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2 results

  • 3 - The Parliamentary Battle for Restrictive Reform

  • Sally Sheldon, University of Bristol and University of Technology Sydney, Gayle Davis, University of Edinburgh, Jane O'Neill, University of Edinburgh, Clare Parker, University of Adelaide
  • Book:
    The Abortion Act 1967
    Published online:
    03 November 2022
    Print publication:
    17 November 2022, pp 66-108

  • Summary

    Chapter 3 explores a series of attempts to restrict the Abortion Act fought between 1974 and 1990. The early attacks were led by men, most of them Tories, and framed in terms of defending family values, personal responsibility and moral standards. We show how the Women’s Movement now claimed and defended the Act, itself being importantly shaped in the process. We describe how, over the course of two decades, the centre ground for debate would gradually shift, with attacks coming to be framed in a language of social justice, civil liberties and scientific advance. The chapter ends when Parliament is finally given the opportunity for a meaningful vote on theAct and uses it to endorse the Act’s broad framework.

The Abortion Act 1967
  • A Biography of a UK Law
  • Sally Sheldon, Gayle Davis, Jane O'Neill, Clare Parker
  • Published online:
    03 November 2022
    Print publication:
    17 November 2022
  • The Abortion Act 1967 may be the most contested law in UK history, sitting on a fault line between the shifting tectonic plates of a rapidly transforming society. While it has survived repeated calls for its reform, with its text barely altered for over five decades, women's experiences of accessing abortion services under it have evolved considerably. Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews, this book explores how the Abortion Act was given meaning by a diverse cast of actors including women seeking access to services, doctors and service providers, campaigners, judges, lawyers, and policy makers. By adopting an innovative biographical approach to the law, the book shows that the Abortion Act is a 'living law'. Using this historically grounded socio-legal approach, this enlightening book demonstrates how the Abortion Act both shaped and was shaped by a constantly changing society.