MPs said the 1967 Abortion Act would allow abortion for just a few women who were in very difficult circumstances. In 1968, there were 22,256 abortions in England and Wales. By 1990, the figure had risen to 186,912. There was a drop each year after that until 1995, when there were 163,621. There were 11,961 abortions in Scotland in 1996, and 12,080 in 1997.
Abortion is still illegal in Northern Ireland.
The circumstances in which the 1967 legislation permitted abortion were amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, 1990. Selective termination of one or more, but not all, fetuses in a multiple pregnancy is also permitted. The majority are performed by vacuum suction. The cervix is dilated, a tube inserted into the uterus and a powerful suction machine suctions the baby in pieces from the womb into a container. The cervix is dilated, a loop-shaped steel knife is inserted in the uterus and the baby scraped out in pieces.