Abortion, Doctors and the Law
Some Aspects of the Legal Regulation of Abortion in England from 1803 to 1982

This book focusses on the evolution of the law and medical practice of abortion in England.

John Keown (Author)

9780521894135, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 20 June 2002

228 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.34 kg

'… a much needed authoritative guide to the history of the law on abortion and an excellent case study in the social history of medicine.' Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Ranging from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the 1980s, this book focuses on the evolution of the law and medical practice of abortion in England. Little academic attention has hitherto been given to the development and scope of abortion law in England, the formative influence of the medical profession, and the impact of the law on medical practice. Consequently, Dr Keown considers the performance of abortion by doctors, and the influence the medical profession had on the restriction of the law in the nineteenth century and on its relaxation in the twentieth. The book does not deal directly with the legal status of the unborn child, the rights and duties of its parents and of the doctors involved in the provision of abortion or the question of the desirability of reform. Rather, adopting a socio-legal perspective, it considers what the scope of the prohibition of abortion has been and focuses on aspects of professional influence on the evolution of that prohibition, and of professional practice thereunder.

Table of cases
Table of statutes
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The first statutory prohibition of abortion: Lord Ellenborough's Act 1803
2. Anti-abortion legislation 1803–1861 and medical influence thereon
3. Abortion in legal theory and medical practice before 1938
4. The medical profession and the enactment of the Abortion Act 1967
5. The Abortion Act 1967 and the performance of abortion by the medical profession 1968–1982
6. The reaction of the medical profession to proposed restriction of the law 1969–1979
7. A theoretical overview
Appendices
Notes
Subject index
Name index.

Subject Areas: Medical ethics & professional conduct [MBDC], Human rights [JPVH]