Editing Abortion in the United Kingdom (section)

===The 1967 Act===

The [[Abortion Act 1967]] sought to clarify the law in Britain. Introduced by [[David Steel]] and subject to heated debate, it allowed for legal abortion on a number of grounds, with the added protection of free provision through the [[National Health Service]]. The Act was passed on 27 October 1967 and came into effect on 27 April 1968.<ref name="Commons 1967">{{cite web | last = House of Commons, Science and Technology Committee | author-link = Science and Technology Select Committee | title = Scientific Developments Relating to the Abortion Act 1967 Volume 1 Twelfth Report of Session 2006–07 | url = https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmsctech/1045/104502.htm }} [https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmsctech/1045/1045i.pdf Pdf.]</ref>

Before the [[Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990]] amended the Act, the [[Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929]] acted as a buffer to the Abortion Act 1967. This meant that abortions could not be carried out if the child was "capable of being born alive". There was therefore no statutory limit put into the Abortion Act 1967, the limit being that which the courts decided as the time at which a child could be born alive. The ''C v S'' case in 1987 confirmed that, at that time, between 19 and 22 weeks a foetus was not capable of being born alive.<ref name="familyLaw"/> The 1967 Act required that the procedure must be certified by two doctors before being performed.