The Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 (19 & 20 Geo. 5. c. 34) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the offence of child destruction. The act retains three sections, the most substantive legal changes of which are in the first section.
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.HL Deb. Vol 72. |Col 269.
Section 1(1)'s caveat of the act amended section 58 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100) 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.Smith and Hogan, 12th edition, p.568
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.
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].s37 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, legislation.gov.uk
Subsequent developments Section 2(1) of the act was repealed by section 10(2) of, and part II of schedule 3 to, the Criminal Law Act 1967, which came into force on 1 January 1968.
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Parliamentary debates