ISSUES
: Abortion
Chapter 1: Abortion facts
11
Britain’s real abortion scandal is how
hard it is for some women to have one
By Verity Ryan
I
s abortion legal in the UK?
Chances are, you just thought to
yourself, “yes”: Britain is a liberal
society, with progressive attitudes
towards women; free healthcare;
and, most important here, the 1967
Abortion Act.
You might be surprised to find then
that the answer is actually “No”.
Abortions are illegal, bar a few
allowable exceptions. What is more,
application of these exceptions is
not consistently applied across the
UK. In short, if you find yourself in
need of an abortion, pray you have
the right postcode.
The Abortion Act does not apply to
Northern Ireland. In recent weeks
there has been a steady stream of
coverage about women who have
been prosecuted for obtaining
illegal terminations. One recent
case concerns a woman facing
criminal charges and a possible
life sentence over allegations
she helped her daughter have an
abortion.
Barriers to abortion services are
lower in the rest of the UK, but they
still exist.
The NHS England website itself
states that NHS funding of abortion
services can vary from 60 per cent
to 90 per cent of local demand;
waiting times also vary. In 2014,
nearly 4,000 abortions were
conducted in private clinics, with
costs ranging from £600 to over
£2,000.
Most startling however are the
informal barriers to access faced
by women in Scotland compared to
those in England and Wales.
Broadly speaking, the Abortion Act
permits terminations if gestation
is under 24 weeks, and two
doctors judge that continuation
of the pregnancy will damage
the physical or mental health of
the woman in question, or other
children they have. Whilst the Act
applies to England, Wales and
Scotland (Northern Ireland is still
governed by legislation from 1861),
investigations by an Edinburgh
University academic, Carrie Purcell,
suggest that after 18 weeks,
abortion for non-medical purposes
are rarely provided in Scotland
– effectively the time limit for
termination in Scotland is 6 weeks
below the official legal limit.
A lack of equipment for later
abortions is one reason given for
this. Perhaps more damming though
is evidence that some GPs are
misinformed about the law – one GP
in Purcell’s study told a woman who
was 17 weeks pregnant that she
What is the law in Northern Ireland?
It is unlawful to perform an abortion, except to preserve the life or mental health of the mother, and
anyone who performs the procedure faces life imprisonment.
What about the 1967 Abortion Act?
It applies everywhere in the UK, except Northern Ireland.
Can women have abortions on the NHS?
Even if they travel to England, they have to pay for it privately. In the last five years, 24,599 women
travelled from the north and south of Ireland, where abortion is also banned, to England or Wales for
terminations.
Is Northern Ireland’s law about to change?
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) took a case against the Department of Justice,
to try and change the law to offer women and girls a choice of accessing a termination in circumstances
of fatal foetal abnormality, rape or incest.
What does the judge’s ruling mean?
The judge agreed with the NIHRC that the current law is incompatible with human rights law and results
in a breach of the rights of women and girls seeking a termination of pregnancy in these circumstances.
But he said it was up to Stormont to change it.
Could there be an appeal?
All parties in the case – the NIHRC and the Department of Justice – have six weeks to appeal after the
judgement is delivered in December.
