Jennifer McKiernan
Political reporter
MPs have voted to change abortion legislation to stop women in England and Wales being prosecuted for ending their pregnancy.
The landslide vote to decriminalise the procedure is the biggest change to abortion laws in England and Wales for nearly 60 years.
Women who terminate their pregnancy outside the rules, for example after 24 weeks, will no longer be at risk of being investigated by police.
The law will still penalise anyone who assists a woman, including medical professionals, in getting an abortion outside the current legal framework.
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi put forward the amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes.
As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.
The current law in England and Wales states that abortion is illegal but allowed up to the first 24 weeks of pregnancy and beyond that in certain circumstances such as if the woman’s life is in danger.
Women can also take medication at home to terminate their pregnancies under 10 weeks.
Setting out her arguments in Parliament, the Gower MP flagged that nearly 99% of abortions happen before a pregnancy reaches 20 weeks, leaving just 1% of women “in desperate circumstances”.
Antoniazzi highlighted a series of cases where women had been arrested for illegal abortion offences, such as Nicola Packer, who was taken from hospital to a police cell after delivering a stillborn baby at home after taking prescribed abortion medicine when she was around 26 weeks pregnant.
She told jurors during her trial, which came after more than four years of police investigation, that she did not realise she had been pregnant for more than 10 weeks.
Antoniazzi urged MPs to support her amendment to recognise “these women need care and support, and not criminalisation”.
“Each one of these cases is a travesty, enabled by our outdated abortion law
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