Impact assessment

Equalities impact assessment: abortion and pardons

Published 29 September 2026

Removal of women from the criminal law related to abortion and provisions for pardons and criminal records of women prosecuted under abortion law

Introduction

All women in England and Wales can have access to safe, regulated abortions on the NHS under our current laws.

The Government maintains a neutral stance on changes to the criminal law on abortion in England and Wales and it is for Parliament to decide the circumstances under which abortions should take place.

Parliament voted to include Sections 241 and 242 as part of the Crime and Policing Act 2026.

The public sector equality duty, set out in Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, does not apply to Sections 241 and 242 as it does not apply to primary legislation. However, the duty provides a useful structure for analysing the potential effects of Sections 241 and 242. This section details the equalities analysis of both Sections 241 and 242 in the Act.

Policy summary

Parliament’s aim in enacting Section 241 is to ensure that the criminal offences related to abortion, including sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (“the 1861 Act”) and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 (“the 1929 Act”), no longer apply to women acting in relation to their own pregnancy at any gestation. It is important to note that the provision does not affect the Abortion Act 1967, which will continue to provide the legal framework for access to abortion services.

Section 241 removes criminal liability for women acting in relation to their own pregnancies and this means it would never be a criminal offence for a pregnant woman to terminate her pregnancy regardless of the number of weeks of gestation, including beyond 24 weeks. It would also not be a criminal offence for a woman to intentionally deceive a registered medical practitioner about the gestation of her pregnancy in order to procure an abortion by pills via pills by post beyond the 10-week time limit.

Parliament’s aim in enacting Section 242 is to ensure that women previously convicted of, or cautioned for, criminal offences related to abortion when acting in relation to their own pregnancies are pardoned for those offences. In addition, that in relevant official records relating to such convictions and cautions, as well as records for women who were arrested or investigated for such offences when acting in relation to their own pregnancies, the details of convictions, cautions, arrests or investigations should be deleted so that such details - whether the woman was convicted or not - are not revealed on Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

Women previously convicted of, or cautioned for, criminal offences related to abortion, including Sections 58 and 59 of the 1861 Act and the 1929 Act, when acting in relation to their own pregnancies, will be pardoned for those offences when Section 242 is commenced, and relevant data controllers will have a duty to delete from relevant official records any details of which they are aware of such a conviction or caution, or a related arrest or investigation irrespective of whether the woman was convicted or cautioned, as far as it is reasonably practicable to make the deletion.

It is important to note that Sections 241 and 242 expressly apply to a “woman”, reflecting the position in the relevant offences which capture conduct against a “woman” and a “mother”. It is the Government’s view that as a matter of statutory construction, “woman” must mean, in the context of Sections 58 and 59 of the 1861 Act and the 1929 Act, a person who is biologically female, and “mother” must mean, in the context of the 1929 Act, a person who is biologically female and pregnant. It is therefore the Government’s view that the offences capture acts in relation to (or by) pregnant trans men regardless of whether they have a gender recognition certificate. By extension,Section 241 will operate in a way that removes criminal liability for pregnant trans men when they act in relation to their own pregnancies and Section 242 will pardon any trans man previously convicted of, or cautioned for, a criminal offence related to abortion when acting in relation to their own pregnancy and require the deletion of details of such a conviction or caution, or a related arrest or investigation, from their criminal records.

Impact on protected characteristics

Government’s analysis of Sections 241 and 242 illustrates the protected characteristics of those proceeded against under Sections 58 & 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 between 2017-2024.

In relation to Section 242, published offence-specific data on police arrests and investigations is not currently available. However, the data on the protected characteristics of those proceeded against under Sections 58 and 59 of the 1861 Act and the 1929 Act can be used as indicative of the broader cohort of those arrested for or investigated on suspicion of those offences.

When assessing the equality impacts of Sections 241 and 242 against the protected characteristics, Government consider that the protected characteristics of sex and pregnancy and maternity are most relevant. Government have also concluded that these characteristics are best considered together, rather than in isolation. This is because Sections 241 and 242 only have effect for pregnant women acting in relation to their own pregnancies. As a result, a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy could no longer be prosecuted, and a woman previously convicted of, or cautioned for, a criminal offence related to abortion when acting in relation to her own pregnancy will be pardoned for that offence (and details of such a conviction or caution, or a related arrest or investigation will be deleted from criminal records in line with the duty in Section 242). Government would also expect fewer pregnant women to be prosecuted overall, although women who are not pregnant, and pregnant women who are acting in relation to another’s pregnancy, will continue to be caught by the relevant offences.

The criminal offences will continue to apply to everyone else who is not a pregnant woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy. The cohort of offenders who do not fall in this category would therefore not change. Section 242 also does not apply to this cohort and records of offences committed by those acting not in relation to their own pregnancies will not be deleted.

Sources of information

The source of information used for analysis on defendant equalities impacts is the MOJ’s Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly – Accredited Official Statistics^{[footnote 1]} and our analysis is based on the most recent data available up to December 2024. Detailed data on Crown Court and Magistrates’ outcomes is only available for three of the nine protected characteristics – age, sex, and race. We do not currently have data on other protected characteristics.

Prosecutions under Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 are low in volume. There has been a total of 26 prosecutions (of which 10 resulted in convictions) between 2017 and 2024. However, the data below is limited to the 24 cases where the sex of the defendant is known. Where an individual’s sex is not stated or unknown, they have been omitted from analysis.

Analysis of impacts: Sex and pregnancy, and maternity

The majority of abortion-related offences proceeded against have involved male defendants, amounting to 71% of cases (17 out of 24 cases where the defendant’s sex was recorded). Female defendants make up 29% of cases (7 out of 24) proceeded against.

However, it is not possible to identify how many of the women within the 29% cohort were pregnant and acting in relation to their own pregnancy. We are aware from reported cases that some involved pregnant women acting in relation to their own pregnancies. As such, Section 241 is expected to lead to a reduction in the prosecutions of women. However, the extent of the likely impact cannot be quantified.

In relation to arrests and investigations, those proceeded against who were acting in relation to their own pregnancies must have arrest and investigation records of those offences, however we are not currently aware from published data how many other women were arrested and/or investigated for a relevant abortion offence when acting in relation to their own pregnancies but not ultimately charged, or were cautioned for a relevant offence.

Therefore, the extent of the pardons and deletion of relevant details from official records under Section 242 and the likely impact, particularly as we do not have available data on all relevant arrests and investigations, cannot be accurately quantified at this time.

Other protected characteristics

As outlined above, we consider that the protected characteristics of sex and pregnancy and maternity are the most relevant ones in assessing the impact of Sections 241 and 242. Defendants, and in relation to Section 242, those arrested and/or investigated, and those cautioned, with other protected characteristics are not expected to be particularly affected by this policy. Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest that abortion-related offences are committed by individuals who share any other combination of protected characteristics in the same way as those who share the protected characteristics of sex and pregnancy/maternity. These characteristics are therefore not considered relevant in evaluating the impact of Sections 241 and 242.

Direct discrimination

Sections 241 and 242 do not involve direct discrimination as they only disapply the criminal law for pregnant women acting in relation to their own pregnancies, and will pardon women convicted of, or cautioned for, criminal offences related to abortion when acting in relation to their own pregnancies and require such convictions or cautions, or related arrests or investigations, to be deleted from relevant official records (respectively), rather than women generally. In relation to sex, men may be treated less favorably than pregnant women acting in relation to their pregnancies, but not less favorably than women in general, as cohorts of women – those who are not pregnant or those who are acting in relation to another’s pregnancy – would still be criminally liable under the relevant abortion offences and are not subject to the statutory pardon and relevant data deletion provision in Section 242.

Similarly, it would also not amount to direct discrimination on grounds of pregnancy as pregnant women acting in relation to another’s pregnancy are still captured by the relevant abortion offences. In addition, pregnant women previously convicted of, or cautioned for, criminal offences related to abortion when acting in relation to another’s pregnancy won’t be pardoned and details of such convictions or cautions, or related arrests or investigations, will not be deleted from relevant official records of such women and so will still stand. Moreover, not being pregnant is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

Indirect discrimination

Section 241 only disapplies the criminal law from pregnant women acting in relation to their own pregnancies and Section 242 will only pardon women convicted of, or cautioned for, criminal offences related to abortion when acting in relation to their own pregnancies and require such convictions and cautions, or related arrests or investigations, to be deleted from relevant official records. The relevant protected characteristics are therefore the specific combination of sex and pregnancy and maternity. There is arguably an indirect differential treatment between individuals (including men and women) acting outside the context of their own pregnancies, and pregnant women acting in relation to their own pregnancies. However, our assessment is that this would constitute a very indirect, even remote, form of differential treatment.

Parliament’s aim in enacting Section 241 is to ensure that the criminal offences related to abortion, no longer apply to women acting in relation to their own pregnancy at any gestation.

Parliament’s aim in enacting Section 242 is to ensure that women previously convicted of, or cautioned for, criminal offences related to abortion when acting in relation to their own pregnancies are pardoned for those offences. In addition, that in relevant official records relating to such convictions and cautions, as well as records for women who were arrested or investigated for such offences when acting in relation to their own pregnancies, the details of convictions, cautions, arrests or investigations should be deleted so that such details - whether the woman was convicted or not - are not revealed on (DBS) checks.

This reflects recognition by Parliament of the particular vulnerability of this group. It is reasonable to consider this a legitimate aim and the means of achieving it are proportionate. Accordingly, Sections 241 and 242 do not constitute unlawful indirect discrimination.

1. Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK ↩