1a) What is meant by the word abortion?
Abortion has many definitions. For the Dictionary definition, it means an operation to remove an unborn child from the womb before it has developed to survive. (Dictionary: oxford pocket school dictionary – abortion) in simple, abortion means the ending of a pregnancy. The procured abortion is deliberately abortion and the spontaneous abortion is an accident and the spontaneous abortion normally called a miscarriage.
Now I am going to say about the law against abortion in UK and the Catholics Teachings of abortion. These teaching and the law are about the procured abortion.
Before 1967 abortion was illegal in the U.K. The Abortion Act was introduced in the U.K. to put an end on this once and for all in 1967. It made abortion legal in these circumstances when it is perform before 28th week of pregnancy, but it changes to 24th week since 1990 because of advanced medical care. The new law is called the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act; it need two registered doctors had examined the woman and agreed that an abortion could be legally carried out; the abortion has been carried out before “the time of viability”; the continuation of the pregnancy would involve risk greater to the physical or mental health of the mother or any child within her family than if the pregnancy was terminated; a termination was necessary to prevent permanent injury to the body or mind of the mother and there was a real risk that the baby would be born mentally or physically handicapped. We can only have abortion in these circumstances. (Living Faith: Christianity and Social issues, 1995 edition, P.94)
