[THE 1967 Abortion Act was, in its time…]
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THE 1967 Abortion Act was, in its time, a major piece of progressive legislation, but it must surely be proved by now just how fragile it is.
In effect, all it does is to take a statutory crime (abortion is a "crime" under both the 1881 Infant Life Preservation. Act and the 1928 Offences Against the Person Act) and to say that, in certain extenuating citcumstances, the criminality does not apply.
It has nothing to say about provision of NHS facilities, and it refrains totally from giving the preg nant woman the right of choice.
Any attack, therefore, on abortion rights, need only chip away at the terms or the interpretation of the 1967 Act, and the "crime" is there, ready and waiting.
The new abortion notification form, by attempting to force the doctor performing the operation to state "major medical grounds' is right in line with this techClose i me To