The Abortion Act 1967

Abstract

In the 1960s, Great Britain underwent a series of profound changes in both social and cultural terms. For some, these changes were the result of a growth in liberal values and individual freedom, while critics saw this as the rise of a permissiveness which was destroying national values and morals. Politicians’ sexual peccadilloes were now being revealed, while satirical publications and television programmes were daring to challenge and ridicule both politicians and the Establishment, a thing previously unheard of, just not quite the done thing. The ‘Celtic fringe’ was making its voice heard far more, either through civil rights demonstrations or nationalist calls for independence, or at least some form of cultural autonomy. Though not removed altogether, literary and theatre censorship became more tolerant. Young people were expressing themselves defiantly and a youth culture was born, as shown through music and fashion. Certain minorities, including women, homosexuals or Commonwealth immigrants, saw their status change more or less radically. Apparently, Britain was no longer the staid, conservative place that had emerged from the post-war consensus. Several factors account for this transformation, among them a series of social reforms passed while Harold Wilson’s Labour governments were in power from 1964 to 1970.