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Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has written to constituents making clear her opposition to both of today's abortion amendments (see 13.10 post). 

The minister will not be present for today's vote due to being away on government business. 

Though the amendments were both tabled by Labour MPs, it will likely be a free vote - meaning MPs can vote however they like.

Mahmood said: "It is hard to see these measures as anything other than extreme. 

 "I can unequivocally state that I would have voted against both amendments were I able to be there, and I will vote against them if given the opportunity in the future. 

 "I oppose extending abortions up until the point of birth beyond the exemptions that currently exist, as doing so would not only be unnecessary but dangerous. 

"I am deeply concerned to see these measures being progressed in the name of women's rights, when the potential physical and mental impacts on women would be so devastating." 

She added she is "troubled" by the amendments being considered as part of the wider Crime and Policing Bill "meaning there will be less time for debate".

Later today, members of the House of Commons will likely vote on decriminalising abortion in what could be a historic moment for the UK.

Two Labour MPs - Tonia Antoniazzi and Stella Creasy - have put forward amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill around the issue of terminating pregnancies.

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle could pick one - or perhaps both - of the amendments to be debated, but it is likely only one will be voted upon.

Under current law in England and Wales, abortion is allowed up to the first 24 weeks of pregnancy - and beyond that in certain circumstances.

However, abortion is still considered a criminal offence under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 - and it has to be approved by two doctors.

So what do these two amendments propose?

The Antoniazzi amendment hopes to prevent women from being investigated, arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned for ending their pregnancies.

The MP claims that criminal investigations can be "dehumanising and prolonged and the women forced to endure them are often extraordinarily vulnerable".

Antoniazzi told the BBC that more than "100 women have in the last five years been put into the criminal system and it's not in the public interest".

She said: "It isn't in the public interest of the public purse either, and it鈥檚 caused greater distress, financial and emotional distress, to these women and to their lives."

Her amendment - which has been backed by 176 MPs - would keep punishments for medical professionals and violent partners who end a pregnancy outside of the existing law.

Meanwhile, the Creasy amendment goes further, aiming to enshrine abortion access as human right.

The MP also hopes to prevent women who have terminated their own pregnancies from being investigated.

She claims her amendment offers "protection to all those involved in ensuring that women can access safe and legal abortions" - while Antoniazzi's does not.

Creasy's amendment has been backed by 108 MPs but not abortion providers - while Antoniazzi's has.

Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy serve up their essential guide to the day in British politics.

President Donald Trump's made a hasty exit from the G7 conference in Canada leaving questions about collective diplomacy and his promise to bring peace to an increasingly violent Middle East.

The White House insists his return is to deal with "important matters", while Trump himself has hinted his swift exit is for something 鈥渂ig鈥�.

How will Keir Starmer and allies navigate talks following the US president's departure?

Progress has been made on car tariffs and aerospace, but where does this leave the rest of the US-UK trade deal?

While we were watching the Home Affairs Committee, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch held a news conference with the victims of grooming gangs.

She also took a number of questions from the media, including our political correspondent Tamara Cohen. 

Tamara asked Badenoch whether the Conservatives owe survivors of this abuse an apology for not doing more when in government.

Badenoch said: "My brief didn't cover this area. I was women and equalities minister. I had a separate scandal. 

"I was looking at the Tavistock scandal. We got that clinic closed."

She went on to say that the Tories are "very focused on getting a national inquiry".

"There were issues, for instance, with Conservative politicians being criticised when we highlighted that ethnicity should be looked at."

Baroness Casey turns to another issue, saying that she feels "the bigger issue which is men's violence towards women is in danger of being lost".

This is because officials have not done the job properly of collecting ethnicity data, she says.

"There are so many good men who need to step into the space of helping to do something around that," she says, not just around child abuse but "more generally".

"If we're still arguing about data around ethnicity we wont get to the bigger issue which is no matter ethnicity, religion, age or whatever - why do men commit these offences against girls?"

Baroness Casey says: "Child sex abuse that we're talking about today is largely men - if not all men - against girls and some of them are young."

Baroness Casey has suggested that a national statutory inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal should have a deadline of three years.

She previously suggested a time limit, after her report into group-based child sexual exploitation was published on Monday.

Asked what this time limit should be, Baroness Casey suggested three years.

She said: "In anything we've said so far, we've said three years."

Baroness Casey also suggested a "team effort" rather than an individual running the inquiry.

Turning back to the matter of ethnicity, Baroness Casey says people don't find looking at this "straightforward in certain circumstances".

But in others, she says, "they find it really easy to look at it".

Baroness Casey adds: "If good people don't grasp difficult issues there's plenty of bad people who will grasp them for you.

"My advice to everybody is get ahead of trouble and grasp it, because you're a good person, and there's plenty of people out there who grasp the bad stuff and make it even worse than it needs to be."

Baroness Casey says Alexis Jay did a "stunning job" of holding institutions like the Catholic Church and the Church of England to account.

"Her and her team... journalists and victims have pushed it, and she lifted that lid and showed it for what it was."

Baroness Casey has insisted that the 12 points made in her report are "achievable" for the government to implement.

Addressing the Home Affairs Committee, she said: "I hope this is a line in the sand.

"I think the 12 things we are asking for are not impossible - they are not pipe dreams, they are achievable."

You can learn more about Baroness Casey's report below:

Sarah Kincaid, a policy adviser for the Home Office, is also appearing before the Home Affairs Committee with Baroness Casey this morning.

She was asked about gaps in data, and whether these had an impact on her team's ability to put together their report on grooming gangs.

Kincaid says: "Our job was to assess the scale of group-based child sexual exploitation, and in that we have not been able to provide an answer because of the data systems.

"We don't know how much sexual abuse there is in the country."

She says there are a few "reasonably educated estimates", but nothing conclusive.

"We don't have anything up to date," she adds.

Baroness Casey is now explaining why she decided to back a national statutory inquiry, after initially being reluctant to do so.

She explained she was initially of the view that "perhaps we ought to implement the recommendations of [Alexis Jay's] report before we start thinking about anything else.

"I was definitely there, and I own that."

But, she says, while conducting her review it became "abundantly clear on a number of fronts that if we didn't have a national inquiry, as opposed to just a series of local inquiries, then we wouldn't get to the issue of accountability".

Baroness Casey said she "is pretty tough on crime", explaining she "likes finding criminals and I like locking them up".

She explained that during her audit, a "few things came to light very clearly".

"First of all, when they made an announcement in January that they had the money for at least five areas to do local inquiries... only Oldham bit the bullet and said yep we want to do a local inquiry," she says.

"My understanding is that no one else did that."

Baroness Casey says: "That tells you something, doesn't it?"