Abortion and UK law
The Abortion Act 1967, the OAPA 1861, devolved differences, and the current push for full decriminalisation.
DRAFT — awaiting editorial review.
The baseline: abortion is still, formally, an offence
In England and Wales, procuring an abortion remains an offence under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (sections 58–59), with the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 covering the destruction of a child capable of being born alive. The Abortion Act 1967 did not repeal these; it created broad legal defences when two doctors certify specified grounds, up to 24 weeks for the most commonly used ground — and with no time limit where the child may be “seriously handicapped”, a provision used against children with conditions like Down’s syndrome and cleft palate.
How it works in practice
The certification system functions as abortion on request: the mental health ground covers about 98% of abortions, and since 2020 both abortion pills may be taken at home following a phone consultation (“pills by post”). The 1967 Act’s framework of “safeguards” does not restrain the practice; it launders it.
The nations
- Scotland: the 1967 Act applies; abortion law is devolved since 2016.
- Northern Ireland: the 1861 Act’s sections were repealed for NI by Westminster in 2019 over the objection of the devolved institutions, imposing one of the most permissive regimes in Europe.
- Wales: shares the England and Wales framework.
The current direction: decriminalisation
Parliament has moved repeatedly toward removing abortion from criminal law entirely — most recently through amendments decriminalising a woman’s ending of her own pregnancy at any stage. Understand what that means: not a change to clinical availability, but the removal of the law’s last formal acknowledgement that the child in the womb is anyone at all.
Why we do not campaign to “restore the 1967 safeguards”
Because the 1967 Act is the machinery of the killing, not a brake on it. Our demand is equal protection: the ordinary law of homicide applied from fertilisation. Nothing less matches what the preborn actually are.
Check yourself
3 questions on what you have just read. Answering is what makes it stick.
1What did the Abortion Act 1967 actually do to the Offences Against the Person Act 1861?
- Repealed sections 58–59
- Left them in force and created broad legal defences when two doctors certify specified grounds — correct
- Replaced the whole statute
- Applied only to Scotland
Procuring an abortion remains formally an offence. The 1967 Act created defences, not a repeal — and there is no time limit where the child may be "seriously handicapped".
2What proportion of abortions does the mental health ground cover?
- About half
- About 75%
- About 98% — correct
- Fewer than 10%
The certification system functions as abortion on request. As the article puts it, the 1967 Act’s framework of "safeguards" does not restrain the practice; it launders it.
3Why does the site not campaign to restore the 1967 safeguards?
- Because they were never effective law
- Because the 1967 Act is the machinery of the killing, not a brake on it — correct
- Because Parliament would not pass it
- Because the safeguards are still intact
The demand is equal protection, not a better-managed system. Decriminalisation removes the law’s last formal acknowledgement that the child in the womb is anyone at all.