British lawmakers voted on Tuesday to prevent women from being prosecuted for having an abortion in England and Wales, a landmark decision that sets the country on a diverging path from the United States on an emotive social issue.

UK MPs are expected to vote Tuesday on an overhaul of abortion laws in England and Wales which would end contentious prosecutions of women for terminating a pregnancy.They say six women have appeared in court in England charged with ending or attempting to end their own pregnancy outside abortion law in the last three years.