Abortion Act 1967
The Abortion Act 1967 is a piece of legislation in the United Kingdom that legalized abortion under certain conditions. It allows for abortions to be performed by registered practitioners in National Health Service hospitals or licensed clinics. The Act sets out specific criteria for when an abortion can be carried out, including the need for two doctors to agree that continuing the pregnancy would risk the physical or mental health of the woman.
6 Key excerpts on "Abortion Act 1967"
eBook - ePub- Claudia Carr(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...In any event, the defence is largely irrelevant in modern-day medicine as the defence of necessity is embodied in the most significant legislation – the Abortion Act 1967. 9.1.6 The Abortion Act 1967 The 1960s witnessed a general period of social and sexual enlightenment. One significant breakthrough in this decade was the introduction of the contraceptive pill. At a similar time there came an awareness that legislation was necessary to avoid the occurrence of ‘back street abortions’ where, to avoid falling foul of the law or the stigma that was still associated with abortions, patients either attempted self-abortion using archaic and gruesome methods, or abortions were carried out in often insanitary conditions, leaving the patients exposed and vulnerable to infection or even physical injury. The Abortion Law Reform Association was formed in 1936, shortly before the case of R v Bourne (1939), in order to address such social injustice. Backbencher Liberal MP David Steel introduced the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill, which later became the Abortion Act and was enacted in April 1968. The Bill was fiercely debated and was highly controversial, facing stiff opposition from religious groups. The issue of abortion remains as controversial today as when it was first before Parliament. The Abortion Act 1967 should probably be regarded in a similar way to the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which, in a more liberalised period, legalised homosexual relationships between two consenting males over the age of 21 in private. Of course, the provision is still restrictive according to modern-day standards, but each statutory provision should be considered in relation to the social standards prevailing at the time. The Abortion Act 1967 is drafted widely and many would argue somewhat liberally. It is only in force in England, Wales and Scotland...
eBook - ePub- Colin Francome(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Chapter 7 The Politics of Legal Abortion in the UK since 1967 After the Abortion Act of 1967, many people felt that the issue was settled. There was a confidence about the changes. In the 1960s, suicide had ceased to be a criminal offence, the death penalty had been abolished, homosexuality had been legalized and birth control had become openly available to single people. It seemed that the legalization of abortion was just part of an overall change in attitude towards 'crimes without victims' (Schur 1965). However, in subsequent years there was a great deal of controversy and by the end of 1982 there had been ten Bills concerned with abortion, of which eight were intended to restrict the working of the Act. Since that time, however, things have been much quieter and we have seen that Britain has not had the degree of controversy over abortion that has occurred in the USA. There does appear to have been further liberalization in behaviour. The changes in terms of greater freedom of sexual morality seem to have been consolidated. Living together before marriage is now generally seen as acceptable behaviour, and the continued movement towards sexual equality has enabled women to have greater control over their lives. Attitudes to abortion amongst the general public have also liberalized, and the medical profession now supports legal abortion. Since the passing of the 1967 abortion law, many of the activists believed that the issue had been decided and so moved onto other campaigns. For example, some prominent ALRA members wanted to spread birth control information in order to help to reduce the number of abortions...
eBook - ePubAnti-Abortion Activism in the UK
Ultra-sacrificial Motherhood, Religion and Reproductive Rights in the Public Sphere
- Pam Lowe, Sarah-Jane Page(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Emerald Publishing Limited(Publisher)
...Moreover, the narratives were framed around ‘secular’ issues, despite anti-abortion activism being largely motivated by religious beliefs. Summary This chapter has outlined the history of opposition to abortion law in the UK, how the 1967 Abortion Act came into being, and how it was understood in relation to reproductive rights. We have also outlined the different circumstances in NI, where there has been an absence of abortion provision until very recently. Ultimately, abortion in the UK is typically understood as a medical, rather than a moral issue, although many of the actors who continue to oppose abortion are motivated by religion. In this history, we can see a number of specific narratives about abortion, and abortion service providers, that reoccur frequently in abortion debates today, such the ‘illusory’ and ‘avaricious’ motivations of those providing abortion. The chapter also illustrates the importance of situating opposition to abortion within its specific cultural context. Whilst strategies and tactics of the anti-abortion movement cross borders, the impact will be shaped by local circumstances. Importantly too, we have shown that from the medieval period onwards, objections to abortion were often framed around gendered ideas about motherhood being ‘natural’ for women, in line with specific Christian beliefs. This then leads to abortion being constructed as a risk to wider society as it challenges ideas about traditional family life. These beliefs continue today and will be examined in the following chapters. 1 Private Members' Bills are usually only allocated a short time to be debated, and a common tactic is for opposing MPs to talk for so long, that the bill is stopped from making progress due to lack of time to complete the passage through Parliament. 2 All legal attempts to restrict abortion since the 1967 Abortion Act have failed apart from one, detailed later. 3 Field notes at Life Ignite event 25/6/2016....
eBook - ePubRe-thinking Abortion
Psychology, Gender and the Law
- Mary Boyle(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...The increasing médicalisation of people's lives and the development of the NHS were thus likely to have been closely related influences in the reform of abortion legislation in Great Britain. Between 1967 and 1990, around twenty attempts were made to change abortion legislation, most of them in ways which would have made it more restrictive. Only one of these – through an amendment to the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill – was successful, suggesting that the major tenets of the 1967 Act are still acceptable to the majority of parliamentarians. ABORTION LEGISLATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE IRISH REPUBLIC Although Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, the 1967 Abortion Act does not apply there. In both Northern Ireland and the Republic, abortion is governed by the 1861 Offences Against The Person Act which was enacted before the partition of Ireland. In Northern Ireland, abortion is also regulated by the 1945 Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Act, equivalent to the 1929 Infant Life Preservation Act. English case law, such as the Bourne judgement, could arguably also apply in Northern Ireland (Lee 1995). Attempts to extend the 1967 Act to Northern Ireland, for example through an amendment to the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, have been unsuccessful, not least because Northern Irish politicians from opposing parties have put forward similar religiously based arguments against abortion...
eBook - ePub- Brendan Greene(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge-Cavendish(Publisher)
...One of the reasons behind the Act was to end the practice of ‘back street’ abortions, which often caused injury to women. The Abortion Act 1967 was amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The new s 1(1) of the Abortion Act provides that a person will not be guilty of an offence if a pregnancy is terminated in accordance with the following provisions. A registered medical practitioner (doctor) may terminate a pregnancy if two doctors are of the opinion formed in good faith that one of the grounds specified in the Act are complied with: (a) the pregnancy has not exceeded 24 weeks and continuing it would involve greater risk to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or her existing children than if the pregnancy was ended; or (b) termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman; or (c) continuing the pregnancy would involve greater risk to the life of the pregnant woman than ending it; or (d) there is a substantial risk that if the child were born, it would suffer such physical or mental abnormalities that it would be seriously handicapped. Section 1(2) provides that in determining the risk to health in paras (a) and (b), the pregnant woman’s ‘actual or reasonably foreseeable environment’ may be taken into account. Section 1(4) provides that sub-s (3) and so much of sub-s (1) as relates to the opinion of two doctors shall not apply to a termination by a doctor where he is of the opinion formed in good faith, that it is immediately necessary to save the life or prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. Ground (a) is often known as the ‘social’ ground for abortion, because the effect of s 1(2) is to allow such matters as home and family circumstances to be considered. The risk to the woman of continuing the pregnancy until birth must be greater than ending the pregnancy by having an abortion...
eBook - ePub- Judith Hendrick(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...Appendix B The Abortion Act 1967 Abortions are illegal unless they are carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Abortion Act 1967. This states that a pregnancy can be terminated by a doctor if two doctors have decided in good faith, that the grounds specified in the Act exist. These grounds are: 1. That the pregnancy has not exceeded its 24th week and the continuation of the pregnancy would involve risk of injury to the woman’s health (physical or mental), or that of any of her existing children in her family, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated 2. That the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the woman’s health (physical or mental), or 3. That the continuation of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, or 4. That there is a substantial risk that the child would be seriously handicapped owing to physical or mental abnormalities. In assessing the risks involved in grounds 1 and 2 account can be taken of the woman’s actual or reasonably foreseeable environment. In emergencies - where termination is immediately necessary to save the life or to prevent grave permanent injury to the woman’s health (physical or mental) - the requirement to satisfy two doctors is relaxed and one doctor can act alone. Other provisions of the Act worth noting are the ‘conscience clause’ which gives conscientious objectors the legal right to refuse to take part in abortions (except when their participation is required to save the life or to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of a pregnant woman). Note also, that it is now clear that selective reduction of pregnancy (ie termination of one or more, but not all fetuses in a multiple pregnancy) may be performed provided the criteria in the Abortion Act are met (but not otherwise)....
