MPs have voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales so that women cannot be prosecuted for terminating their pregnancy at any stage.
The amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill passed by 379 yes votes to 137 no votes, making it the biggest shakeup to reproductive rights in almost 60 years.
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who tabled the so-called “New Clause One” (NC1), said it would remove women from the criminal justice system in relation to their own pregnancies, ensuring they could not face investigation, arrest, prosecution, or imprisonment.
She said the current “Victorian” laws had been used against vulnerable women, citing cases such as Nicola Packer, who was arrested and tried after she was suspected of having an illegal abortion. She was found not guilty in May.
“Nicola’s story is deplorable, but there are many others,” Ms Antoniazzi said.
Abortion in England and Wales is currently a criminal offence but it is legal with an authorised provider up to 24 weeks, with very limited circumstances allowing one after this time.
It is also legal to take prescribed medication at home if a woman is less than 10 weeks pregnant.
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Ms Antoniazzi said NC1 “is a narrow, targeted measure” that won’t change how abortion services are provided or the rules under the 1967 Abortion Act.
She said: “The 24 limit remains. Abortions still require the approval of signatures of two doctors, and women would still have to meet the grounds laid out in the Act.”
That means that healthcare professionals “acting outside the law and abusive partners using violence or poisoning to end a pregnancy would still be criminalised, as they are now”, she said.
“This piece of legislation will only take women out of the criminal justice system because they are vulnerable and they need our help.
“As I have said it before, and I will say it again, just what public interest is this serving? This is not justice, it is cruelty and it has got to end.”
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The change will not come into effect immediately as it has been added to the Crime and Policing Bill, which is still making its way through parliament.
A separate amendment was also put forward by Labour MP Stella Creasy and went further by not only decriminalising abortion but “locking in” the right of someone to have one and protecting those who help them.
Hers was not voted on because Ms Antoniazzi’s passed, as expected.
Conservative MP and Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh, speaking against both amendments, described them as “not pro-woman” and argued they “would introduce sex-selective abortion”.
MPs were given a free vote on the amendment, as it typically the case with matters of conscience.
Recent cases re-ignite debate
The issue of women investigated by police over suspected illegal abortions has been in the spotlight recently due to a number of high profile cases.
Ms Packer was cleared by a jury last month after taking prescribed abortion medicine at home when she was around 26 weeks pregnant, beyond the legal limit of 10 weeks.
At her trial, which followed more than four years of police investigation, she said she didn’t realise she was so far along and she would never had taken the medication had she known.
In the Commons, Ms Antoniazzi also cited the case of a young woman named Laura, who was jailed after she was forced to take illegal abortin medication by her abusive partner.
The Gower MP said: “Laura nearly died from blood loss as a result of the illicit medication he had coerced her into taking. When she was arrested, her partner threatened to kill her if she told anyone of his involvement. Laura was jailed for two years. The partner was never investigated by police.”
