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Middle East crisis live: Israel says it has launched ‘extensive strikes’ on Iran as Trump says US ‘not ready’ to make a deal to end war

Democratic US senator Cory Booker has criticized both his own political party as well as its Republican counterpart for being “feckless” in ceding congressional war powers to Donald Trump, saying that their decision could embolden the president to unilaterally attack Cuba, North Korea and other countries. “I’m going to be one of those Democrats [who] say I think both parties have been feckless in allowing the growth of the power of the presidency,” Booker said on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. The New Jersey senator said nothing Barack Obama did while in the White House – or that even Trump did before his first presidency ended in defeat to Joe Biden – was “in any way related to what we’re seeing right now”. Booker’s comments alluded to US military strikes Trump has ordered in Nigeria, Venezuela and Iran since Christmas. He called the war that the US and Israel started in Iran on 28 February – when a missile strike killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – “the biggest military engagement of our country since the war in Afghanistan”. Read more:

French far-right party holds its biggest city in first-round local elections

Jordan Bardella, the head of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) and a potential candidate in next year’s presidential race, has called on voters to back what he called his party’s “common sense and order” campaign in the final round of municipal elections next week. As the first-round municipal election results trickled in on Sunday night, the anti-immigration RN held on to the biggest city it runs: Perpignan. Louis Aliot was re-elected in the first round as mayor of the city, which has a population of 121,000 and is close to the Spanish border. The RN is now hoping it could also take another city, for example the southern coastal city of Toulon – which will go to a second-round runoff. But any success in Toulon will depend on whether other parties join to block the RN. The party of the radical left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, La France Insoumise (LFI), is also seeking to gain a foothold at a local level before Mélenchon is expected to make a fourth bid to be French president next year. The party, which is seeking to increase its local councillors, had strong results in the north of France in Lille and Roubaix, which will now go to second-round runoffs. Manuel Bompard, the LFI national coordinator, said the party was willing to create an “anti-fascist front” with other left parties to stop the RN making gains. The French municipal elections are seen as a crucial test of the political temperature before next year’s presidential election. The vote for mayors and councillors in 35,000 villages, towns and cities across France is focused on local issues including security, housing and refuse collection and is very different from national elections. But the two-round vote held on consecutive Sundays – particularly the ballot in large towns and cities – will be scrutinised for what it can reveal about party strategy and alliances in France’s increasingly fragmented political landscape before the 2027 presidential race. Emmanuel Macron’s two terms in office end next year and there is uncertainty about which candidates will run for the presidency of the EU’s second largest economy. Two years after Macron called a snap election in 2024, parliament remains divided, with no absolute majority, split between the left, far right and centrists. After a record-low turnout at the last local elections in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, analysts were closely scrutinising the races to gauge possible voter disengagement. According to estimates from several polling organisations, overall turnout was low – at between 56% and 58.5% compared with 63.55% at the equivalent elections in 2014. “Apart from 2020, we have reached a record low under the Fifth Republic, [the political system since 1958],” François Kraus of the IFOP polling institute told Agence France-Presse. “Public apathy is growing,” added Adélaïde Zulfikarpasic of pollster IPSOS BVA, saying it was “not good news for our democracy”. Historically, France’s major cities have been governed either by centre-left groupings, including the Socialists or Les Républicains. Green-led coalitions won significant cities in the last municipal elections in 2020, including Lyon, but are under pressure as they try to hold on to their gains. In the northern port of Le Havre, Edouard Philippe, the former prime minister who intends to run as a centre-right presidential candidate next year, had a strong first-round score and will now face a second-round runoff. Philippe had suggested that if he did not win the city he has run since 2014, his candidacy for the presidential race would be in question. In a speech on Sunday night, Philippe said he had “humility” and was there to “listen” to voters “neighbourhood by neighbourhood”. Large cities such as Paris, Marseille and Lyon will go to a second-round runoff next Sunday. Many mayoral candidates had distanced themselves from political parties, reflecting voters’ exasperation with politics and the deadlock in parliament. A large number of mayors, particularly in villages, stood as independents.

Israeli police kill two young Palestinian boys and their parents in West Bank

Israeli police have killed two young Palestinian brothers and their parents in the occupied West Bank, shooting all four in the head and face as the family returned from a Ramadan shopping trip. Mohammed, five, Othman, seven, who was blind and had special needs, their mother, Waad Bani Odeh, 35, and father, Ali Bani Odeh, 37, were driving through their home town of Tamoun late on Saturday when Israeli forces opened fire. Israeli forces target Palestinians with near total impunity in the occupied West Bank, where the last attack that led to a homicide indictment was a 2019 shooting, according to legal data compiled by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din. Since then Israeli forces have killed more than 1,400 people, including more than 320 children and over 30 women, UN figures show. Israeli settlers killed at least 44 other Palestinians. The Bani Odeh family were killed just hours after Israeli settlers shot and killed Amir Moatasem Odeh, 28, in Qusra south of Nablus. The attackers also stabbed his father, Moatasem Awda, who was taken to hospital in serious condition. There has been a surge of Israeli violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank since Israel and the US launched their war on Iran at the end of February. Over two weeks Israeli settlers have shot six civilians dead during invasions of Palestinian olive groves, villages and grazing land, and one man died after inhaling military-grade teargas used by the Israeli army. The attack on the Bani Odeh family brought the number of Palestinians killed to 11. Two brothers survived the shooting. Khaled, 11, the oldest of the siblings, said he had heard his mother crying and his father praying before they died. After the gunfire stopped, Israeli border police dragged him out of the wreckage, taunted him about the murders of his family and attacked him. One of the Israelis said “we killed dogs”, he told Reuters. The family had been in the nearby city of Nablus to buy clothes for the upcoming Eid, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Families often stay up late in a month when adults fast during daylight hours. “What did this family do? They went to buy Eid necessities, and to put a smile on those children’s faces,” said Mansour Abu Islam, a neighbour and cousin of Ali. “This is clear evidence that Palestinian lives have no value.” The gunmen were an undercover unit who were not in uniform and were driving a car with Palestinian licence plates, Abu Islam said. Israeli forces opened fire without warning, Khaled said in an interview from hospital. After the shooting an Israeli asked him who had been in the car. “I said: ‘My father, my mother, my three brothers, and me’. He said: ‘You are lying,’ and then they started beating and kicking me.” All four victims were shot in the head and face, and Ali, who was driving, was also shot in the chest and left hand, the Palestinian health ministry said. The two surviving boys sustained shrapnel wounds in the eye and the head, their grandmother, Najah al-Subhi, told the Associated Press. Israeli forces initially prevented ambulances reaching the scene, the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement. The military later towed the family car away, according to witness accounts and video shared on social media. The Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs said the killings were “a shocking act of extrajudicial execution”, carried out by Israeli forces exploiting global attention on the war with Iran. “Such crimes, alongside the escalating violence carried out by Israeli settlers across the occupied West Bank, are not isolated incidents, but part of a broader and systematic campaign aimed at the destruction and forced displacement of the Palestinian people,” the ministry said in a statement. A spokesperson for the Israeli police said the Bani Odeh family had been killed during a joint operation with the Israeli military. Forces opened fire on the vehicle when they “perceived an immediate threat” after it accelerated, the statement said. Asked what threat was posed by four young children and their unarmed parents, or whether the shooting violated Israeli rules of engagement, the police and military declined to comment. The police and military were in the area to “arrest wanted suspects believed to be involved in terrorist activity”, the statement said. “The circumstances of the incident are under review by the relevant authorities.” No arrests were reported on Sunday. The Israeli military has command responsibility for all forces operating in occupied Palestine. A spokesperson said border police killed the Bani Odeh family and declined to comment further, referring all questions to the police. Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza on Sunday killed 12 people, medics and the interior ministry said. A pregnant woman was bombed with her husband and son in Nuseirat, and another strike hit a senior police officer and eight others from his team in the entrance to Zawayda town, AP reported.

Initiative may be slipping away from US and Israel as Middle East crisis deepens

Few doubt that in the first days of the new war in the Middle East, the initiative belonged to the US and its ally Israel. Now it seems less sure, however. Mohsen Rezaee, a senior officer in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, on Sunday said “the end of the war is in our hands” and called for the withdrawal of Washington’s forces from the Gulf and compensation for all damage caused by the assault. Three weeks ago, it appeared unlikely that Tehran’s senior officials would ever sound quite so confident. The conflict began with a surprise strike by Israel that killed the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. US and Israeli warplanes then swiftly proved they could operate with impunity over Iran, drawing on deep reserves of intelligence to strike at thousands of targets. The only significant losses were inflicted by friendly fire. Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles and drones launched at Israel that were largely intercepted by Israel’s air defence systems. So far, 12 people have been killed in Israel by attacks by Iran. The toll is still substantially lower than in the much shorter conflict between the two powers last year. Countries in the Gulf did less well when targeted by Iran, but have still been able to protect their residents and infrastructure from any crippling damage – though whether their stocks of crucial interceptor missiles will run out is much debated, and their reputation as oases of calm, luxury and wealth is in ruins. The US and Israel prove each day their massive conventional military superiority with more strikes on Iran, but it could appear the initiative is slipping away from them. Donald Trump has given multiple timelines for the duration of the conflict, but in recent days has suggested it would only end after Iran has been forced to make concessions. Many analysts believe the US is getting trapped in a much longer war than it wanted. The critical change has been the closure of the strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of the world’s oil and gas. This has sent shock waves through the global economy, sending oil prices soaring and spiking prices at the pump. The US president is now coming under domestic and international pressure to bring hostilities to a rapid end. Danny Orbach, a professor of military history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, nonetheless insisted Israel and the US were still directing the dynamic of the war. “Having the initiative means you are setting the agenda … Iran is running out of missile launchers … so the only thing open to Tehran was to escalate the conflict and hope that somehow it will stop. That is why it attacked the Gulf states and then closed the strait of Hormuz,” he said. Some have suggested Trump could order US marines who are on their way to the Middle East to seize Kharg Island, which is Iran’s principal oil export hub, to pressure Tehran. But the marines will not arrive for at least two weeks. Trump may also order the destruction of the oil facilities on Kharg, crippling Iran’s economy potentially for years to come. So far, only military targets there have been hit, a choice made “out of decency”, Trump said on Saturday. “Iran is dependent on a US decision on whether to blow up or not their economy. If there is any stalemate, it is not an equal one,” said Orbach. But other analysts disagree. Peter Neumann, a professor of security studies at King’s College London, said Iran had played a bad hand successfully. “For a number of days now, the US has been trying to find a good response to the closure of the strait of Hormuz, that they clearly didn’t expect … I think the Iranians now have the initiative,” Neumann said. Trump has called on other countries to send warships to join a US attempt to reopen the strait. None have so far accepted, and most analysts say such an effort would be fraught with risk. Not only would protecting hundreds of tankers demand the diversion of huge military resources, but it could never guarantee total security for shipping. A single Iranian missile, mine or small boat loaded with explosives could have a devastating effect. This suggests the decision to reopen the strait will have to be taken in Tehran. There is little evidence that Iran’s current leadership is inclined to do anything that would mitigate the threat to the global economy, or that the regime change that Israel and the US hoped to bring about in Iran is imminent. Neumann added: “Despite the great success in destroying military and economic infrastructure in Iran, this hasn’t had the desired political effect. The regime seems weak but stable.” Israeli commentators on Sunday described government efforts to lower expectations raised at the start of the war. Yoav Limor wrote in the mass market newspaper Israel Hayom that officials believe regime change is less likely and blamed “the powerful grip the regime has continued to maintain on the security forces and the ruthless suppression that deeply terrified the Iranian public”. But within this spiralling regional crisis, other smaller conflicts may follow their own dynamics. Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq still seem unwilling to commit entirely to the defence of Iran, while the Houthis in Yemen have yet to enter the hostilities. In Lebanon, Hezbollah surprised Israel by seeking to avenge the death of Khamenei with a series of extensive barrages with missiles and drones. Since then, the Iran-backed Islamist movement has continued to fire salvoes into northern Israel, revealing a strength unsuspected by many analysts. Israel has responded with a massive air offensive that has killed more than 800 people and forced the displacement of about 800,000. David Wood, a Lebanon analyst at the non-profit International Crisis Group, said Hezbollah did not hold the same cards as the Iranians. “Israel have clear and ambitious aim of eliminating Hezbollah as a threat to its national security, though their means of achieving this are unclear. Hezbollah has one clear objective: to survive,” said Wood. “Hezbollah might have surprised even the Israelis at the beginning of the conflict but we shouldn’t assume it will be able to maintain that over the long term given the massive Israeli military superiority.”

US not ready to seek deal to end war with Iran, Donald Trump says

Donald Trump has warned he is not ready to seek a deal to end the US-Israeli offensive against Iran, saying that though he thought Tehran was keen to negotiate a ceasefire, the US would fight on for better terms. Trump’s comments came as Iran launched fresh missile and drone attacks on countries in the Gulf and on Israel, and Israeli and US warplanes launched new waves of strikes on Iran. The conflict has plunged the Middle East into chaos, upended global air travel and disrupted oil exports from the region, sending fuel prices rising around the world. Neither Tehran nor Washington appeared ready to moderate their rhetoric despite the mounting death toll and soaring oil prices after the virtual closure of the strait of Hormuz sea lane. Trump, speaking on Saturday to NBC News, said the US may bomb targets on Kharg Island, which is the site of Iran’s principal oil export facility, once more “just for fun”, after US warplanes targeted military installations there on Friday. “Iran wants to make a deal, and I don’t want to make it because the terms aren’t good enough yet,” Trump said, adding that US forces would step up attacks on the Iranian coast north of the strait to clear a path for oil shipments. Experts say it will be extremely difficult for the US to reopen the strait through military means alone as long as Iran retains the ability to hit or harass shipping with missiles, drones or small boats. Trump has called for other countries’ warships to help protect tankers passing through the strait, which usually carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies. More than 600 ships are trapped in the Red Sea. On Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, urged other countries to refrain from any action that “could lead to escalation and expansion of the conflict”, in a conversation with his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, according to an Iranian foreign ministry statement. Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has – in a written statement – vowed to keep the strait of Hormuz closed. But Trump dismissed this and suggested Khamenei may not even be in control, saying: “I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody has been able to show him.” Iran has admitted that Khamenei, 56, was injured in the strike that opened the war on 28 February and killed his predecessor, his father, but has described the injuries as light. The Israeli military announced a wave of strikes against targets in western Iran, after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards called Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, a criminal and vowed that they would pursue and kill him. In Tehran, people were able to go about their work week in the most normal atmosphere since the start of the war, witnesses said. Traffic was busier than last week and some cafes and restaurants had reopened. More than a third of stalls in the Tajrish bazaar, a popular shopping hub in the north of the capital, were open, five days before Nowruz, the Persian new year. Some shoppers queued at ATMs to withdraw cash. Online operations at Bank Melli, one of the country’s largest, had been paralysed in recent days. In some places, passengers were waiting at bus stops, which had been largely deserted since the beginning of the war. More than 1,300 people have been killed by US and Israeli strikes on Iran, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. That includes 223 women and 202 children, according to Iranian health ministry figures reported by Mizan, the judiciary’s official news agency. The UN refugee agency says up to 3.2 million people have been displaced in Iran, most of them fleeing the capital and other cities to seek safety. In a rare reference to diplomacy taking place, Araghchi told the London-based news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Sunday that Iran was ready to consider any proposal that included “a complete end” to the war and said mediation efforts were continuing between Iran and its neighbours to de-escalate. He gave no indication of whether progress had been made, and there was no independent confirmation of his claim, though Turkish officials have said they have made efforts to bring the conflict quickly to an end. Violence has continued to flare elsewhere in the region. The US has urged its citizens to leave Iraq, where pro-Iranian groups have launched attacks on the US embassy and bases hosting western military units, and there were reports of new strikes against potential US allies among Kurdish factions in the north of the country. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia said separately on Sunday they had intercepted renewed barrages of projectiles launched by Iran. Dubai has also been targeted. Iran has accused the US of using “ports, docks and hideouts” in the United Arab Emirates to launch strikes on Kharg Island, without providing evidence. The UAE and other Gulf countries that host US bases have denied allowing their land or airspace to be used for military operations against Iran. In Israel, 12 people are reported to have been killed by Iranian missile fire. On Sunday, two people were lightly injured in the latest attack, medics said. Loud booms rattled windows in Jerusalem as interceptors brought down missiles. Israel has accused Iran of using cluster munitions in its targeting of civilian areas. More than 800 people have been reported to have been killed in Israel’s latest offensive against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant Islamist movement in Lebanon that joined the conflict by launching missiles and drones into Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s previous supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Overnight strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least four people, Lebanese state media and the government said on Sunday. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israel had struck “an apartment in a residential building” in a northern district of the coastal city of Sidon, killing one person and causing a fire. To the south-east of Sidon, in the village of al-Qatrani, three people were killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Israeli military officials said their strikes aimed to degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities. On Sunday, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, denied reports that Israel could soon hold direct talks with Lebanon and rejected claims it had told the US it was running low on interceptors. Sa’ar also said Israel saw “eye to eye” with the US over the war with Iran and that the two allies were determined to continue until their goals were achieved. “We want to remove the existential threats from Iran for the long term. We don’t want to go every year to another war,” he told reporters. At least 13 members of the US military have been killed since the war began, including six who died in a plane crash over Iraq last week. The director of the US National Economic Council, Kevin Hassert, said US strikes had so far cost $12 billion.

Iranians embrace anthem by AI singer created by UK-based, Iran-born artist

A stirring song – sung, apparently, by a young woman, with lyrics expressing the hope that sacrifice will lead to a better future – has become a soundtrack for Iranians in the first part of 2026, as the country experienced the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests and then the US-Israeli air assault, now in its third week. However, the singer, called Nava, is a product of artificial intelligence, created by a London-based artist of Iranian origin, Farbod Mehr. Nava cannot be arrested, unlike the Iranian singer Shervin Hajipour, who was jailed after his song Baraye became the unofficial anthem for the 2022 protest movement. The character represented Iranian women, who cannot sing in public, Mehr said. “I did it for the people, and I loved how they reacted to it,” he said. “From the blood of the youth, tulips have bloomed,” Nava sings. The song, Javanan-e Vatane (Youth of the Homeland), features lyrics by the 20th-century poet Aref Qazvini, whose work called for resistance to authoritarianism and imperialism. It has been viewed 13m times on Instagram alone. Nava has released an album worth of tracks over the last few months. But it was a song put out at the end of January, at the height of a brutal crackdown by the authorities on protesters in Iran, that resonated most, first with the bloodshed on the streets, and even more so now with the bombardment by US and Israeli air forces. In online comments posted on Nava’s songs there was some debate over whether the singer was real, but for others it made no difference. “People want to see themselves in this character. The brain tries to find a connection with the character,” said Mehr. “It has become the voice of the times we are experiencing.” He said the blend of a classical Iranian song with a modern French folk melody had hooked Iranians everywhere, with more than 70% of the views coming from within Iran, despite an internet blackout there. Mehr, 34, a graduate of London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art whose visual art combines geometric forms with Iranian mysticism, moved with his family from Iran to the UK as a teenager. He said he felt hope and sadness as he watched the war from afar. Nava’s social media persona shows a life well beyond music, as she walks around London and travels to other countries. Blurring the virtual and real worlds further, Nava has collaborated with a real-life musician, the Iranian singer Mehrad Hidden, and in April will make an appearance on stage as a hologram at gigs in Washington and Toronto, alongside human DJs.

Decriminalising abortion: how could the House of Lords amend the legislation?

MPs voted last year to end the criminalisation of women who terminate pregnancies outside the legal framework. It was hailed as the biggest step forward for reproductive rights in England and Wales in six decades. On Wednesday evening, abortion law will again come under the parliamentary spotlight when members of the House of Lords put forward their proposed amendments to the legislation. What happened in the House of Commons in June? Last summer, MPs voted to decriminalise abortion, with an amendment to the crime and policing bill – now adopted as a clause – put forward by Tonia Antoniazzi, a Labour backbencher. Support was overwhelming, with 379 in favour and 137 against. Under the legislation, which is yet to be enacted, women who end their pregnancies outside the legal framework will not be prosecuted. That framework – which includes the need for two doctors’ signatures and has time limits at which terminations can be carried out – remains the same, and doctors who act outside the law still face prosecution. Women are still being arrested. Do police have any discretion in this? Harriet Wistrich, a solicitor and chief executive of the Centre for Women’s Justice, said police did have discretion over whether to make an arrest. Even if they believed a case may require investigation, they could instead invite a suspect to the police station for a voluntary interview. How will the Lords decide which amendments go to a vote? Amendments can be laid in the House of Lords until Tuesday, the day before they will be considered. The member who lays the amendment can choose to call a division – or put it to a vote. It is anticipated that there will be multiple votes on abortion proposals on Wednesday. What are the main amendments? Nine amendments have been laid on abortion so far, including proposals to have a police investigation of every girl under 16 who accesses a legal abortion and a proposal for the first new abortion offence in nearly 100 years. The key amendments are two broadly pro-choice and two broadly anti-abortion proposals. What is the strikethrough amendment? One amendment, proposed by Rosa Monckton, a prominent “pro-life” Conservative peer, is known as a “strikethrough” amendment, which seeks to delete the decriminalisation clause from the bill. What are the amendments being proposed to telemedicine? In an emergency measure passed during the pandemic, and later made permanent in legislation in 2022, women can access remote consultations for pregnancies up to nine weeks and six days. An amendment put forward by the Conservative peer Philippa Stroud seeks to end telemedicine and return to in-person consultations in all cases. A similar amendment put before the Commons in June was unsuccessful. What is the pardon amendment? Abortion offences are classed as violent crimes, meaning they will permanently be disclosed as part of a DBS check. Put forward by Glenys Thornton, a Labour peer and former health minister, this amendment would legislate to pardon women who have convictions or cautions for abortion offences and remove affected women’s details from police systems. What does the cease and desist amendment seek to do? Women who are under investigation now by police still face prosecution, even though the law may have changed by the time their cases come to court. An amendment put forward by Liz Barker, a Liberal Democrat peer, would expand the legislation to include women whose alleged offences were committed before the change in law, ensuring that any current investigations and prosecutions against women under abortion law are discontinued. When is the crime and policing bill expected to become law? The bill is expected to finish its passage through parliament in the coming weeks. If parliament votes to retain decriminalisation of abortion, it will become law on the day it receives royal assent.

Vulnerable women in England still being arrested over suspected illegal abortions

Vulnerable women in England are still being arrested and facing police investigations over suspected illegal pregnancy terminations, despite parliament backing changes to the law to decriminalise abortion. Responding to a freedom of information request, Nottinghamshire police and the Metropolitan police confirmed they had arrested women suspected of illegal terminations between June last year and this January. Abortion providers have said they are aware of several cases that do not show up in the data, with the relevant police forces having either refused the request, or reported they had recorded no arrests of women under the relevant legislation. Last June, MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of a change in the law that will mean women procuring a pregnancy termination outside the legal framework cannot be prosecuted in England and Wales. However, the legislation is still passing through parliament and yet to become law. In one case, which happened after the parliamentary vote last year, a woman went to hospital and shortly afterwards miscarried at about 17 weeks. When she was examined, tablets were found in her vagina and police were called. Officers arrested the woman in the hospital’s delivery suite, and her home was searched while she remained on the labour ward. The woman, who denied seeking an abortion, had unstable diabetes, which can be especially problematic to control after delivery. Police officers confiscated her electronic devices, through which she used software to monitor her condition and control her insulin pump. The woman said she felt betrayed by the NHS and police, and no longer felt safe engaging with these services. A clinician involved in her care said: “When I called the police, I really thought they would offer her support and protection. What happened was horrifying.” The amendment to the crime and policing bill, put forward by the Labour backbencher Tonia Antoniazzi and passed with 379 votes in favour and 137 against, came after an outcry about an increase in prosecutions of women over illegal abortions. The vote was hailed as the biggest step forward for reproductive rights in England and Wales in 60 years. The framework under which abortion is accessed – including the need for two doctors’ signatures, and the time limits at which terminations can be carried out – remains the same, and doctors who act outside the law still face the threat of prosecution. In another case involving a different police force, a woman in her 40s was arrested over Christmas. She had thought she was very early in pregnancy, but delivered a foetus in its gestation sac, which was later determined to be around 24 weeks. She called an ambulance, and paramedics reported they found her hyperventilating and panicking. Professionals said there were significant safeguarding concerns, and the woman had a history of being a victim of domestic abuse. Her children, who witnessed the police intervention, had to leave their home over Christmas while the house was searched. “The search may well have included opening their Christmas presents,” one professional said. Antoniazzi said: “The dystopian treatment of women continues under this Victorian-era law despite the House of Commons being clear that this has no place in modern society. The police and wider criminal justice system cannot be trusted with abortion law. “Women have been targeted, vilified and imprisoned following complications in their abortion treatment, miscarriage, stillbirth or premature labour. Forced to endure acute trauma at the worst moments of their lives for absolutely no reason, because criminalisation is completely unnecessary for upholding abortion law and safeguards.” There have also been further instances of women being reported to police since June, where investigations may be continuing. In one case a young mother with a small child was referred to police. The woman lived in a deprived area, and was described as “vulnerable” and at “high risk of being in an abusive relationship”. She sought an abortion from the NHS over Christmas in 2025, and delivered a foetus, which was initially estimated to be around 16 weeks. Although the foetus was “definitely under 24 weeks”, which is the legal time limit for abortion, except in certain circumstances to which limits do not apply, the NHS called the police. The case was also referred to the coroner for a postmortem to be carried out. “It is the investigations that cause most harm; few progress to charging and fewer still to prosecutions,” said Jonathan Lord, the co-chair of the RCOG (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) abortion taskforce. “The police and CPS have shown consistently – in multiple areas and in numerous cases – that they do not act appropriately or with sensitivity. In several cases they have only targeted the woman, and not investigated potential abuse by a coercive partner.” Harriet Wistrich, a solicitor and chief executive of the Centre for Women’s Justice, said: “In some of the cases we have seen women being arrested from hospital shortly after the abortion when they may be extremely traumatised and certainly there is no need to arrest them then and there. “But arrest, investigation and charging will be determined by two tests – is there sufficient evidence that an offence has been committed and if so is it in the public interest,” she added. “There is a strong argument to make that in circumstances where the House of Commons have voted by a large majority to stop criminalisation, that discretion should be exercised in the public interest not to arrest.” On Wednesday, amendments to abortion law will again be debated in the House of Lords. Peers have proposed a number of changes to the bill, ranging from striking out Antoniazzi’s decriminalisation clause, to pardoning women who have already been convicted, and putting a stop to all ongoing police investigations. “We know from providing reproductive healthcare across six continents that criminalisation harms women and makes abortion less safe,” said Louise McCudden, MSI Reproductive Choices UK’s head of external affairs. “The House of Lords now has a historic opportunity to end the threat of prosecution once and for all, pardon women who have been previously convicted and drop ongoing investigations. “At a time when we are seeing rollbacks in reproductive rights around the world, most notably in the US, it’s encouraging that our parliament is standing up for women.” A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesperson said: “Police do not routinely investigate unexpected pregnancy loss. An investigation is only initiated where there is credible information to suggest criminal activity, and this would often be because of concerns raised from medical professionals. “Each case would have a set of unique factors to be assessed and investigated depending on its individual circumstances. “It would be at the discretion of the senior investigating officer leading the case to determine which reasonable lines of enquiry to follow, again depending on the merits of the specific case. “We recognise how traumatic the experience of losing a child is, with many complexities involved, and any investigation of this nature and individuals will always be treated with the utmost sensitivity and compassion.”