Later on, the Abortion Act came into force in the year 1967 which provided a protection to the crimes under section 58 and 59 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. It supported abortion in certain conditions that as if the pregnancy involves a risk to the life of the pregnant women or if there is a chance that the born child would suffer from physical or mental abnormalities. The Abortion Act was then amended by s37 of Human Fertilisation and Embryology act 1990 and the amended act under its s 1(1) stated that, ‘a person shall not be guilty of an offence under the law relating to abortion when a pregnancy is terminated by a registered medical practitioner if two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion formed in good faith’. It changed the criteria on which abortions could be offered, principally limiting abortions beyond 24 weeks instead of 28 weeks and to cases where the mother is at any health risk or death or if the child would have severe abnormalities.
In past such cases were seen in which the abortion was allowed on the legal grounds. In C v S [1988] Mr C sought an injunction to stop his ex-girlfriend from having an abortion on the ground that a foetus at the stage of 18-21 weeks was capable of being born alive. The court rejected his appeal saying that foetus at this stage was not capable of breathing and that is why termination of this pregnancy would not constitute an offence under the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 as it set 28 weeks as the period at which a foetus was considered to be able to survive.
There are many arguments which support to allow abortion. Many people argue that it is a right of every woman to decide what she wants. They have a complete right to exercise control over their own body and decide whether they want a baby or not. It is argued that people who are already a part of this society should be given more priority rather than an unborn child. Moreover, abortion is considered as the only way to help the women, who had been the victims of rape. A raped woman should not be alleged guilty and should be allowed to proceed with an abortion instead if she use an illegal way to procure her own miscarriage. In some cases there is a risk to the mother’s life on continuing with the pregnancy, such cases should also be allowed to have an abortion before it results death of the patient. Also it is argued that abortion can help to terminate abnormal babies before they born and suffer from severe disabilities. Most couples believe that they have a control over right to plan their families. ‘Although contraception is understood to be the appropriate means to avoid unwanted pregnancy, all methods have a failure rate. When contraception fails, or when couples fail to use it effectively, many people accept that abortion is preferable to forcing a woman to continue with an unwanted pregnancy.’
Conversely, there are arguments against abortion. The first argument is that it is against the right to life of the foetus. It is believed that the foetus is an unborn baby who has the same moral status as like the born babies and hence that abortion is a murder and absolutely wrong. The duty of a doctor is to save lives and not to kill. An abortion religiously is also considered wrong as it is believed that no one can take or give life except God. Furthermore, abortion has a psychological effect afterwards which may harm the health of mother. People argue that abortion may even reduce the value of human life. ‘Many worry that the availability of abortion on grounds of fetal abnormality encourages prejudice towards any person with a handicap and insidiously creates the impression that the only valuable people are those who conform to some ill defined stereotype of normality.’
In conclusion, if abortion is not allowed, women may use some illegal methods to abort their child whereas allowing abortion would be against the right to life of the foetus. Hence, abortion should be allowed in certain cases such as like if the pregnancy is the result of rape or if the continuation of pregnancy may harm the health of the mother. No other women should be allowed to procure her miscarriage as the foetus has the same moral status and have equal rights to step in this world. Aborting a child should not given legal rights and any women unlawfully having an aborting should be strictly charged with an offence.
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