{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/crime-and-policing-act-2026/section-242",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/crime-and-policing-act-2026/section-242.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2026/20",
  "legislation_title": "Crime and Policing Act 2026",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/crime-and-policing-act-2026",
  "path": "section/242",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "242",
  "heading": "Provisions for pardons and criminal records of women prosecuted under abortion law",
  "text": "(1) The Policing and Crime Act 2017 is amended as follows.\n(2) After section 165A insert—\n“Pardon and expungement of records for women under the law related to abortion\n165B (1) Subsections (2) and (3) apply in respect of a woman (whether living or deceased) who, when acting in relation to her own pregnancy, was convicted of, cautioned for, arrested for, or investigated on suspicion of, an offence under the law related to abortion, including sections 58 and 59 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929.\n(2) Where the woman has been convicted of, or cautioned for, an offence detailed in subsection (1), she is pardoned for the offence.\n(3) A relevant data controller must delete from relevant official records, so far as reasonably practicable, any details of which they are aware of a conviction, caution, arrest or investigation detailed in subsection (1).\n(4) In subsection (3)—\n(a) “relevant data controller” and “relevant official records” have the same meaning as in section 95 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012;\n(b) “delete”, in relation to relevant official records prescribed for the purposes of the definition of “delete” in that section, means record with the details of the conviction, caution, arrest or investigation concerned a statement that the details are to be treated as deleted under this section.\n(5) Other expressions used in this section or section 167(1) (so far as relating to this section) and in Chapter 4 of Part 5 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 have the same meaning in this section or (as the case may be) section 167(1) as in that Chapter (see section 101 of that Act).”\n(3) In section 167 (sections 164 to 166: supplementary)—\n(a) in subsection (1) after “165A” insert “or 165B”;\n(b) in subsection (2) after “165A” insert “or 165B”.",
  "extent": "E+W",
  "status": "prospective",
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "S. 242 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 255(1)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "coming into force",
      "affecting": "uksi/2026/1090",
      "affecting_title": "The Crime and Policing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 4) Regulations 2026"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/20/section/242",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-31T10:30:58.060228+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}