The legal aspects of the termination of unwanted pregnancies and the risks faced by the medical doctor: a UK perspective

Historical perspective of terminations of unwanted pregnancies in the UK. Moral and ethical considerations imposed by established church's teachings becoming increasingly in conflict with the wishes and expectations of a more secular society. Recognition that illegal abortion was, as a matter of fact available, at great risk to vulnerable girls and women. Eventually public demand and a radical and reforming government led to the current Statutory Framework. Statutory provisions: Offences against the Person Act 1861, Sections 58 and 59; Infant Life Preservation Act 1929 Section 1. Recognition of the limited flexibility allowed by the law in the original restrictive statutory framework. The direction to the jury in July 1938 by Macnaghten J in the case of R. v. Bourne [1939] 1 KB 687, where an eminent obstetrician was acquitted after carrying out an abortion on a young rape victim. Then the modern statutory provisions: Abortion Act 1967, amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The statutory framework provides for healthcare professionals not to have to take part in terminations if they have a conscientious objection to doing so. While there are still fierce challenges from moral pressure groups when any changes in the detail of the law are proposed--such as reducing the maximum gestation period for a lawful termination--as a whole society seems to have accepted the current law. Issues affecting doctors who consider and provide terminations; current medico-legal problems relating to wanted pregnancies that have been lost by reason of clinical negligence, and unwanted children that have been born by reason of clinical negligence.