Current Law on Abortion regarding High Foetuses Survival - Dissertation Example

Download file to see previous pages The big question is whether abortion is the “killing of fetus or removal of a piece of tissue from a woman’s body?” It is argued that Abortion Act 1967 is the medicalization of deviance. According to Friedson, the power accorded to doctors to have control over abortion has led to problematic segments of social behavior. Thus, the judge decides what legality is and who is guilty the priest, what is holy and who is profane, and the doctors, what is normal and who is sick. In order to overcome the problematic area of abortion, the medical profession has managed to influence the decision on when abortion is criminal and when it is therapeutic. The influence of the medical men has been on two levels. one, the political level where they supported legislation on abortion from 1803 to 1861 that helped the establishment of medical profession’s status and in 1967 in furtherance of professional interests with the passing of Abortions Act 1967. The second level is the practical level in which the medical man exerts his extensive autonomy to decide on abortion if it could be therapeutic.

Section 58 of the Offenses Against the Person Act 1861 provides “every woman being with child, who, with intent to procure her miscarriage, shall unlawfully administer to herself any poison or noxious thing or shall unlawfully use any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, and whosoever, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether she be or not with child, shall unlawfully administer to her or cause to be taken by her any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, shall be guilty of a felony and being convicted thereof shall be liable at the discretion of the court or kept in penal servitude for life or for any term not less than three years or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding three years with or without hard labor and with or without solitary confinement”

Though it may appear from what has been stated above that abortion in the U.K. is technically under the control of the medical profession, the liberal approach is the norm in that it is now “abortion on demand” given the fact that the U.K. is the highest among European countries with reported cases of abortion 90 percent of which is conducted in the first trimester (12 weeks). The U.K. law has been more permissive than other countries permitting abortions even after the first trimester. Patients from Ireland where abortion law is more restrictive, visit the UK for abortion tourism. There is no urge for reform in the UK in this regard where it has been left to the doctors’ choice with the functioning of Abortion Act 1967 rather than politicising the issue for endless debate of “pro-life or pro-choice”.

It is argued that the Abortion Act 1967 has left the issue with a paternalistic approach without letting the pregnant women have any choice in their decision. World Health Organisation statistics indicate that there are about 46 million induced abortions taking place every year. And half of this figure is unsafe without the necessary infrastructure and trained staff. Medicine (medical profession) plays the role in bridging the gap between life and prochoice as well as between normative beliefs and practical necessities. ...Download file to see next pages Read More