Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929

The Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It created the offence of child destruction. The Act retains three sections, the most substantive legal changes of which are in the first section.

The Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929[1]
Long titleAn Act to amend the law with regard to the destruction of children at or before birth.
Citation19 & 20 Geo.5 c.34
Territorial extentEngland and Wales[2]
Dates
Royal assent10 May 1929
Commencement10 May 1929[3]
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Bill preceding it was introduced as the Child Destruction Bill. It was reintroduced in the next session as the Preservation of Infant Life Bill.[4]

Section 1(1)'s caveat of the Act amended s.58 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 so that abortions and child destruction carried out in good faith for the sole purpose of preserving the life of the mother were no longer an offence.

Relationship with the Abortion Act 1967

The Abortion Act 1967 makes foetal abortion legal in specific circumstances when conducted in accordance with the regulations of the act.[5]

The 1967 Act—as for added clarity amended by s37 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990—explicitly notes that abortions performed under the terms of the 1967 Act are not offences under the 1929 Act.[5]

No offence under the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 shall be committed by a registered medical practitioner who terminates a pregnancy in accordance with the provisions of this Act [the Abortion Act].[6]

References
  1. This short title is conferred by section 3(1) of this Act.
  2. This is the effect of section 3(2) of this Act and the presumption that an Act of Parliament applies to the United Kingdom unless the contrary is specified
  3. This Act came into force on the date that it received royal assent because no other date was specified: Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793
  4. HL Deb. Vol 72. 269.
  5. Smith and Hogan, 12th edition, p.568
  6. s37 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, legislation.gov.uk

Parliamentary debates


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