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.

The vote to decriminalise the procedure is the biggest change to abortion laws in England and Wales for nearly 60 years.

Abortions largely remain illegal in Britain, but a new law will put a halt to a recent increase in prosecutions of women who seek the procedure in England and Wales.