England

Nineteenth century British law strictly prohibited abortion. Abortion policies in England did not change until 1938. The Bourne case in 1938 began to change abortion law throughout Great Britain.
Dr. Alec Bourne aborted a 14-year-old girl who was raped by soldiers. Abortion still being illegal, Bourne turned himself over to the authorities so that he could fight abortion laws. He was found not guilty. Justice McNaughten told the jury that if Bourne believed continuation of the pregnancy would cause mental or physical distress, that Bourne operated for the purpose of preserving the life of the mother.
While Bourne was acquitted, the case result was rather ambiguous. While abortions could be preformed when the womens life was at risk of harm. The decision left unclear whether mental as well as physical health could be taken into consideration.
Abortion policy gained even more spotlight in the 1960s. The thalidomide disaster of 1962 left 1,000 women bearing deformed babies. Many of these women were refused abortions. In 1967, an act was finally passed that said that abortions were allowed when two doctors felt that the continuation of the pregnancy posed a threat to the womans life, to her mental or physical health, or to her existing children. Abortions were also allowed where there was a large risk of the fetus suffering from an abnormality.
In April of 1990, the British House of Commons voted to cut the legal time allowance for abortions from 28 to 24 weeks, but removed the upper limit in case of fetal handicap or grave or permanent injury to the mother, further changing national abortion policy. One year later, RU 486, the French abortion pill (the morning after pill) was approved for use in England for pregnancies up to 9 weeks duration.

Quick Facts: (1999 Statistics)

There were 183,250 legal abortions in England in 1999, a drop of 2.2 percent from 1998.

The overall abortion rate for women was 13.6 abortions per 1,000 women aged 14-49, falling 2.6 percent from 1998.

Eighty-nine percent of terminations were preformed before 13 weeks and 10 percent between 13-19 weeks.

In 1999, 6,226 women from Ireland traveled to England to receive an abortion, an increase in 6 percent.