LONDON — In a landmark ruling last week, a woman in Northern Ireland was given a suspended prison sentence for buying abortion pills on the Internet to induce a miscarriage.

The unnamed woman's conviction prompted outrage and protests across the UK with human rights campaigners calling for urgent reform to Northern Ireland's abortion law.

However, that case highlights a broader issue— abortion isn't actually legal in any part of the UK. The abortions performed every year are happening because they fall under specific criteria that have been decriminalised. This status quo means that many women beyond Northern Ireland are faced with difficult and often distressing circumstances when they seek to have a pregnancy terminated.

"Abortion is illegal in this country and it's not just a technicality," says abortion law expert at Kent University Professor Sally Sheldon.

Sheldon says most people living in England, Wales and Scotland — where women can terminate pregnancies up to the 24th week — are unaware of the legal ambiguity.

Not a true abortion act

Under the 150-year-old act — created in 1861 before women had the right to vote — using or purchasing "poison" or "instruments" to induce a miscarriage were criminal offences.

Under current legislation abortion pills — Mifepristone and Misoprostol — administered by doctors, and on the World Health Organisation's essential medicines list are technically "poison".

The 1967 Abortion Act didn't overturn the Victorian-era legislation. Instead, it introduced three exceptions to allow medically controlled abortions for women in England, Scotland and Wales: Abortions must be certified by two doctors, be performed by a doctor, and take place in a licensed abortion clinic. Next year, it will be 50 years since the passing of that act and many think it's time to fully decriminalise abortion in the UK.

At a parliamentary meeting earlier this week, MP Cat Smith — shadow secretary for women — condemned the current legislation as "not fit for purpose".

"Abortion isn't truly legal in this country."

"The 1967 act isn't really a true abortion act," Smith said.

Professor Fiona de Londras, Chair of Global Legal Studies at Birmingham Law School, says the penalties laid down in the 1861 Act — including a life sentence — still apply. And, according to Sheldon, two women in England have been convicted after taking abortion pills bought online.

"The restrictions were introduced under the 1967 legislation as a way to prevent women from getting back street abortions. During the 1960s, women were dying and getting seriously injured in back street abortions. But, medicine has moved on since the 1960s, when abortion was a surgical procedure," says Sheldon.

Things are a little different in the U.S., however, where Roe v. Wade effectively legalised abortion in the first trimester in 1973. Roe permits individual states to regulate abortion — including criminalising it outside of certain circumstances — provided they respect the constitutional right to access abortion during the early stages of pregnancy.

The status quo is flawed

Under current restrictions, women in the UK generally have to make two visits to a licensed abortion clinic, which can be problematic for those in rural areas who have to travel long distances, and others who aren't able to take time off work.

During the first visit, Mifepristone is administered, but the second pill — Misoprostal — must be taken 24 to 72 hours after the first pill to be effective in completing the abortion.

Mifepristone, the abortion pill. Image: James Leynse

It's against the law to take the second pill home and self-administer, which is why a second visit is required.

In cases when it's problematic for a woman to return a second time, doctors administer the second pill 15 minutes after the first, which, according to Sheldon, is not ideal.

Once the second pill is taken, patients must get themselves home as quickly as possible before the miscarriage starts, but for some women, the miscarriage process begins on public transport, and — for women who've travelled from Northern Ireland — planes and ferries.

Progress stalled

Sheldon says the clause about licensed premises should be done away with. De Londras also says that there's no reason to maintain the criminalisation of abortion.

"Criminalisation has the capacity to ‘chill’ medical decision making in borderline cases," she says.

"There is a substantial amount of modernisation still required here in England but also in other parts of the United Kingdom."

In 2011, the Department for Health was challenged by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service who called for those seeking an abortion to be given both pills at the same time. Women would take the first one in the clinic under the supervision of a doctor, travel home and take the second pill there.

Pro-choice supporters in Belfast. Image: Getty Images

The High Court ruled that amendments made to the Abortion Act in 1990 gave the Secretary of State power to approve changes to the way in which abortions are administered to reflect "changes in medical science".

However, since that ruling the Department for Health has made no changes to license women's homes as places where legal abortions can take place. When asked by Mashable, a spokesperson for the Department for Health said they didn't know whether any changes to the abortion law were planned. For comparison, the U.S. has relaxed its guidelines allowing women to use Mifepristone further into pregnancy and with fewer visits to the doctor.

Cat Smith is currently trying to get cross-party support from pro-choice MPs in the House of Commons to move the conversation on around the decriminalisation of abortion and the overall reform of existing legislation.

In the meantime, women's access to crucial services at difficult times is still controlled by a Victorian law that's badly in need of overhaul.

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