Abortion law
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England, Scotland and Wales.
In 1967, Parliament passed the Abortion Act, later amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.
It applies to England, Wales and Scotland. It does not extend to Northern Ireland.
Rather than making abortion legal, the Act makes exceptions to the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act which made abortion an offence punishable by life in prison.
Under the 1967 Act, a doctor can legally perform an abortion, which has been authorised by two doctors, up to 23 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy if continuing the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy was terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family.
An abortion can be authorised and carried out with no time limit if:
- the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman
- there is a risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnanc...
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