Decriminalisation of abortion 'right change at the right time...

MPs have voted in favour of measures to decriminalise women terminating their own pregnancies.

- PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTERS

The Commons voted 379 to 137, majority 242, to back Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi’s amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill.

The Gower MP said it will remove the threat of “investigation, arrest, prosecution or imprisonment” of any woman who acts in relation to her own pregnancy.

Ms Antoniazzi told MPs she had been moved to advocate for a change in the law having seen women investigated by police over suspected illegal abortions.

During the Bill’s report stage, Ms Antoniazzi assured her colleagues the current 24-week limit would remain, abortions would still require the approval and signatures of two doctors, and 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 also told MPs: “This is the right change at the right time. I implore colleagues who want to protect women and girls and abortion services to vote for new clause one. Let's ensure that not a single desperate woman ever again is subject to traumatic criminal investigation at the worst moments in their lives.”

On issues such as abortion, MPs usually have free votes, meaning they take their own view rather than deciding along party lines.

Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones indicated the UK Government is neutral on decriminalisation and that it is an issue for Parliament to decide upon.