Today also marks another important anniversary, albeit a most sad and shameful one. Today is the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act being passed in Parliament. The Act didn't come into effect until 27th April 1968.
This shameful Abortion Act was first introduced by Member of Parliament Dr David Steel, now Lord Steel of Aikwood, as a Private Member's Bill. His private members' bill was, however, supported by the government of the day, who appointed the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Sir John Peel, to chair a medical advisory committee that reported in favour of passing the bill.
This Abortion Act made abortion legal in all of Great Britain, with the exception of Northern Ireland, up to 28 weeks' gestation.
In 1990, the law was amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act so that abortion was no longer legal after 24 weeks, except in cases where it was necessary to save the life of the woman, where there was evidence of extreme foetal abnormality, or where there was a grave risk of physical or mental injury to the woman.
