Summary
Abortion is a complex issue. Legislative decisions
are informed by ethical and moral positions, philosophical, religious
and political views, case law, clinical practice, and scientific
and medical evidence. As a science and technology committee, we
have focused only on the scientific, medical and other research
evidence. As well as informing the way courts interpret the law,
scientific and medical developments can alter the balance of opinion
on ethical and moral issues and they often inform legislative
decisions. This happened in relation to abortion law in 1990,
when evidence of improved outcomes for very premature neonates
led to a reappraisal of the threshold of foetal viability and
this in turn to the reduction of the then 28 week limit on most
abortions to the current 24 week limit. In our inquiry, we have
attempted to sift the evidence on scientific and medical developments
since the last amendment of the law and since the 1967 Act.
In this Report, we set out the key issues that have
emerged and the key questions MPs must ask themselves as they
consider options for changes in the law. Where we have felt it
appropriate and justified, we have drawn conclusions about what
the science and medical evidence currently before us tells us.
We urge all MPs to study the evidence we have taken and the conclusions
we have reached.
Because we recognise that what the science and medical
evidence can tell us is only one of many factors that are taken
into account when legislating on this issue, we have not made
any recommendations as to how MPs should vote on abortion law.*
* For a draft Report
which was not agreed by the Committee, see Formal Minutes, page
71 onwards
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