Veronica Fagan

Forty years ago, the 1967 Abortion Act was passed by the British parliament. In its day it was one of the most progressive laws governing women’s fertility - and most of the energy of prochoice activists in the last four decades has been spent preventing reactionary amendments that sought to weaken the bills provision.

Through the mass mobilisation of women and increasingly of the trade union movement, the National Abortion campaign succeeded time and again in beating back attacks on our right to control our own bodies.

As the pro-choice movement began to ebb in the 1980s, some attempts to restrict timelimits in particular had limited success.

But in any event, the 67 Act never gave women the full right to choose. As Abortion Rights said, in launching a new campaign on International Women’s Day to extend women’s rights.

A new opinion poll conducted by GFK/NOP and commissioned by Abortion Rights and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust shows 77 per cent of British citizens support a woman’s right to choose an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy - illustrating how strong the prochoice majority remains in the UK.

British law currently restricts the circumstances in which a woman can have an abortion and the decision must be approved by two doctors. A further 72 per cent said it was not acceptable for a woman who had been referred for an abortion to have to wait beyond three weeks for the procedure.

The Government recommends that women should have to wait no longer than three weeks, but a study conducted for the Pro-choice and Sexual Health All Party Parliamentary Group showed that 27 per cent of Primary Care Trusts delayed women beyond 21days.

The campaign, which is backed by many MPs, peers, doctors, nurses, sexual health organisations, trade unions, artists and students, is calling for:

• Abortion to be available at the request of the woman
• An end to unacceptable delays in service provision
• An end to minority antichoice attacks on current abortion rights

Anne Quesney, Director of Abortion Rights said: “This poll shows it is time for the Government to take a lead and bring the abortion law in line with overwhelming public opinion.

“The results reveal that the anti-choice lobby, which has been dominating the abortion debate over the last three years in the hope of silencing women and the pro-choice majority, only represents 3 per cent of the population.

“The Government and parliamentarians can be reassured that modernising the abortion law and securing better access to services for women would very welcome.

“It is almost 40 years since abortion was legalised in Britain - now is the time to trust women to make this very personal decision.”