An influential voice in the pro-life movement has voiced strong opposition to a proposed U.K. bill that aims to shield women from criminal charges for undergoing abortions up until the moment of birth. This controversial legislation has sparked intense debate, with critics raising alarms over its implications.
Shawn Carney, CEO of the international organization 40 Days for Life, expressed his concerns in an interview with Fox News Digital. He likened the bill to initiatives by U.S. Democrats, labeling such moves as “absolutely absurd.” Carney pointed out that, historically, Europe has maintained stricter abortion regulations compared to the United States.
“Typically, Europe is more conservative when it comes to abortion,” Carney noted. “Most European nations impose a 12-week limit. In contrast, England allows up to 16 weeks, and in some cases, permits late-term abortions up to 24 weeks. The idea of extending this up to all 40 weeks is unexpected and seems to come from nowhere.”
Carney voiced concerns that if this bill passes, it might set a troubling precedent across Europe, potentially influencing other countries to adopt similar measures.
The bill under discussion, part of the broader Crime and Policing Bill, includes Clause 208, which would decriminalize self-managed abortions for women in England and Wales at any stage of pregnancy. Currently, the bill is in the final stages of review by the House of Lords, with a vote anticipated as soon as Wednesday. Should the Lords approve, the bill will return to the House of Commons for any last amendments before it can be enacted into law following Royal Assent.
The Crime and Policing Bill includes a provision, Clause 208, that would remove criminal penalties for women in England and Wales who end their own pregnancy at any stage. The bill is now in its final stages in the House of Lords and is expected to receive a vote as early as Wednesday. If the House of Lords approves the clause, the bill would return to the House of Commons for any final changes before receiving Royal Assent to become law.
Under the provision, a woman can no longer be investigated, arrested or prosecuted for ending her own pregnancy at any gestation, even though the current standard legal threshold for most abortions in England and Wales is 24 weeks.
While women who terminate their pregnancies would be exempt from criminal liability, doctors and others who assist in an abortion after 24 weeks without medical necessity can still face prosecution.
As lawmakers consider Clause 208, several amendments have been offered, including removing it entirely, modifying it to exclude late-term abortions and adding an in-person requirement for medical consultations to end so-called “pills-by-post” services.
Under the provision, a woman can no longer be investigated, arrested or prosecuted for ending her own pregnancy at any stage. (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Carney argued that the latter two amendments should still be unacceptable, stating that the clause appears to represent “a desire to kill.”
“I think it’s insane,” he said. “I know what they’re trying to do, but you need to combat the laws by saying we’re not aborting children at 40 weeks. The left built an entire movement on being able to survive outside the womb with viability. Then, as science and medicine progressed, viability changed because we could do a lot for unborn children. So they said at first it was 24 weeks, and then it was 22 weeks. Some say it’s 20 weeks. Others say it’s still 22 weeks. Nobody’s ever said it was 40 weeks. They’ve all said, of course, you can survive outside the womb. This is just a desire to kill, it seems, at 40 weeks.”
“I understand the idea of trying to make a legal compromise,” he continued. “But the compromise would be that you people have lost your minds. You want to abort a child the day before he or she is born. And it’s not medically necessary. The baby’s completely viable… so that’s how I think that you have to defeat these bills.”
Carney also said that “people don’t want to celebrate abortion” and “certainly don’t want to brag about how they can have an abortion up to 40 weeks,” adding that opponents of the U.K. bill are “missing common sense responses” to efforts to allow any abortion up until birth.
He added that while most people are not “monsters” seeking abortions at 40 weeks, removing legal liability for women at that point could make abortion more socially acceptable.
“I think what it does is it takes a little bit of a stigma away from abortions at 8, 10, 12, 16 weeks, because typically what we’ve seen in the U.S. is when you have states that say, hey, you’re going to have an abortion through all 40 weeks, what they do is say, well, OK, I’m not that bad. My abortion is not that bad because it’s only at 10 weeks, it’s only at 12 weeks, it’s only at 16 weeks,” Carney said.
The bill is now in its final stages in the House of Lords and is expected to receive a vote as early as Wednesday. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s not that you’re going to see a lot of abortions at 40 weeks. It’s the mentality that abortion is not a big deal. You can even do it the day before birth, and so it’s more acceptable to most people,” he continued.
“People aren’t monsters,” he added. “The monsters write these bills, which are typically very liberal White people who say, you know what, we need to be able to have an abortion the day before your birthday. And most people look around at a party and say that person’s clinically insane.”
The left “has just married themselves to this,” Carney said.
“They believe you need unfettered abortion at all times in order to be a free and just society,” Carney said. “But nobody’s actually really medically needing that whatsoever.”
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