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A P P E N D I X D A B O RT I O N ( A M E N D M E N T ) B I L L [After being amended during its committee stage, the bill was still actively supported by David Alton, MP, and the pro-life movement inside and outside of Parliament. The amended bill was debated in the House of Commons on 6 May 1988. The bill was filibustered and not put to a vote and it made no further progress.] A Bill [As Amended By Standing Committe C] To Limit the period within pregnancy during which an abortion may be performed , subject to certain exceptions. be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—§ 1 Time-limit for termination of pregnancy (1) A woman’s pregnancy may be terminated in accordance with section 1 of the Abortion Act 1967 at any time up to the beginning of the 18th week of gestation. (2) Thereafter, up to the end of the 28th week of gestation, the pregnancy may be terminated by a registered medical practitioner in a public hospital or on a consultant gynaecologist’s recommendation, in an approved place if, and only if, it is certified— (a) that the termination is necessary in order to save the woman’s life, or (b) that it is likely that if the child were born it would suffer from severe physical or mental disability (the nature of the disability to be identi- fied in the certificate), or (c) that the pregnancy appears to be due to an act of rape or incest com343 mitted against the woman at a time when she was under the age of 18, or (d) that the termination is immediately necessary to save the woman’s life or to prevent grave permanent injury to her physical health. (3) Nothing in subsection (1) or (2) above shall make it unlawful for a woman’s pregnancy to be terminated by a medical practitioner in a public hospital or approved place after the end of the 28th week of gestation if the practitioner carrying out the termination is of the opinion, formed in good faith, that it is immediately necessary to save the woman’s life or to prevent grave injury to her physical health. (4) Sections 2 to 5 of the Act of 1967 (Secretary of State’s power to make regulations; modification for women associated with defence forces from overseas; saving for right of conscientious objection; saving for Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929) have effect as if references to that Act and section 1 of it included subsection (2) above. (5) In subsections (2) and (3) above— (a) “approved place” means a place approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of section 1 of the Act of 1967; (b) “certified” means— (i) for the purposes of (a), (b) and (c) of the subsection, certified as their opinion by a consultant gynaecologist and one other registered medical practitioner, and (ii) for those of paragraph (d), certified as his opinion by the practitioner carrying out the termination; (c) “consultant gynaecologist” means a person employed in the National Health Service and holding an appointment as consultant gynaecologist on the staff of a public hospital; and (d) “public hospital” means a hospital vested in the Secretary of State for the purposes of his functions under the enactments relating to that service. (6) This Act may be cited as the Abortion (Amendment) Act 1988; and— (a) the Abortion Act 1967 and this Act may be cited together as the Abortion Acts 1967 and 1988; (b) this Act extends only to England and Wales and Scotland and comes into force on the expiration of two months beginning with the date of its passing. 344 appendix d ...

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