Technically Abortion is Still Illegal in the UK.

Technically Abortion is Still Illegal in the UK.

According to some studies, here in modern Britain, one in three women will have an Abortion before she's 45 as every woman has the choice to terminate her pregnancy if she happens to fall pregnant.

It may appear to be legal, but Abortion is actually only legal when the situation meets certain conditions. The law says that and pregnant woman who tries to "procedure her own miscarriage" will be "kept in penal servitude for life"; basically a woman could get a life sentence in prison for aborting as well as any accomplices. 

In 1967 the law was amended to make Abortion legal under certain conditions. Some of the conditions which have helped many women to obtain a legal Abortion without penal consequences over the past 47 years are:

- there is deemed to be substancial risk if the pregnancy is continued

- the child would be severely handicapped

- two doctors must agree on each case

However, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service is pushing for the law to be changed completely and for Abortion to be decriminalised rather than legalised. They say that the law only works because they work around it, and in a debate in parliament stated that times have changed and society with it, therefore the law needs to change too.

Doctors sign the provision that there is a greater risk to the woman's physical and mental health continuing the pregnancy than if she terminated it. This is the case 98% of the time and it may be for other reasons but doctors feel forced to tick that box, which many are uncomfortable doing.