Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been convicted of offences under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 related to abortions in each year since 2009-10.

Mike Penning

Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (only applies in England and Wales) makes it an offence to intentionally procure a miscarriage, including for a woman to procure her own miscarriage.

The Abortion Act 1967 creates exceptions to the offences of procuring a miscarriage. The Act makes an abortion legal where the pregnancy is terminated by a registered medical practitioner and where two registered medical practitioners agree that the grounds specified in the Act are satisfied.

The number of offenders found guilty at all courts for offences relating to sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861, in England & Wales, from 2009 to 2014 (the latest data available) can be viewed in the attached table.