Member

The amendment has two essential purposes. The first is to provide a defence similar to that provided in the Infanticide Act 1938. That statute provides a defence for a mother who kills her child within 12 months of birth provided that, at the time of her action, the mother’s mind was disturbed by reason of the pregnancy. That defence was reviewed in 2006 by the Law Commission and was upheld. It is hard to see why, in logic and principle, a defence that applies to a killing immediately after birth should not be applied to a late-term abortion, even if immediately before birth. That is the purpose of the first part of my amendment.