China’s legislature is backing away from a proposal to criminalise gender-based abortions, a frequent practice due to the country’s one-child policy and a cultural preference for boys.

The National People’s Congress had been leaning towards making selective abortions a crime punishable by fines and up to three years in jail. But a new draft amendment to the country’s criminal law, which is scheduled for a vote this week, removed that measure since “many controversies remain”, the official Xinhua news agency said at the weekend.