PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Ruling on Abortion (6 February 1990)

That this House applauds the ruling by Mr Justice Brooke that the abortion of a handicapped boy of 27 weeks' gestation would have been illegal; welcomes the long-overdue clarification he has provided of the Infant Preservation Act 1929; notes that the learned Judge rules that the words, 'capable of being born alive', meant that a child is capable of existing independently of its mother, if only for a short time; notes that this description would have applied to the Carlisle baby, who survived for three hours at 21 weeks' gestation; and concludes that under the terms of the learned Judge's ruling thousands of late abortions in this country are illegal under the terms of the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929.

Sponsored by:
Miss Ann Widdecombe (Conservative)