summer to decriminalise abortion in England.

But their opportunity to present these amendments is not guaranteed.

Without public pressure, this moment could slip away without even a debate.

We can’t let that happen. Your voice can help ensure Parliament hears the call to finally end criminalisation and protect reproductive rights.

We call on the UK Government to:

1. Fully decriminalise abortion across the United Kingdom by repealing Sections 58 and 59 of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.
2. Reclassify abortion as essential healthcare, not a criminal matter.
3. Reject the NPCC’s new guidelines that allow invasive investigations into pregnancy loss.
4. Protect reproductive and digital privacy, including legal safeguards for menstrual and fertility data.
5. Launch a public inquiry into the policing of reproductive healthcare — and how misogyny, racism, and classism shape its enforcement.

Sign this petition to say:
🛑 Miscarriage is not a crime
🛑 Our bodies are not crime scenes
✅ Abortion is healthcare — and must be treated as such

We deserve safety, dignity, and freedom — not fear.
We deserve better. We demand better.
Decriminalise abortion in the UK — now.