Jackie Doyle-Price is a former Health Minister and Industry Minister, and is MP for Thurrock.
I used my speech on International Women’s day to address a subject of great contention, that of abortion law.
Abortion has always been treated as a matter of conscience when considered in Parliament. That is quite right.
For many people life begins at the moment of conception and the law should protect life from then on. This does mean that there is a conflict of rights when placed against the reproductive rights of women.
At the time of its passing, the 1967 Abortion Act did its best to balance this conflict of rights. It was passed against the backdrop of backstreet abortions and the risk to women that these brought. It established a qualified right to abortion where it could only take place in specifically licensed premises, following the approval of two doctors and at up to twenty four week’s gestation.
Fast forward more than fifty years and this law is horrifically out of date.
For one thing it is not uncommon for babies to be born before twenty four weeks gestation. This has led to regular calls for the twenty-four-week limit to be reduced.
For me this is the wrong debate. We need to look at how we make the abortion law reflect medical advances yes, but we need also need to look at how we make it more humane and safe.
There are now in excess of 200,000 abortions each year in this country. Like it or not, the right to termination is well established. It is our job as legislators to ensure that harm is minimised. That means establishing the conditions whereby women are able to undergo a termination sooner rather than later.
The law as currently drafted predates medical abortion. All terminations at that time required a surgical intervention. Today most terminations take place by the administration of pills and, more importantly, they take place very early in the pregnancy; it is not the procedure it once was.
It is the case however that many tests to establish the health of the foetus cannot take place until the pregnancy is well advanced. And most later stage abortions are for reasons associated with the health of the mother or the foetus.
Over 80 per cent of terminations are administered outside the NHS in specially-licensed clinics. The requirement for two doctors has created a system which largely sits outside the NHS, in clinics that do nothing else.
It stigmatises the women seeking treatment and it makes them a target for protest. It helped take abortions out of the backstreets, but it doesn’t seem to add much value now.
I believe there are sensible reforms that could be made that would make our laws safer
The first is to amend the system of registration and licensing to enable women to access abortion services in mainstream NHS services. Family planning clinics and well-women clinics, for example, could be places that are able to supervise a medical abortion.
An earlier abortion is a safer one and this would enable women to access services with more ease and more speed.
The second is to regulate it as a medical procedure with an emphasis on patient safety. At present it is regulated under criminal law. The Offences against the Persons act 1861 outlaws abortion and brings with it hefty criminal penalties for those who engage in it.
The 1967 Abortion act effectively creates an exemption an exception to that Act by creating circumstances where abortion is lawful. It remains, however, a criminal act in law.
It is my contention that we need a new law which properly recognises that woman can lawfully seek a termination, and that it is something which will often be considered by a pregnant woman and her healthcare professionals in the context of managing a healthy pregnancy. It should be considered whether the consent of two doctors remains necessary.
The Offences against the Persons Act should be revisited to reaffirm that coercive and violent practices to terminate a pregnancy remain criminal offences.
It seems likely for now that this will continue to be considered an issue of conscience. But for my own conscience I had to write this piece. The law governing abortion is out of date and needs review in the interest of patient safety.
Jackie Doyle-Price is a former Health Minister and Industry Minister, and is MP for Thurrock.
I used my speech on International Women’s day to address a subject of great contention, that of abortion law.
Abortion has always been treated as a matter of conscience when considered in Parliament. That is quite right.
For many people life begins at the moment of conception and the law should protect life from then on. This does mean that there is a conflict of rights when placed against the reproductive rights of women.
At the time of its passing, the 1967 Abortion Act did its best to balance this conflict of rights. It was passed against the backdrop of backstreet abortions and the risk to women that these brought. It established a qualified right to abortion where it could only take place in specifically licensed premises, following the approval of two doctors and at up to twenty four week’s gestation.
Fast forward more than fifty years and this law is horrifically out of date.
For one thing it is not uncommon for babies to be born before twenty four weeks gestation. This has led to regular calls for the twenty-four-week limit to be reduced.
For me this is the wrong debate. We need to look at how we make the abortion law reflect medical advances yes, but we need also need to look at how we make it more humane and safe.
There are now in excess of 200,000 abortions each year in this country. Like it or not, the right to termination is well established. It is our job as legislators to ensure that harm is minimised. That means establishing the conditions whereby women are able to undergo a termination sooner rather than later.
The law as currently drafted predates medical abortion. All terminations at that time required a surgical intervention. Today most terminations take place by the administration of pills and, more importantly, they take place very early in the pregnancy; it is not the procedure it once was.
It is the case however that many tests to establish the health of the foetus cannot take place until the pregnancy is well advanced. And most later stage abortions are for reasons associated with the health of the mother or the foetus.
Over 80 per cent of terminations are administered outside the NHS in specially-licensed clinics. The requirement for two doctors has created a system which largely sits outside the NHS, in clinics that do nothing else.
It stigmatises the women seeking treatment and it makes them a target for protest. It helped take abortions out of the backstreets, but it doesn’t seem to add much value now.
I believe there are sensible reforms that could be made that would make our laws safer
The first is to amend the system of registration and licensing to enable women to access abortion services in mainstream NHS services. Family planning clinics and well-women clinics, for example, could be places that are able to supervise a medical abortion.
An earlier abortion is a safer one and this would enable women to access services with more ease and more speed.
The second is to regulate it as a medical procedure with an emphasis on patient safety. At present it is regulated under criminal law. The Offences against the Persons act 1861 outlaws abortion and brings with it hefty criminal penalties for those who engage in it.
The 1967 Abortion act effectively creates an exemption an exception to that Act by creating circumstances where abortion is lawful. It remains, however, a criminal act in law.
It is my contention that we need a new law which properly recognises that woman can lawfully seek a termination, and that it is something which will often be considered by a pregnant woman and her healthcare professionals in the context of managing a healthy pregnancy. It should be considered whether the consent of two doctors remains necessary.
The Offences against the Persons Act should be revisited to reaffirm that coercive and violent practices to terminate a pregnancy remain criminal offences.
It seems likely for now that this will continue to be considered an issue of conscience. But for my own conscience I had to write this piece. The law governing abortion is out of date and needs review in the interest of patient safety.