Antoniazzi cites other examples of women prosecuted for abortion offences.She goes on:Each one of these cases is a travesty enabled by our outdated abortion law.Although abortion is available in England and Wales under conditions set by the 1967 Abortion Act, the law underpinning it dating back to 1861, the Offences against the Person Act, means that outside those conditions, it remains a criminal offence carrying a maximum life sentence.Originally passed by an all-male parliament elected by men alone, this Victorian law is increasingly used against vulnerable women and girls.Since 2020 more than 100 women have been criminally investigated …Women affected are often acutely vulnerable victims of domestic abuse and violence, human trafficking and sexual exploitation, girls under the age of 18 and women who have suffered miscarriage.

Government officials have admitted they made a mistake by making the financial case for cutting benefits as they steel themselves for as many as 50 Labour MPs rebelling against the welfare bill that is being published on Wednesday, writes Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot.Sources told the Guardian that they now believed the party should have focused on the moral case for reforming the welfare system, arguing that it was letting down millions of people who could be supported into work.Labour insiders believe they could have kept more MPs on side if they had not highlighted the £5bn savings the Treasury would make as a result of the cuts to health and disability benefits that have so angered the party.At the time of the spring statement, ministers said there were two justifications for the move: one was to get people off benefits in the long term, but the justification for the immediate cut to incapacity benefit was to make sure the system remained financially sustainable.British MPs have voted to decriminalise abortion, marking the biggest step forward in reproductive rights in almost 60 years.

In an amendment to the government’s crime and policing bill, parliament voted to change the criminal laws that govern abortion in England and Wales so that women procuring their own termination outside the legal framework cannot be prosecuted,The framework of access to an abortion – including the need for two doctors’ signatures, and the time limits at which terminations can be carried out – will remain the same and doctors who act outside the law will still face the threat of prosecution,But women who terminate their own pregnancy outside the rules, for example after the time limit or by buying pills online, will no longer face arrest or prison,The offence of inducing a miscarriage carries a maximum sentence of life,The amendment, put forward by the Labour backbencher Tonia Antoniazzi, passed in a free vote of MPs after growing calls for a change in the law as the number of women investigated, arrested or prosecuted has increased in recent years.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch voted against Tonia Antoniazzi’s new clause one, to decriminalise abortion for women in relation to their own pregnancies.According to Commons data, she was joined in the “no” lobby by her shadow cabinet colleagues Sir Mel Stride, Richard Fuller, Dame Priti Patel, Chris Philp, Alex Burghart, James Cartlidge, Kevin Hollinrake, Helen Whately, Andrew Griffith, Robert Jenrick, Edward Argar, Stuart Andrew, Gareth Bacon, Alan Mak, Mims Davies, Andrew Bowie, and Jesse Norman.Shadow education secretary Laura Trott voted in favour of the proposed new clause.The British Pregnancy Advisory Service said the vote by MPs to decriminalise abortion is a “landmark moment for women’s rights”.Chief executive Heidi Stewart said: “This is a landmark moment for women’s rights in this country and the most significant change to our abortion law since the 1967 Abortion Act was passed.

“There will be no more women investigated after enduring a miscarriage, no more women dragged from their hospital beds to the back of a police van, no more women separated from their children because of our archaic abortion law.“This is a hard won victory, and we thank all those who have campaigned alongside us, and in particular those women, like Nicola Packer, who have spoken out about their traumatic experiences in the hope of achieving the change parliament has delivered today.“When we launched the campaign to decriminalise abortion in 2016, we could not have envisaged that within a decade such progress would be achieved.“In the past six years, we have seen more progressive reform of abortion law than we had seen in the previous 50.“Today’s vote is testament to the strength of support for abortion rights across the healthcare sector, civil society, parliament, and the country as a whole.

“We look forward to continuing to work with MPs to deliver wider reform and an abortion framework fit for the 21st century.”Commons data shows which way each MP voted on decriminalising abortion for women in relation to their own pregnancy.Cabinet members backing Tonia Antoniazzi’s proposed new clause one when MPs headed for the voting lobbies included: Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, Defence Secretary John Healey, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Steve Reed, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, Scotland Secretary Ian Murray, Wales Secretary Jo Stevens, and Commons Leader Lucy Powell.Tory MP Jerome Mayhew told MPs: “We have to acknowledge we have made a major change to abortion law, [without] no evidence session or committee stage scrutiny.Just 46 minutes of backbench debate.

”Reacting to the result, Humanists UK’s public affairs manager, Karen Wright, said: “Thanks to every MP who voted in support changing the law to end the horror of women facing police investigations when at their most vulnerable,“MPs today have made history in shaping a more humane law that prioritises treating women with compassion instead of suspicion in their hour of need,”And that brings the vote to an end,The ayes voted 117, the noes 379, giving a majority of 262,MPs have now divided to vote on new clause 106 to the crime and policing bill.

Dr Caroline Johnson tabled the amendment that would require a pregnant woman to have an in-person consultation before lawfully being prescribed medicine for the termination of a pregnancy.The result is expected at 7.30pm.The ayes voted 379, the noes 137, giving a majority of 242.MPs have divided to vote on new clause 1 to the crime and policing bill.

NC1 disapplies existing criminal law related to abortion from women acting in relation to their own pregnancy at any gestation,Here is the text of The Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi’s amendment,To move the following clause —“Removal of women from the criminal law related to abortion For the purposes of the law related to abortion, including sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929, no offence is committed by a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy,”Here is more from the father of the house, Sir Edward Leigh,He said Creasy’s amendment new clause 20 “would fully repeal all the existing laws that prohibit abortion in any circumstances at any gestation both in relation to a woman undergoing an abortion, and abortion providers or clinicians performing abortions”.

Referring to Antoniazzi’s new clause one, he told MPs it would “not be illegal for a woman to carry out her own abortion at home solely on the basis that the foetus is female” and added: “So, these amendments are not pro-woman.They would introduce sex-selective abortion.”Leigh told the Commons: “In conclusion, what we are faced (with) here is an extreme set of amendments going way beyond what public dominion demands or way beyond what is happening in any other country in the world.”Earlier, intervening during Leigh’s speech, Reform UK MP, Sarah Pochin, said: “Due to medical advancements, we can save the life of a foetus at 21 weeks, yet we can legally terminate a foetus at 24 weeks.“I shall be voting against all the amendments to decriminalisation of abortion and in fact, would (Sir Edward) not agree with me that we should actually be reducing the window in which you can have an abortion so that the law reflects the realities of modern medicine?”