Termination of Pregnancy (TOP)

Termination of Pregnancy (TOP)

·        Crimes Act 1961:

o  Killing a child: child by definition is not a child until delivered

o  Killing an unborn child: prison term not exceeding 14 years

o  Unlawful to unlawfully procure an abortion for a woman

o  Section 187a: It is not unlawful to procure an abortion for a women if:

§  Not more than 20 weeks gestation and either:

·         Continuing the pregnancy „would result in serious danger (not being danger normally attendant upon childbirth) to the life, or physical or mental health of the woman or girl

·        That there is a substantial risk that the child, if born, would be so physically or mentally abnormal as to be seriously handicapped

·        That the pregnancy is the result of intercourse between a parent and a child, a whole or half blood brother and sister, grandfather, is the result of sexual intercourse that is an offence against section 131(1) or the girl or woman is severely subnormal

·        If the woman is near the beginning or end of child bearing years, or if there is reasonable grounds to consider the pregnancy was the result of rape, then these factors may be taking into account (although are not sole grounds for termination)

§  More than 20 weeks, and the termination is „necessary to save the life of the woman or girl or to prevent serious permanent injury to her physical or mental health‟

·        Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977 specifies the process, not the criteria, for getting an abortion. Abortions must be certified by two certifying consultants. These people to be chosen by the Abortion supervisory committee, with a view to expeditious access by any woman seeking an abortion. Supervisory committee also appoints/approves counselling services

·        Ethics:

o  Why is killing wrong:

§  Violates the moral integrity of the entity killed

§  It has negative consequences

§  Evidences moral flaws in the killer 

o  Reasons for killing: to end suffering, to protect the innocent, lesser of two evils, to express societal condemnation

o  Different views of the moral status of the fetus: 

§  Fetus has the same moral status: absence of a dividing line between a baby and a fetus does not show lack of difference

§  Fetus has no moral status: Is seeking an abortion for trivial reasons wrong?

§  Fetus has some moral status: As the fetus develops, reasons have to be increasingly weighty

·        Cervical softening before surgical abortion: misoprostol

·        Medical abortion: use of IU486/mifepristone