Would decriminalisation mean deregulation?

Current British abortion law combines criminal prohibitions against abortion with an exception, carved out by the Abortion Act 1967, which provides that these offences do not apply where an abortion is performed in line with its requirements (see Chapter One). In the event of decriminalisation, the Abortion Act would necessarily be either very radically revised or repealed in its entirety alongside the removal of the criminal prohibitions. This has led some to worry that important safeguards against unethical or unsafe practice would be lost (for example, Caulfield, 2017: cols 30–1). In this chapter, we consider the basis for such concerns in the light of the legal regulation that would continue to apply following decriminalisation. We concentrate on the law of England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland, where the Abortion Act has never applied, will be considered separately in the following chapter