A Hampshire MP was one of eight Conservative MPs to vote for decriminalisation of abortion..
Kit Malthouse, the MP for North West Hampshire, voted to change abortion legislation to stop women in England and Wales from being prosecuted for ending their pregnancy on Tuesday, june 17.
On issues such as abortion, MPs are given free votes, meaning parties do not whip their MPs to vote a particular way
The vote was a landslide, with 379 voting for the amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, and 137 voting against.
The change in abortion laws is the biggest in decades. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who brought the amendment forward, said it would remove the threat of “investigation, arrest, prosecution or imprisonment."
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The eight Conservatives joined hands with 291 Labour, 63 Liberal Democrats (Lib Dem), seven independents, four Green Party, four Plaid Cymru, and two SDLP MPs.
Ninety-six Conservatives, including leader Kemi Badenoch, voted against the amendment, along with 25 Labour, five DUP, five independent, two Lib Dem, four Reform and two other MPs.
Kit Malthouse said: "This was one of the most difficult and emotionally testing votes I’ve taken in Parliament. I thought about it long and hard, and I didn’t come to my decision easily.
"But in the end, I voted to support the narrow decriminalisation of abortion in England and Wales because I simply couldn’t accept that women, often frightened, isolated, and in genuine distress, should be sent to prison for ending their own pregnancy beyond the legal time limit.
"These situations are rare, but when they happen, they’re tragic. No one makes that kind of decision casually.
"The law still stands firm where it should: abortions after 24 weeks remain tightly regulated, and doctors who break those rules, or abusers who coerce women into terminations, can still be prosecuted.
"Nothing about that has changed. But what this reform does is recognise the difference between someone acting with malicious intent and someone acting out of fear, trauma, or utter desperation.
"It draws a clear line between criminality and vulnerability."
He continued: "I know this is a deeply sensitive subject, and I understand why many people feel very strongly about it — I do too.
"Late abortions are incredibly serious. They’re not just medical events, they’re emotional scars.
"But my judgment, after weighing the evidence, listening to the real stories behind the headlines, and reflecting on what kind of justice system we want to have, was that we should meet those moments not with prison, but with compassion."
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