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The Ferret exposed the extreme views of Reform UK’s Scotland’s candidates before Nigel Farage promised to improve his party’s “poor” vetting processes, but many of them have been re-selected to fight the Holyrood election.
Changes to abortion law in the UK which were recently passed by the House of Lords have led to a significant amount of debate online.
A new piece of legislation, which would impact the prosecution of women who have late-term abortions, has been criticised by numerousinfluencers and campaigners, who claimed the UK had “legalised abortion up to birth”.
Ferret Fact Service looked at this claim and found it Mostly False.
Evidence
There has been significant media coverage of changes to abortion law recently approved by the Lords. The legislation in question is actually an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi put forward the additional section of the legislation, which was passed by the House of Commons in 2025.
If the bill gains final approval, it will mean women who have an abortion at any stage during their pregnancy will no longer be prosecuted. The notes accompanying the bill state that it will mean “it is not a criminal offence for a woman to intentionally end the life of her child that is capable of being born alive”.
Under the existing law in England and Wales, a woman is allowed to end her pregnancy in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, and beyond that in certain circumstances, such as when her life is in danger. All abortions have to be approved by two doctors who assess whether certain criteria have been met.
It is currently illegal for women to attempt to end their pregnancies outside of these conditions. There have been several recent examples of women being prosecuted for this offence. Mother-of-three Carla Foster was jailed in 2023 for more than two years for inducing an abortion after the legal limit. This led to significant media coverage and protests. She was later released from prison after her sentence was suspended.
The new law would also pardon women who have been convicted for having an abortion outside the current rules.
However, it does not make abortion strictly legal, as many posts online have claimed. Under the legislation, it would still be a prosecutable offence for someone to perform an abortion on someone else.
The explanatory notes to the bill state: “It remains an offence… [for] another person to administer drugs or use instruments to procure an abortion; procure drugs, poison, or instruments to cause an abortion; or to intentionally end the life of a child capable of being born alive”.
The aim of the legislation is to stop women from being prosecuted for attempting to end their own pregnancies. Abortion providers will still be prosecuted if they operate outside the existing legal limits.
Abortion law is devolved to Scotland, but it has largely mirrored the legislation in England and Wales. The Scottish Parliament has yet to legislate to decriminalise women seeking to end their own pregnancies after the 28-week limit. An expert review group set up by former first minister Humza Yousaf recommended decriminalisation in a report last year.
It is extremely rare for women in Scotland to be prosecuted for offences relating to abortion, and the Ferret Fact Service could not identify any cases since devolution where a woman in Scotland was convicted for having an abortion outside of the legal limits.
Ferret Fact Service verdict: Mostly False
The new legislation does not legalise abortion “up to birth” as online claims say. It means that women who seek to end their own pregnancies outside of the period allowed under the existing law will no longer be prosecuted for it. Providing abortion services to someone else will still be illegal.
Alastair leads our fact-checking arm, The Ferret Fact Service, and writes about disinformation and conspiracy theories. He also delivers training on media literacy and spotting disinformation. He spends his free time at gigs in basements.
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