Protect babies lives once heartbeat detectable, except in extreme cases

Introduce a bill to protect babies in the womb once a heartbeat is detected. It bans abortion of healthy babies beyond this point, with exceptions for rape, to save the mother’s life, or if the child has a fatal foetal abnormality.

The Government has no plans to introduce a bill to limit abortion to once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance. Parliament decides the circumstances under which abortion can legally be undertaken. It is therefore for Parliament to decide whether to make any changes to the law on abortion. Proposals for change are brought forward by backbench members and decisions made through a free vote in both Houses of Parliament, with members voting according to their moral, ethical or religious beliefs.

All women in England and Wales can have access to safe, regulated abortions on the NHS under our current laws. In accordance with the 1967 Abortion Act, abortion is permitted up until 24 weeks’ gestation when two doctors agree that the termination would meet one of the grounds in the Act, and there must be agreement as to which ground that is. Abortions at or after 24 weeks are permitted in certain circumstances, for example, if the woman’s life is in danger, or if a severe fetal abnormality has been identified.

When the time limit for most abortion was last lowered in 1990, Parliament decided to link the gestational time limit for abortion with fetal viability. At that time, there was a clear consensus from the medical profession that the age of viability had reduced from 28 weeks to 24 weeks. There is currently no clear clinical consensus that viability is less than 24 weeks.

The safety of women accessing abortion services is of paramount importance. Abortion is recognised by the World Health Organisation, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to be a safe procedure when carried out in line with clinical best practice.

Department of Health and Social Care