Abortion in the United Kingdom

rdf:langString Abortion in the United Kingdom

rdf:langString Abortion in the United Kingdom is de facto available through the Abortion Act 1967 in Great Britain, and the . The Abortion Act 1967 provides a legal defence for doctors to perform abortions, though abortion also remains a criminal offence under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Although a number of abortions did take place before the 1967 Act, there have been around 10 million abortions in the United Kingdom. Around 200,000 abortions are carried out in England and Wales each year and just under 14,000 in Scotland; the most common reason cited under the ICD-10 classification system for around 98% of all abortions is "risk to woman's mental health." In England, Scotland, and Wales, abortion is permitted on the grounds of: * risk to the life of the pregnant woman; * preventing grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health; * risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family (up to a term limit of 24 weeks of gestation); or * substantial risk that, if the child were born, he or she would "suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped". The third ground is typically interpreted liberally with regards to mental health to create a de facto elective abortion service. In Northern Ireland, abortion is permitted on similar grounds although the law also permits abortion in the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy for any reason, as is also the case in the Republic of Ireland. Under the UK's devolution settlements, abortion policy is devolved to the and the but not to the . Abortion was previously highly restricted in Northern Ireland although it was . In 2019, during a time when the Assembly was not operating, the UK Parliament repealed most restrictions on abortion in Northern Ireland; the current Regulations were subsequently introduced by Parliament in 2020. Abortions which are carried out for grounds outside those permitted in law (e.g. in most cases after the 24-week term limit, or where appropriate consent has not been given) continue to be unlawful in each jurisdiction of the UK – under the Offences against the Person Act 1861 in England and Wales, , and the . The Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 and the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 also outlaw child destruction in cases outside the grounds permitted in abortion law.