Abortion in the United Kingdom

Abortion in the United Kingdom has been legal in England, Scotland and Wales since the Abortion Act passed in 1967. At the time, this legislation was one of the most liberal laws regarding abortion in Europe. However, abortion remains illegal in Northern Ireland, and all political parties in Northern Ireland oppose its legalisation, although Sinn Féin supports some limited liberalisation of abortion laws.

History
Abortion had been historically legal under common law in England, Scotland and Wales. Under English common law, abortions prior to 'quickening' - when the fetus could first be felt to move by the pregnant woman - were thought to be morally and legally acceptable. Under Scottish common law, abortion was defined as a criminal offence unless performed for 'reputable medical reasons,' a definition sufficiently broad as to essentially preclude prosecution. Following protests from medical professionals, who worried about the dangers of the procedure and that it was regularly carried out by non-medical personnel, abortion was made a crime in 1803, subject to the death penalty or exile (i.e., transportation for life to Australia or another penal colony). It later was regulated under the Offences Against the Person Act of 1837, which eliminated the death penalty as a possible punishment, and ss58/9 Offences Against The Person Act 1861, which eliminated exile as a possible punishment and made abortion or attempts to "procure a miscarriage" illegal under all and any circumstances, providing:
 * 58. Every woman, being with child, who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, shall unlawfully administer to herself any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, and whosoever, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman whether she be or be not with child, shall unlawfully administer to her or cause to be taken by her any poison or other noxious thing, or unlawfully use any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable … to be kept in penal servitude for life ....
 * 59. Whosoever shall unlawfully supply or procure any poison or other noxious thing, or any instrument or thing whatsoever, knowing that the same is intended to be unlawfully used or employed with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether she be or be not with child, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable ... to be kept in penal servitude ....

These provisions remain the law but they have not deterred abortions. While there was a steady increase in the use of artificial contraception, and women were making determined efforts to limit family size (household size, 1891: 4.6, 1931: 3.7), women did find themselves with unwanted pregnancies. Abortifacients were discreetly advertised and there was a considerable body of folklore about methods of inducing miscarriages. Amongst working class women violent purgatives were popular, pennyroyal, aloes and turpentine were all used. Other methods to induce miscarriage were very hot baths and gin, extreme exertion, a controlled fall down a flight of stairs, or veterinary medicines. So-called 'backstreet' abortionists were fairly common, although their bloody efforts could be fatal. Estimates of the number of illegal abortions varied widely - by one estimate, 100,000 women made efforts to procure a miscarriage in 1914, usually by drugs.

In 1929 the Infant Life (Preservation) Act was passed. The Act states:

"1) Subject as hereafter in this sub-section provided, any person who, with intent to destroy the life of a child then capable of being born alive, by any wilful act causes a child to die before it has an existence independent of its mother, shall be guilty of felony, to wit, of child destruction, and shall be liable on conviction thereof on indictment to penal servitude for life:

Provided that no person should be found guilty of an offence under this section unless it is proved that the act which caused the death of the child was not done in good faith for the purpose only of preserving the life of the mother.

(2) For the purposes of this and the next succeeding section, evidence that a woman had at any material time been pregnant for a period of twenty-eight weeks or more shall be prima facie proof that she was at that time pregnant of a child then capable of being born alive."

The 1861 Act was stil in force and the Child Destruction offence overlapped this pevious Act making it an offence of Child Destruction to directly abort a "child capable of being born alive". The reason for the introduction of this Act was to cover the process of the actual birth of the child which was outside the scope of the 1861 Act and also outside the scope of Infanticide as the Child was not yet born.

The Bourne Ruling in 1938 allowed for further considerations to be taken into account. The ruling came from the 1938 case of Rex v. Bourne following an abortion performed on a girl who had been raped. This case extended the defence to the Infant Life (Preservation)Act 1929 to the Illegal Abortion offence in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. The effect of Bourne was that for the first time a direct abortion ( as opposed to an indirect abortion) was considered to fall within the defence. To date the Bourne case is seen to have extended the "life" of the mother in the defence to include "health". The most recent edition of Archbold, the leading criminal text, states on the subject of the defence to abortion:

“a person …will have a defence, if the act which caused the death of the child was done in good faith for the purpose of preserving he life of the mother or, possibly her health”. R v Bourne (Archbold 2006 at 19-136 refers)

The gynaecologist concerned, Aleck Bourne, later becomes a founder member of the anti-abortion group SPUC (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children) in 1966. The pro-choice group, the Abortion Law Reform Association, was formed in 1936.

In 1939 the Birkett Committee recommended a change to abortion laws but the intervention of World War II meant that all plans were shelved. Post-war, after decades of stasis certain high profile tragedies, including thalidomide, and social changes brought the issue of abortion back into the political arena.

There have been over 69 prosecutions for illegal abortion in England and Wales between 1973 and 2003 (these statistics are held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. Ref: IOS 273–05. The question was also asked of Caroline Flint by MrDavid Amis in Westminster Sept 2005)[]

The most recent prosecution was for Child Destruction in the case of R V Maisha Mohammed May 2007, Manchester Crown Court. [] This case was a legal land mark as it was the first time a mother had been convicted of Child Destruction.

The 1967 Act
The Abortion Act 1967 sought to clarify the law. Introduced by David Steel and subject to heated debate it allowed for legal abortion on a number of grounds, with the added protection of free provision through the National Health Service. The Act was passed on October 27, 1967 and came into effect on April 27, 1968.

The Act allowed a woman to receive an abortion on any of the following grounds:


 * To save the woman's life
 * To prevent grave permanent injury to the woman's physical or mental health
 * Under 28 weeks to avoid injury to the physical or mental health of the woman
 * Under 28 weeks to avoid injury to the physical or mental health of the existing child(ren)
 * If the child was likely to be severely physically or mentally handicapped

The Act required that the procedure must be certified by two doctors before being performed.

Northern Ireland
The 1967 Act does not apply to Northern Ireland, where the 1861 Act and the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Act of 1945 are the defining principles.Efforts by some British politicians to legalise abortion in Northern Ireland have not been successful due to opposition from nationalist and unionist communities, uniting the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party, the Ulster Unionist Party, the Roman Catholic Church and the Democratic Unionist Party. Even the cross-community Northern Ireland Women's Coalition has declined to support a change in the law on abortion in Northern Ireland. Only some of the smaller parties and Sinn Féin advocate some relaxation of the abortion laws in Northern Ireland.

Later laws
Changes to the 1967 Abortion Act were introduced in Parliament through the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The time limits were lowered from 28 weeks to 24 for most cases to reflect improving medical technology. Restrictions were removed for late abortions in cases of risk to life, fetal abnormality, or grave physical and mental injury to the woman.

Since 1967, members of Parliament have introduced a number of private member's bills to change the abortion law. Four resulted in substantive debate (1975, 1977, 1979 and 1987) but all failed. The Lane Committee investigated the workings of the Act in 1974 and declared its support.

Number of abortions


Post 1967 there was, naturally, a rapid increase in the annual number of legal abortions. The rate of increase fell from the early 1970s and actually dipped from 1991-95 before rising again. The age group with the highest number of abortions per 1000 is amongst those aged 20-24. Certain sources estimate that one in three women aged 15-45 have had an abortion.

In 2004, there were 185,415 abortions in England and Wales. 87% of abortions were performed at 12 weeks or less and 1.6% (or 2,914 abortions) occurred after 20 weeks. 82% of abortions were carried out by the National Health Service. 

The overwhelming majority of abortions (95% in 2004 for England and Wales) were certified under the statutory ground of risk of injury to the mental or physical health of the pregnant woman. 

Attitudes to abortion
Surveys show support for legal abortion. Some observers believe feeling against abortion is growing. According to Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, there is "a growing unease with... the idea of abortion." Nonetheless legal abortion still retains public support on the mainland.

Support for legal abortion remains weak in Northern Ireland.

2004 Times/Populus poll
According to a 2004 survey (by Times/Populus Britons' feelings on abortion are


 * 75% of Britons believe abortion should be legal
 * 38% of Britons believe abortion should "always" be legal
 * 36% of Britons believe abortion should be "mostly" be legal
 * 23% of Britons believe abortion should be illegal
 * 20% of Britons believe abortion should be "mostly" be illegal
 * 4% of Britons believe abortion should be "always" be illegal

NB: The survey compares the results to respondents' voting habits for mainland parties, indicating that Northern Ireland was not included in this survey.

2005 YouGov/Daily Telegraph poll
According to an August 2005 YouGov/Daily Telegraph survey, Britons' feelings toward abortion by gestational age are:


 * 30% would back a measure to reduce the legal limit for abortion to 20 weeks
 * 25% support maintaining the current limit of 24 weeks
 * 19% support a limit of 12 weeks
 * 9% support a limit of less than 12 weeks
 * 6% responded that abortion should never be allowed
 * 2% said it should be permitted throughout pregnancy

2006 MORI poll
A more recent survey shows support for restricting abortion laws in the UK, and is cited by the Catholic Church in England and Wales as evidence of a growing unease with abortion.

According to the survey:
 * 42% of British men and women believe the legal limit for an abortion should be cut (i.e abortion more restricted).
 * 47% of British women believe the legal limit for an abortion should be cut
 * 36% of British men believe the legal limit for an abortion should be cut
 * 10% of British women believe that abortion should be "outlawed altogether"

Approved methods
Methodology is time related - up to the ninth week medical abortion can be used (mifepristone was approved for use in Britain in 1991), from the seventh up to the fifteenth week suction or vacuum aspiration is most common (largely replacing the more damaging D & C technique), for the fifteenth to the eighteenth weeks surgical D & E is most common.