Abortion Act 1967

Abortion Act 1967^[1]

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to amend and clarify the Law relating to termination of pregnancy by registered medical practitioners.
Citation	1967 c. 87
Introduced by	David Steel
Territorial extent	England and Wales; Scotland
Dates
Royal assent	27 October 1967
Commencement	27 April 1968
Other legislation
Amended by	The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Abortion Act 1967^[1] (c. 87) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that legalised abortion in Great Britain on certain grounds by registered practitioners, and regulated the tax-paid provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NHS).

The bill was introduced by Liberal MP David Steel as a Private Member's Bill. The proposal was backed by the Labour government, who appointed the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Sir John Peel, to chair a medical advisory committee that reported in favour of passing the bill.^[2]

After a further heated political and moral debate, the House of Commons passed it by a vote of 167 to 83 on 13 July 1967.^[3] The House of Lords granted it a second reading by a vote of 127 to 21 on 19 July,^[4] and approved it with minor changes on 23 October.^[5] On 25 October, the Commons voted 188—94 to agree with the amendments made by the Lords.^[6] The bill was enacted two days later, and came into force on 27 April 1968.

The Act made it lawful to have an abortion up to the 28th week if two registered medical practitioners believed in good faith that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, or harm her physical or mental health, or that of any of her family members. It did not extend to Northern Ireland until the implementation of the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020. Under this legislation, a registered medical professional could terminate a pregnancy where the pregnancy had not exceeded 12 weeks in length, there was a risk to physical or mental health within 24 weeks of pregnancy, or, at any time during pregnancy, where the pregnant woman's life was at immediate risk, there was a risk to the pregnant mother's physical or mental health, or a severe or fatal fetal abnormality had been detected. In the latter two cases, the good faith opinion of two registered medical professionals is required. ^[7]