The first references to abortion in English law appeared in the 13th century. The law followed the Church`s teaching that abortion was acceptable to the point of “acceleration,” which was believed to be when the soul entered the fetus. The legal situation has remained the same for centuries. A person cannot be guilty of a crime under the abortion law if a pregnancy is terminated by a licensed physician, if two licensed doctors believe it was formed in good faith – After 1967, there was a rapid increase in the annual number of legal abortions and a decrease in sepsis and deaths from illegal abortions. [140] In 1978, 121,754 abortions were performed on women residing in the United Kingdom and 28,015 on non-resident women. [141] The rate of increase has been declining since the early 1970s and even decreased from 1991 to 1995 before rebounding. The age group with the highest number of abortions per 1000 people is 20 to 24 years old. 2006 statistics for England and Wales showed that 48 per cent of abortions took place in women over 25, 29 per cent were between 20 and 24; 21% are under 20 and 2% under 16. [142] During each Parliament, several bills for MPs are usually introduced to amend the abortion law. [25] In the years following a report in support of the Lane Committee for the 1967 Act in 1974, Members introduced four bills that gave rise to substantive debate in the House of Commons (votes are marked in parentheses with Yes followed by No): However, this is not the case. In the United Kingdom, Wales, Scotland and England (and some islands), abortion has been legal since the Abortion Act 1967. This established the conditions under which a woman can receive a legal abortion and was considered a landmark law. The rights of women and children were clearly spelled out, which many saw as a successful balance between protecting life`s potential, the need for practical legislation that represents the reality of abortion, and the mother`s right to decide what happens in her own body.
For example, if two doctors believe in good faith that an abortion poses a lower risk to a woman`s physical or mental health than a pregnancy to the end, the abortion becomes legal – even though it would have been safer to carry the pregnancy to term in that case (for example, if the abortion resulted in death or injury). If a woman indicates that she does not have the means to continue the pregnancy, the doctor is not obliged to check whether she really lacks financial resources. In 1939, the Birkett Committee was created by the government to clarify whether doctors could perform an abortion to save a woman`s life, but its work was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Number and rates of abortions performed on residents of England and Wales in the last five years: In February 2016, during debates on the Justice Act (No. 2), the Assembly considered and debated an amendment allowing abortion in cases of pregnancy caused by sexual crimes (which was rejected by 64 votes to 32). and an amendment allowing abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities (which was rejected by 59 votes to 40). Sinn Féin and the Greens voted in favour of both proposals, while the DUP and SDLP backed the existing law and members of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Alliance Party voted according to their conscience. [56] The Abortion (Fatal Fetal Abnormality) Act was introduced in December 2016 by David Ford as a backbencher, but fell on the recess of the Assembly in January 2017. [57] The executive was reinstated in January 2020, but abortion legislation continued to be implemented by Westminster. The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 were submitted to Parliament on 25 March 2020 and came into force on 31 March 2020. [96] [97] The regulations permitted abortion in Northern Ireland in the following circumstances: The Abortion Act was amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act in 1990.
The amendments allowed abortion for the following reasons: These certification regulations currently require two doctors to state the reasons why an abortion can be performed (both agree that at least one and the same reason is true) and provide other required information. Current regulations state that they can do this by filling out a specific official document – the HSA1 form. or by specifying the same information about signed certificates. Statistics on legal abortions are published annually by the Department of Health and Social Care for England and Wales, NHS Scotland and the Department of Health in Northern Ireland. If there are only a small number of abortions for a specific reason, the figure is not published by statisticians to avoid the risk of revealing the identity of those affected. At midnight on 21 October 2019, sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 were repealed, decriminalising abortion, as the Northern Ireland Assembly was unable to restore devolution. It is therefore not necessary to extend the exemptions under the Abortion Act 1967 to Northern Ireland. [3] The Abortion Act of 1967, which came into force on April 27, 1968, allows abortion by a licensed doctor under certain conditions. In its application to England and Wales, the provisions adopted pursuant to the Act (The Abortion Regulations 1968, Statutory Instrument 1968 No. 390, as amended by 1969 No. 636, 1976 No. 15, 1980 No.
1724 and 1991 No. 499) that such denunciation must be notified within seven days in the form prescribed in Schedule 2 to the main Regulation. the Chief Medical Officer of Health of the Department of Health or the Chief Medical Officer of Health of the Welsh Office, depending on where the notice is given.
