Abortion: Convictions
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been for offences relating to the termination of pregnancy through the the pills-by-post scheme.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of convictions across England and Wales for a wide range of offences in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK
The offences that constitute unlawful abortion include procuring an illegal abortion under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as child destruction under section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929.
Information centrally held does not specify how many of these convictions are linked to the use of the pills-by-post scheme.
The Department of Health and Social Care is responsible for the policy relating to the pills-by-post scheme.
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