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Prior to 1803 English Common Law permitted abortion provided it was carried out before 'quickening', the point reached at about 20 -24 weeks when it was believed the soul entered the body. Abortions performed after quickening were an offence under British Common Law, but there were no fixed penalties and the woman having the abortion was not necessarily held responsible. After 1803 the laws pertaining to abortion radically altered and termination became a criminal offence from the time of conception.
In 1861 Parliament passed the Offences Against The Persons Act. The 1861 Act Section 58 made abortion a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment from 3 years to life even when performed for medical reasons. No further legal changes occurred in England until 1929. The 2 following laws provide the exceptions to this 1861 Act.
In 1929 the Infant Life Preservation Act amended the law stating it would no longer be regarded as a felony if abortion was carried out in good faith for the sole purpose of preserving the life of the mother. The Act made it illegal to kill a child 'capable of being born live', and enshrines 28 weeks as the age at which a foetus must be presumed to be viable. Importantly the Act vested doctors with the power to decide when abortion is legal in certain cases when the life of the mother is threatened. (NB. It is a criminal offence to abort a viable foetus of whatever age.)
In 1936 the Abortion Law Reform Association was formed as a consequence of feeling that abortion legislation in its present state was unsatisfactory. The Abortion Law Reform Association recommend that the law should be made clear, as the 1861 Act still on the statute books deemed abortion illegal under all circumstances, while the 1929 Act stated that abortion was legal when it was performed by a medical practitioner who was 'satisfied that the continuance of the pregnancy was liable to endanger the health of the expectant mother'.
By 1966 public opinion relating to abortion gathered momentum as it was felt by many people that there was a need for clarification and reform on abortion law. It was the feeling of society that legalising the operation for medical professionals was the only way in which the tragic social problems of illegal abortions could be prevented.
The Abortion Act of 1967 came into effect on the 27 April 1968 and permits termination of pregnancy by a registered practitioner subject to certain conditions. Regulations under the Act mean that abortions must be performed by a registered medical practitioner in a National Health Service Hospital or in a Department of Health approved location - such as British Pregnancy Advisory Service Clinics. An abortion may be approved for the following reasons:
| A | The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman greater than if the pregnancy were terminated. |
| B | The termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. |
| C | The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. |
| D | The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of any existing children of the family of the pregnant woman. |
| E | There is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped, or in emergency, certified by the operating practitioners as immediately necessary- |
| F | To save the life of the pregnant woman; or |
| G | To prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. |
Later in 1990 amendments to the 1967 Abortion Act came into force through
the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Act.
Section 37 of the HFEA later made changes to the 1967 Abortion Act in making the time limit of abortion 24 weeks under statutory grounds C and D. Statutory grounds A, B and E are now without time limit.
In May 1996 'The Termination of Pregnancy Restriction Bill' was given its first reading in the House of Lords. The Bill, if passed, would have amended the Abortion Act of 1967 so that to perform terminations on the sole ground of a diagnosis of Downs Syndrome would become illegal. The Bill was introduced into the House of Lords by the Conservative Peer Viscount Brentford but a second reading was not requested and the bill never became law.
Although inconsistent and contradictory in its early legal development, the introduction of the Abortion Act of 1967 clarified the position on abortion and to this day provides the prominent statutory framework on which abortion is based.