Medicine Ethic and the Law - Essay Example

Statutory abortion scheme in England through the Miscarriage of Woman Act of 1803, 2 which criminalized any attempts at abortion using a noxious or destructive substance. Pre-quickening abortion was made a felony and post-quickening abortion was a capital crime, subject to the death penalty or exile. The Offences Against the Person Act of 18373 abolished the death penalty and this removed the quickening distinction. As a result, tall abortion was punished as a single felony. The Offences Against the Person Act 18614, further eliminated exile as a possible punishment and made abortion or attempts to "procure a miscarriage" illegal under all and any circumstances including medical reasons, to be punishable with penal servitude for upto life under sections 585 and 59.

6In 1929 the Infant Life Preservation Act, 1929 amended the law stating it would no longer be regarded as a felony if abortion was carried out in good faith for the sole purpose of preserving the life of the mother. The Act made it illegal to kill a child capable of being born live, and enshrined 28 weeks as the age at which a foetus must be presumed to be viable. Importantly, the Act allowed a doctor to perform an abortion legally if he/she were satisfied that the continuance of the pregnancy was liable to endanger the health of the expectant mother.

In 1936 the Abortion Law Reform Association was formed by people who believed that abortion legislation was unsatisfactory. The Abortion Law Reform Association recommend that the law should be clarified, as the 1861 Act still on the statute books deemed abortion illegal under all circumstances, while the 1929 Act allowed for abortion in exceptional cases.In 1938 came the landmark case of Rex v. Bourne7 which set the scene for a change of policy on abortion. The case discussed whether there is a clear line of distinction between “danger to health” and “danger to life” and decided that there can be no “perfectly” clear line of distinction.