MÉMOIRE MODÈLES CULTURELS ET CONTESTATION

ROYAME-UNI ET COMMONWEALTH

ABORTION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Presenté par Luisa Fernanda Gutiérrez Rodríguez

(Master 2 Mondes Anglophones)

Pour le cours directed par Fabienne Portier-Le Coq

(Département d’Anglais)

Année Universitaire 2017 – 2018

CONTENT
Introduction
Part 1. Abortion
1. What is Human life?
2. What is abortion? History and its origin in the United Kingdom
3. Abortion as a social issue in the United Kingdom
Part 2. Perspectives towards abortion in the United Kingdom
1. Pro-Life SPUC’s point of view
2. Pro-choice campaign Abortion Rights’ point of view
3. Women and men’s point of view
Part 3. Consequences of abortion in British women
1. Abortion psychological consequences
2. Abortion relationship consequences
3. Confronting abortion
Conclusion
References
Key words: Abortion, United Kingdom, social issue, psychology, relationship.
Abstract:
Resumen:

Introduction
 The following research emerged for the growing phenomenon of abortion in the
anglophone countries, particularly in the United Kingdom (UK). This issue, has had a
great impact in young women that resort to abortion for end up an unexpected
pregnancy, to be a teen mom. In this paper, I will try to give in a first moment a short
explanation of what abortion is through the history -specially in the UK-, passing
through the consequences of its practice, following with the different perspectives that
exist about abortion in the UK.

In first instance, it is important to know what kind of matter is abortion

nowadays in the society. According to Sanger (2017) abortion is one of the most private
decision of a woman, and it is because it concerns the fact of giving birth to a human
being, an action that only women can execute. In recent years, abortion has gain
considerable importance in the society, since it issues two of the most delicate subjects
in society women and pregnancy.

As a result of its relevance in society, many researchers address their studies to

the abortion matter. There are several medical articles and studies tackling it from a
scientific view. Nevertheless, what I hope to find in this research are the consequences
of abortion in a more personal level. This means that the main purpose of this research
is to show how abortion has developed, what are the consequences of its practice and
what are the different perspectives that people in the UK have toward it.

The place is the United Kingdom. This is set due to the history of abortion, I will
go deeper in the fourth part of this paper, and its management in politics, society and
law. Moreover, because it is a phenomenon that in recent years has increased its
numbers in the UK. This fact is of great relevance for the research because it could be a
sub-result to know what factor is making abortion popular the United Kingdom.

The research is going to be a documental study based on qualitative studies that

exist about abortion in the UK. The qualitative research is addressed to a deep study of
the diverse nature of the social reality, for that reason the researcher gathers and
analyses texts coming from a variety of strategies (Osses, Sánchez e Ibañez, 2006). On
that subject, Goetz and Le Compte (1988) affirm that the study of this information may
tackle in a systematic way, with the purpose of generating constructs, stablishing
connections within them, and ending with the theorizing coherently.
 That is why when I speak about documentary research, I refer to Baena (1985)
who defines it as a technique in which the choice and compilation of data is within the
lecture and critic of sources and bibliographic means taken from libraries, documentary
centres and data bases. This research paper assumes the similar definition of Bernal
(2010) who affirms that: “the documentary research consists on the information analysis
about a particular subject, with the purpose of stablish connections, differences, phases,
postures or actual states concern the knowledge of the study object” (p. 111).

According to that, this paper searches for offering a selective presentation of

what experts have said or written about abortion and its consequences in a
psychological and relationship level. Moreover, it will be able to present a possible
ideas connection between the authors, the reality and the researcher ideas. Finally, it
expects render account of the search, selection, register, analysis and interpretation of
data and ideas consulted in bibliography sources.
Part 1. Abortion

Abortion is a defined as “the ending of pregnancy by removing a foetus or

embryo before it can survive outside the uterus”, it is necessary to distinguish it from
miscarriage, that is also known as a “spontaneous or natural abortion” the difference is
basically that the first one is induce and allowed consciously, meanwhile the second one
is cause with no intention, usually the foetus death is due to genetic deformity.

When is the embryo a Human life?

Human life is defined as a human being able to think and act. Obviously, this is
a very wide definition because it is a concept that is gathered by many fields, such as,
philosophy, biology, law and even literature. That is to say, for a philosopher is a being
who can and has to make choices, for a biologist, a human life is human because of the
genes and so on. Nevertheless, what is its relationship with abortion?

In the first place, human life is the main issue subject when it is referred to
abortion. There are some cultures, religions and politic systems that consider an embryo
a potential human being and they argue that its rights (the embryo) must be protected;
albeit for some other cultures, religions and politic systems an embryo is not a human
life because it lacks consciousness. Although both perspectives may be true, there is no
scientific manner to prove when a foetus acquires his/her identity as human in the eyes
of society and law.

Many ancient scholars had stablished several perspectives to solve the question,
and have stablished three possible theories to consider an embryo a human life. The first
argues that an embryo becomes human at the moment of conception. This theory is very
popular among some Christian authors1 and they state that an embryo becomes human
at conception because it is at this moment the soul entered the unborn foetus. This
theory is still accepted in Christian societies, especially because some scientists have
affirmed that the embryo contains the code to produce a well-formed human being (this
is the most important reason that is debated currently).

The second theory affirms that an embryo becomes human at the moment of
birth. This theory declares that the unborn foetus lacks pneumatic movements and
mental faculties. Some scholars affirm that an unborn foetus is perfectioned in the
1
See e.g. Clement Ecl. 50, 11-3, Lactantius De opificio dei 17, 7: anima insinautur in corpus… post
conceptus protinus
womb but it does not have any animation until birth, (this animation could only be
possible when the foetus gets air), and hence activates all their mental consciousness. It
is remarkable to say that in the ancient world some philosophers consider this as an
acceptable reason to allow abortion stating that the unborn was an unanimated part of
the pregnant mother.

Finally, the third theory states that the embryo becomes human while it is
growing in the womb. This theory is widely accepted by the majority of doctors,
intellectuals and scholars who agree with the idea of formation 2. This theory argues
that, there exist some point during pregnancy where the foetus is not a formed human,
but after the 49th day, it is notorious that its identity is completed. Therefore, it suggests
that abortion is accepted only if it occurs in before the 49 th day, after that time the
unborn foetus has a define identity as a boy or a girl.

These three theories are still having great importance in the actual debate of
abortion and the definition of human life. However, as it was mentioned above the term
is very vague and complex to define, the theories will allow to take a position and
understand better why the debate of abortion has been so widely spoken along the years.

What is abortion? History and its origin in the United Kingdom

The discussion of abortion is not new. The essence of the issue has been
discussed for thousand years. The process of procreation and foetal development
concern political, ethical and religious implications. For this instance, it is prior to
understand when all started and how it has progress through the years.

Since ancient times, abortion has been practiced, studied and debated.
Philosophers like Hippocrates3, Celsus4 and Galen5 attempted to explained giving
different perspectives with the support of philosophical schools. Abortion during this
time was neither a novelty nor an invention of classical medicine. In the Ancient world,
abortion was in the core of moral debate and for that reason was considered a homicide

2
Formation as a gradual process, in which the foetus acquires its identity at some point when the
pregnancy was sufficiently advanced.
3
Hippocrates of Kos (also known as “The Father of the Medicine”) was a Greek physician and is
considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.
4
Celsus was, according to some Christian theologists, a 2nd- century Greek philosopher and opponent of
Early Christianity. His most known work is The True Word, and it is considered an attack to Christianity.
5
Galeno f Pergamon, Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus, was a prominent Greek physician, surgeon
and philosopher who influenced several scientific disciplines such as anatomy, physiology, pathology and
pharmacology.
only certain circumstances. Thanks to that, their methods and study could have a great
advanced and indeed, it allows the debate to have a greater impact.

In the premodern era, it existed a death penalty that was moderated for abortion
in the ancient laws, this was found in the Assyrian law 1075 b. C. This death penalty
was imposed to women who procured abortion against her husband’s wishes. This
shows that in this era, abortion was a matter of men, women were not independent to
take their own decisions. Ironically, was in premodernism where abortion methods
started. Meanwhile they were primitive (use of herbs or even hurting their abdomen)
they were based in observation and adaptation of the obstetrical methods of that time.
Most of them were transmitted, such as battery, heavy exercise and tightening the girdle
and they became very popular among English women in the Early Modern Period.

Therefore, the abortion practice continued increasing and spreading around

Europe. It became popular and common, due to the fact that many women were using it
to stop their pregnancy. For that reason, its techniques and controversy were advancing
at the same time. For example, in the Greco-Roman World, the methods of abortion
where in most of the cases relied on the herbs siliphium and birthworth, both of them
were included in potion formulas that could be administrated orally or as vaginal
pessaries. In any case, in the Greco-Roman World, abortion was suggested as a crime in
Athens for the poet writer Lysias argued that this attempted to the husband, hence this
must have been decided by the breadwinner and no by the pregnant woman.

Moving forward the 2nd and 3rd century a. C., some Christian theologian claimed
that abortion should only be practice in cases where an abnormal positioning of the
foetus would endanger the life of the mother. Even, Saint Agustine in his Enchiridion,
stated that surgical procedures may been practiced when the foetus has died in the
uterus. Nevertheless, Christian values has always opposed to abortion if the foetus is
alive and its practice is condemned as murdering.

In the 19th century, medicine advanced in giant steps in surgery, anaesthesia and
sanitation, nevertheless due to the Victorian morality, abortion became illegal specially
in the English – Speaking world. It was during this period where antiabortion laws
commenced to be stablish, leaving women free choice under the judgements of church
or politics. It was during this century, where women were more inhibited to practice it
and the policies became more and more strict.
 In the Modern era, physicians in the United States were leading anti-abortion
laws. They argued that quickening6 is a significant step during pregnancy, because it
allows to produce a new human being without interruption. Therefore, society must to
give more importance to the quickening process during gestation – not only after but
before a woman could feel it –. Moreover, the practice of abortion was done by
untrained doctors who were not part of medical associations, these doctors received
were named as “irregulars” and represented a cheap competition to medical
professionals.

As it could be seen, abortion has been a changing method that has arrived at
English-speaker countries, generating different reactions. At this point I am going to
focus in the United Kingdom case. Notably, abortion in the UK has caused a movement
that had its peak in the 1930’s, where a London gynaecologist named Aleck Bourne,
performed an abortion on a fourteen-year-old raped by five British soldiers. He tested
the abortion laws in the UK, risking his career and freedom. He affirmed that “it is an
insoluble problem, because it has bothered mankind for at least 2.500 years” 7. In the
United Kingdom abortion has been considered an illegal act; nevertheless, it has not
impeded its clandestine practice becoming it in a social problem that I am going to
tackle below.

Abortion as a social issue in the United Kingdom

For Britain people, the matter of abortion represents an eternal dichotomy

between those who want its complete legalization and those who appeal for its banning
in the country. After the Bourne case, the liberal MP David Steel introduced the
Abortion Act 1967 in which: “A person shall not be guilty of an offence under the law
relating to abortion when a pregnancy is terminated by a registered medical
practitioner”8. This law allows abortion under certain conditions which are (a) the
pregnancy has not exceeded the twenty-fourth week and it does not represent an injury
for the pregnant woman, (b) the termination of pregnancy is necessary if it represent a
physical or mental danger for the pregnant woman and (c) if there exist any risk that the
born child suffer from physical or mental abnormalities.

6
Quickening is
7
Aleck Bourne in The Abortion Act 1967 (London 1969) 82.
8
As it is stated in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
 As a result, the number of abortions in the United Kingdom increased notably,
and in the 80’s the parliament was reunited again to argued the issue. The idea was to
discuss the legislation based on the Warnock committee’s report of Human Fertilisation
and Embryology, asking for a total banning on embryo experimentation and abortion.
Although the government declared itself neutral on the matter, they did not accept the
Warnock report to amend the 1967 Abortion Act, but they made a reduction the time
limit on legal termination from 28 weeks’ gestation to 24. Reducing significantly the
number

In 1990 the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher introduced the

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act to legislate for in-vitro fertilisation and for
allow some amendments to the Abortion Act. These actions allowed to expand the
abortion law, accommodating new abortion techniques and for disable babies up to
birth. Since, members of the parliament have introduced a number of private member’s
bills to change abortion law, but all have failed.

Currently, abortion is still debated in the UK. There exist many opposing groups
that discuss the total, or near total, ban of abortion recognising the fathers’ rights in the
decision process, for instance the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC)
is one of the most influential pro-life groups in the United Kingdom, they claim that the
Abortion Act is the biggest killer of children in the country, affirming that there is value
of human life from the moment of conception until natural death.

As a result, the abortion rates have increased in the last decade. Since the
approval of the Act in the UK, almost 8,745,508 abortions have been performed ant the
rates still increasing. According to the Department of Health in the 2014 more women
in their 20s and 40s had multiple abortions and the figures demonstrates that abortions
in women under 30 have significantly decreased “Since 2005 the rates for women aged
30 to 34 have gone up from 14.4 per 1,000 women in 2005 to 17.1 in 2015, and rates for
women aged 35 or over have gone up from 6.8 per 1,000 women in 2005 to 7.8 in
2015” (Department of health, statistical report, 2015).

Part 2. Perspectives towards abortion in the United Kingdom

Having into a count what abortion is and its actual debate in the UK, I am going
to give some general perspectives that exist towards it from different social groups, such
as the women perspective, the men perspective, pro-life SPUC perspective and the
national pro-choice group Abortion Rights.

Pro-Life SPUC’s point of view

The SPUC is the oldest pro-life campaign organisation in the United Kingdom.
It was founded in January 1967 to oppose the Abortion Act in the Parliament at the
time. This society aims to protect and defend human life of unborn children in Great
Britain, the Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Island and the Republic of
Ireland. The SPUC bases on principles that mark their belief that human life begins in
the conception, those principles state that it is wrong to kill innocent human beings
specially those who are the weakest in societies and must be protected by the law.

Expressively, the SPUC argues that every life is sacred, even if it is not born.
They state that the way that unborn children develop in the womb is a scientific marvel
to behold, therefore there must be taken into a count the child’s choice at the moment of
abort. The society is aware that most of the women who decide to abort in the United
Kingdom do it because social and economic pressures. However, the society wants to
increase the awareness that “every human being has the right to life – regardless of age,
size, level of development or location – “.

With this intention, the SPUC attempts to give protection and “be the voice” of
the unborn children, claiming that is conception (fertilisation) the beginning of life,
because is in that moment when the code starts to be developed. In that case, they have
been opposing abortion with the argument of “The Right to Life” that every society
must to protect to every human being.

Pro-choice campaign Abortion Rights’ point of view

At the same time, Abortion Rights is the national pro-choice campaign. It was
founded in 1936 by Janet Chance, Alice Jenkins and Joan Malleson. Its main intention
is to defend and extend women’s rights and access to safe, legal abortion. The Abortion
Rights aims to oppose any restrictions in women’s currents rights to access abortion
trying to improve the Abortion Act law. It is based on the women’s freewill to decide
what happens to their bodies.

Comparatively to what SPUC argues, the Abortion Rights appeals to the

women’s free choice. The society affirms that all women have the right to make their
own reproductive choices because they are the only ones who know their personal
situation. Moreover, Abortion Rights agrees with the current law that states that two
doctors must approve, ‘in good faith’, that continuing a pregnancy would represent a
treat to the pregnant woman’s health. In few words, the Abortion Rights is aware that
most women have personal reasons to abort and it depends on the law to provide a
secure abortion.

Bearing this in mind, the Abortion Rights prompts to protect women’s rights to
give a solution to societal gender inequality. It works closely with the parliamentary All
Party Pro-choice and Sexual Health group and it aims to protect the Abortion Act
impeding any modifications on it, including any attempt to lower the abortion time limit
of 24 weeks.

Women’s and men’s point of view

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/legal/fathers.shtml

https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-lay-scientist/2014/apr/30/why-are-women-
more-opposed-to-abortion

3. Consequences of abortion in British women

Abortion psychological consequences

Abortion relationship consequences

Confronting abortion

Conclusion
REFERENCES

Abortion Rights, the national pro-choice campaign. (2017, October 28th). Retrieved
from: http://www.abortionrights.org.uk/

Augustine (1885) [c. 420]. "The Case of Abortive Conceptions." Enchiridion. in Philip
Schaff. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. 3. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.

Ancient History Sourcebook: The Code of the Assura, c. 1075 BC

Baena, G. (1985). Instrumentos de Investigación (22ª edición). México: Ed. Editores

Unidos Mexicanos.
BBC, News. (2017, October 6th). ‘My Abortion Story’ – BBC News [Video File].
Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqRF_5Re0Tk
Bernal, C. (2010). Metodología de la investigación (3ra edición). Colombia: Pearson
educación.
Campbell, D. (2016) The Guardian: Abortion rate in England and Wales hits five-year
high. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/17/abortion-rate-england-
and-wales-five-year-high
Goetz, J. y Le Compte, M. (1988). Etnografía y diseño cualitativo de investigación
educativa. Madrid: Morata.
Konstantinos, K. (2002). Abortion in the Ancient World. London: Gerald Duckworth &
Co. Ltda
Macfarlane, Alan (2002). "Abortion methods in England" (PDF). The Savage Wars of
Peace. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-0432-4. OCLC
50714989. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
Osses, S., Sánchez, I., y Ibañez, F. (2006). Investigación cualitativa en educación. Hacia
la generación de teoría a través del proceso analítico. Revista Estudios
Pedagógicos, 32(1), 119-133.
Riddle, John M. (1999). Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the
West. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-27026-6. OCLC
46766844
Sanger, Carl (2012). About Abortion: The complications of the category. Arizona Law
Review 54(4), 840 – 849.
Society for the protection of Unborn Children. (2017, October 28th). Retrieved from
https://www.spuc.org.uk/
Teggart, Grainne. (2014) The Guardian: There are still laws against abortion in the UK
– this must end.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/21/abortion-laws-
northern-ireland-reformed-rape-foetal-abnormality