In 1990, the 1967 Abortion Act was amended to reduce the legal time limit for abortion from 28 to 24 weeks through an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Act 1990. Following 18 years of scientific and technical research, and developments in clinical practice, the HFE Act 1990 is being modernised through the HFE Bill 2008.
The 1967 Abortion Act, which came into effect 40 years ago this year, has never been significantly updated. It needs modernising in a number of important ways and it needs to be extended to Northern Ireland.
Download our briefing for MPs (PDF, 140Kb), who will be debating amendments to the 1967 Act in the autumn, as part of the HFE Bill, date to be announced when Parliament returns.