The Abortion Act 1967: a Critical Perspective

Abstract

In the 1960s, after years of campaigning spearheaded by the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA), it finally seemed that reform of the existing, draconian legislation governing abortion in Britain was on the cards. Abortion had emerged as one of the defining issues of a burgeoning women’s movement, a key contention being that the question of who controls female fertility is a political one, involving fundamental choices regarding the position and role of women within society. Restrictive controls over access to abortion services were seen as indicative of attempts to exercise control over women’s sexuality and fertility and to enforce certain roles and lifestyle choices which reflected particular moral assumptions about what was appropriate female conduct. Access to safe, legal abortion on demand was advanced as a prerequisite for the full and equal participation of women in society and an essential part of any feminist political agenda. As Madeleine Simms of ALRA put it: ‘no true state of equality can exist for women in a society which denies them freedom and privacy in respect of fertility control.’¹