The Abortion Act 1967

Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-1-108-73365-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 360 Seiten, Format (B × H): 170 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 576 g

Reihe: Law in Context

The Abortion Act 1967 may be the most contested law in UK history, sitting on a fault line between the shifting tectonic plates of a rapidly transforming society. While it has survived repeated calls for its reform, with its text barely altered for over five decades, women's experiences of accessing abortion services under it have evolved considerably. Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews, this book explores how the Abortion Act was given meaning by a diverse cast of actors including women seeking access to services, doctors and service providers, campaigners, judges, lawyers, and policy makers. By adopting an innovative biographical approach to the law, the book shows that the Abortion Act is a 'living law'. Using this historically grounded socio-legal approach, this enlightening book demonstrates how the Abortion Act both shaped and was shaped by a constantly changing society.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sheldon, Sally

Davis, Gayle

O'Neill, Jane

Parker, Clare

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Rechtsphilosophie, Rechtsethik
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Medizin- und Gesundheitsrecht
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizinische Fachgebiete Forensik, Rechtsmedizin, Gerichtsmedizin
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Abtreibung, Geburtenkontrolle: Soziale & Ethische Themen
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Medizinische Ethik
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Empirische Sozialforschung, Statistik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; 2. The Early Years; 3. The Parliamentary Battle for Restrictive Reform; 4. The Battle for Normalisation; 5. The Battle for Legal Meaning; 6. The Battle for Northern Ireland; 7. The Parliamentary Battle for Modernising Reform; 8. A Biography of the 'Great Untouchable'; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Davis, Gayle
Gayle Davis is Senior Lecturer in the History of Medicine. She has published widely in the history of medicine and reproductive health, including the recent co-edited volumes, Abortion Across Borders: Transnational Travel and Access to Abortion Services (2019) and The Palgrave Handbook of Infertility in History (2017).

Parker, Clare
Clare Parker is an historian who has worked at universities in the UK and Australia. She has published on the history of medicine and the politics of abortion and sexuality. She is also a consultant archivist currently working with the State Library of South Australia.

Sheldon, Sally
Sally Sheldon is a professor of law at the University of Bristol and University of Technology Sydney, a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, an editor of the journal Social & Legal Studies and Cambridge University Press's Law in Context series and a former trustee of the Abortion Support Network and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service. She has published extensively in healthcare law and ethics. She was formerly a professor in Kent Law School, where she worked on the research for this book.

O'Neill, Jane
Jane O'Neill is a social historian whose research interests include twentieth-century youth, gender, and sexual behaviour. She has published on the history of courtship, contraception and abortion in journals such as History and edited volumes including Students in Twentieth-Century Britain and Ireland.