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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Hannah Al-Othman North of England correspondent

MPs and peers approve law to pardon women convicted over abortions as far back as 1800s

Protesters at a march for the decriminalisation of abortion in London in 2023
The amendment to the crime and policing bill will become law in a few weeks. Photograph: Sopa Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Legislation to pardon women who have been convicted of illegal abortions has passed its final parliamentary hurdle, paving the way for a landmark change in the law in England and Wales.

The amendment to the crime and policing bill, which will also expunge the police records of those arrested and investigated over illegal abortions, was considered in the House of Lords during a phase of parliamentary ping-pong, where a bill passes back and forth between the Lords and Commons.

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