The Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Bill has moved closer to becoming law.
A hero police dog watched in the House of Commons as MPs backed attempts to give service animals greater protection from attacks.
Finn joined Pc Dave Wardell in the public gallery to see the Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Bill move a step closer to becoming law.
The Bill, nicknamed Finn’s Law, removes a section of the current law of self-defence often used by those who harm a service animal while committing a crime.
Pc Wardell, from Hertfordshire, said the dog – now retired – saved his life when a robbery suspect they were pursuing turned on them with a knife in 2016.
Finn suffered serious stab wounds to the chest and head but did not let go until reinforcements arrived, and was initially thought unlikely to survive.
The suspect was charged with ABH in relation to wounds to Pc Wardell’s hand but faced only criminal damage charges over the injuries to Finn, with MPs hearing such a charge essentially treated the dog as if he was a piece of police property.
Pc Wardell said he was delighted that Finn’s Law had passed its third reading in the Commons.
Sitting with Finn the dog in the Government chief whip’s office of the Commons, he said: “He can sense that dad was a bit emotional, so I think he’s quite excited now and looking forward to a run in the park.
“For me, what it shows is just how highly the whole of the UK thinks of their service animals and it’s our right really to protect them and, from what we’ve heard today, we’re well on our way to doing that.”
Finn’s presence in the Commons emerged as Tory MP Victoria Prentis (Banbury) spoke in support of the Bill.
After it was initially believed he was not there, Pc Wardell lifted Finn up.
Ms Prentis said: “Finn is here – super. I look forward to meeting him later.
“Oh look, he’s standing up. We can see him – marvellous. I can only apologise that those on the opposition benches probably can’t quite see him.”
Conservative Sir Oliver Heald, who tabled the Bill, earlier said: “This change in the law, when taken together with the Government’s increase to the animal welfare penalty, will mean for the first time there is suitable protection for service animals and a proper sentence for offenders.
“Service animals, such as Finn, do a great job.
“There are 1,200 police dogs in service at any one time.
“There should be proper recognition in law of their vital role.”
The Bill would amend the 2006 Animal Welfare Act to address concerns about defendants’ ability to claim they were justified in using physical force to protect themselves from a service animal.
The Government last year also announced animal abusers would face up to five years in jail – an increase from the previous six-month maximum sentence.
The Bill will undergo further scrutiny at a later stage in the House of Lords.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana pushed Tuesday to extradite a California doctor accused of mailing abortion pills, setting up a likely test of laws designed to protect telehealth providers who ship abortion pills nationwide.
This is the second time Louisiana has pursued an out-of-state doctor under its abortion restrictions, with Republican Gov. Jeff Landry saying on social media that he wants to bring the abortion provider “to justice.” The two criminal cases pit Louisiana, which has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, against jurisdictions that have enacted what are known as shield laws for providers who facilitate abortions from afar in states with bans.
“Louisiana has a zero tolerance policy for those who subvert our laws, seek to hurt women, and promote abortion,” Landry said in a post X announcing he'd sent the extradition paperwork. California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment
Remy Coeytaux, a physician in the San Francisco Bay Area, faces a criminal charge of abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Tuesday. If convicted, the doctor could face up to 50 years in jail and fines, Murrill said.
An email and a telephone message seeking comment were left for Coeytaux.
According to court documents, he is accused of mailing mifepristone and misoprostol in 2023 to a Louisiana woman who sought the medication through Aid Access, a European online telemedicine service. The woman took the pills in combination to end her pregnancy, investigators wrote in the indictment, which says authorities confirmed Coeytaux as the sender.
Murrill told The Associated Press she believes this “is not the only time he sent abortion pills into our state” and that “it probably won't be the last time we will indict him.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy group that is representing Coeytaux against civil charges, stressed that the criminal charge in Louisiana is an allegation.
“While we can’t comment on this matter itself, one thing is clear — the state of Louisiana is going after doctors for allegedly harming women, yet they are enforcing an abortion ban that puts women’s lives at risk every day,” Nancy Northup, president of the group, said in a written statement.
Coeytaux is also the subject of a separate federal lawsuit filed in July in Texas, where a man alleges the doctor illegally provided abortion medication to his girlfriend.
Medication abortion has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration since 2000. Louisiana bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. Physicians convicted of providing abortions face up to 15 years in prison and $200,000 in fines. Last year, state lawmakers passed additional restrictions targeting out-of-state prescribers and reclassified mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances.
The law came after an arrest warrant was issued in Louisiana in a separate case for a New York doctor accused of mailing abortion pills to a pregnant minor. In that case, officials said the minor’s mother ordered the medication online and directed her daughter to take it. The mother was later arrested, pleaded not guilty and was released on bond.
That case appeared to be the first of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Louisiana also sought that doctor’s extradition, but New York Gov. Kathy Hochul refused, saying her state’s shield laws were designed to protect providers who offer abortion care to patients in states with bans or where telehealth prescribing is restricted. New York and California are among eight states with such protections, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
FILE - Mifepristone tablets sit on a table at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
