The risk of problems occurring during an abortion is low. There is a higher risk of having problems if an abortion is performed later in a pregnancy. The low risks associated with abortion are as follows: As the author explained in a 2015 article, given the position of Scottish common law, the 1967 Act did not change Scottish law (since therapeutic interruption was already legal) or should be understood as restricting the „abortion law“ in that jurisdiction. Before the law was passed, it was clear that a doctor could authorize an abortion – at any time during pregnancy – based on her own medical judgment, as long as he acted in good faith. By introducing the requirement of two doctors in 1967 and then explicitly extending a 24-week deadline for legislation through an amendment by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, Parliament would have imposed legal restrictions on the availability of abortions in Scotland that did not previously exist. Although the abortion law in the British archipelago seems to be governed by a single law, the letter of the „abortion law“ – as Professor Norrie pointed out in 1985 – differs radically depending on whether you are in Scotland or England and Wales. In England and Wales, the term means „sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861“, which does not apply to Scotland under section 78 of that Act. In Scotland, „the Abortion Act“ simply tautologically means „any legal standard relating to the provision of abortion“ (see section 6 of the 1967 Act). In Northern Ireland, it is illegal to have an abortion unless the mother`s life is threatened or the continuation of the pregnancy has serious long-term negative consequences for her mental or physical health.
It is very rare for pregnancy to meet these conditions. In Northern Ireland, the total number of redundancies in 2017-2018 was 12, followed by 8 in 2018-2019 and 22 in 2019-2020. [132] [133] As noted above, abortions were permitted most of the time if the act was intended to save the mother`s life or if there was a risk of permanent and serious harm to the mother`s mental or physical health. By 2009, the number of abortions had risen to 189,100. Of these, 2,085 are due to the fact that doctors have decided that there is a significant risk that the child will have physical or mental abnormalities such at birth that he or she will be severely disabled. [145] In 2020, London was the region with the highest number of abortions, followed by southeastern England, the West Midlands, and northwest England. Abortion statistics collected at regional or national level (for England, Wales and Scotland individually) refer to residents. Abortions for non-residents are also recorded in England and Wales (combined), although they have been lower than usual this year due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic (943 abortions). Information for Northern Ireland is collected by financial year rather than calendar year, with 22 abortions registered in 2019-2020. Guidelines published by the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales list the (illegal) practice of abortion as an offence of child abuse[138] and state that certain illegal abortions may be performed as honour killings committed to punish women for „alleged or perceived breaches of the family and/or community code of conduct“.
[139] In a written response to Jim Allister, Northern Ireland Health Minister Edwin Poots announced that 394 abortions were performed in hospitals in the North between 2005/06 and 2009/10, with the footnote stating that the reasons for abortions were not centralized. [146] When asked whether it should be more difficult for women to perform abortions, the regulations were repealed by the Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020, which were essentially identical to minor corrections and were passed on 14. May 2020. [6] As of May 2022, just over two years after legalization, abortion clinics and treatment available in Northern Ireland were limited, and women seeking abortions continued to travel to the UK (mainly England). [99] Abortion criminality in England and Wales was reinforced in 1929 when the Infant Life (Preservation) Act was passed. The law criminalized the deliberate destruction of a child who „may be born alive.“ This was to fill a loophole identified by Lord Darling that allowed infants to be killed during birth, which would mean that the perpetrator could not be prosecuted for either abortion or murder. [18] The law contained the presumption that all children in utero over 28 weeks of pregnancy can be born alive. If a child`s life ended in utero before that pregnancy, evidence was presented and considered to determine whether or not the child could be born alive.
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