The evolution of abortion and sterilization legislation in the United Kingdom.

The abortion law reform movement in Great Britain evolved through 3 stages: 1) beginning in the 1930s the arguments cited in favor of abortion emphasized maternal and public health; 2) in the 1960s controversy centered around fetal deformities caused by thalidomide; and 3) recently the movement has become more strongly feminist and libertarian stressing womens basic rights over their own bodies. This general history of the proabortion movement is summarized. Realization that the number of prosecutions for illegal abortion bore no relation at all to its incidence led in the 1930s to the 1st agitations for a reform in the then-applicable restrictive law. Continuing high levels of mortality among women of childbearing age were another argument in favor of abortion legislation. The ALRA (Abortion Law Reform Association) was founded at this time with the goal of educating the public as to the need for abortion reform. Despite continued Catholic Church opposition a reform Abortion Act became law in 1967. This Act while still technically considering abortion illegal allowed it in the following circumstances: 1) when the life or health of the mother was threatened; 2) when the child was likely to be born seriously abnormal; and 3) where there were medico-social indications. There was also controversy over the legal status of sexual sterilizations during this same period.