Towards Decriminalization? New Battlegrounds in Abortion Politics

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the newest battlegrounds in the UK abortion debate. This includes growing calls for decriminalisation, involving the repeal of sections of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, and the increasing purchase these are finding inside Parliament and among the medical profession. It also includes new debates about sex-selective abortion and abortion in the cases of severe disability, and the need for the pro-choice movement to organise horizontally to address the needs of all women. It ends with an assessment of the future prospects of both the movement for decriminalisation, and the movement for more restrictive abortion law.