Pre-Birth Termination: 40 years after the Abortion Act. Where do we draw the line?

I must admit that a number of preconceptions came to mind when I read the title of John Carey’s talk, not least because it is to be debated within a Christian remit. But far from a mouthpiece for the rhetoric of the right I found in John an intelligent, measured thinker who presented an interesting, often neglected aspect of the debate. Carey, a retired GP, lived through the landmark legislation in 1967 which legalised abortion for the first time in the UK. At the time it was a shock, Carey admits, to be permitted to perform an act which felt as if it contravened the Hippocratic Oath. Not that he didn’t see it as a necessity. He recalled how an early patient had died after an illegal termination. Forty years on, though, Carey deems that the subject has become clouded with sentiment and calls for a thorough examination of the evidence in the debate. He cites two points for updating. The first is altering the requirement of permission from two doctors to one, and the second is the reduction of the upper age-limit of the foetus from 24 to 20 weeks. The first, he thinks, affects the latter - a lot of terminations happen later than intended because of bureaucratic delays. The second is to do with the potential ill-effects of late termination (rather the viability of the foetus, as I expect him to say). Mental illness, subsequent premature babies and breast cancer are all at higher risk after a late termination. Far from undermining a woman’s right to choose then, Carey argument proposes that that decision should be a more (medically) informed one. ER