RESEARCH: Abortion Act 1937 (2)

https://www.abortionrights.org.uk/history-of-abortion-law-in-the-uk/

The first reference to abortion in English law appeared in the 13th century. The law followed the Church teaching that abortion was acceptable until "quickening", which was believed that that was when the soul entered the foetus.

Legal situation remained like this for centuries.

• 1803: The  Act - abortion after "quickening" (i.e. the movement is felt at 16-20 weeks) carried the death penalty. Previous punishment was less severe.
• 1837: The Ellenborough Act was amended to remove the distinction between abortion before and after quickening.
• 1861: The Offences Against the Person Act - performing an abortion or trying to self-abort carried the sentence of life imprisonment.
• 1929: Infant Life Preservation Act - created a new crime of killing a viable foetus (at that time it was fixed at 28 weeks) in all cases except when the woman's life was at risk. However, it want clear whether it would be legal to terminate for the same reason before 28 weeks.
• 1923-1933: Fifteen per cent of maternal deaths were due to illegal abortion.
• 1936: The Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) was established - its aim was to campaign for the legalisation of abortion.
• 1938: Dr Alex Bourne was acquitted of having performed an illegal abortion. (set a case-law precedent)
• 1939: The Brickett Committee, which had been set up by the Government, recommended clarification that doctors could perform an abortion to save a woman's life. WW2 mean that the implementation of its findings where delayed.
• 1952-1961: ALRA campaigned unsuccessfully for bills to legalise abortion. Support for the reform grows.
• 1967: The Abortion Act (sponsored by David Steel, MP) became law, legalising abortion under certain conditions.
• 1975: The National Abortion Campaign (NAC) was established to protect the 1967 Act and camp gained for its improvements.
• 1990: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill introduced specific time-limits on abortions.
• 2003: NAC and ALRA merged to form Abortion Rights.

In conclusion, this article was very useful as it set out a timeline of how abortion came to what it is today. This article may be biased as the article is from a "pro-choice" website.

(In the post above, I have noted my findings for further use, all information is from the link at the top of this page.)