ABSTRACT
After the Abortion Act of 1967, many people felt that the issue was settled. There was a confidence about the changes. In the 1960s, suicide had ceased to be a criminal offence, the death penalty had been abolished, homosexuality had been legalized and birth control had become openly available to single people. It seemed that the legalization of abortion was just part of an overall change in attitude towards 'crimes without victims' (Schur 1965). However, in subsequent years there was a great deal of controversy and by the end of 1982 there had been ten Bills concerned with abortion, of which eight were intended to restrict the working of the Act. Since that time, however, things have been much quieter and we have seen that Britain has not had the degree of controversy over abortion that has occurred in the USA.
