Legal Aspects of Abortion, Death Penalty, and Assisted Dying in the UK

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Summarise the laws relating to the abortion, the death penalty and assisted dying?

Discussion
Since the Abortion Act was passed in 1967, abortion has been made legal in England, Scotland
and Wales. It is legal if-
 Less than 24 weeks pregnant.
 Two doctors agree that the continuation of pregnancy and having a baby would affect
mental or physical health.
Even after 24 weeks, at any time in pregnancy, abortion is legal, but the termination must be
performed by a licensed medical profession, i.e. a doctor then only it will be considered as legal.
Signatures of two other doctors are also required for the same (Boyle.et.al, 2015).
In 1965, the UK abolished the death penalty as a punishment for all offences and was substituted
with the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment (Hood and Hoyle, 2015). However, there is an
internet campaigning debating about whether this law should be reintroduced or not. Capital
punishment was abolished for treason in 1998 and piracy with violence making fully abolitionist
to Britain both in practice and in law.
In the UK assisted dying is incoherent and inadequate. It is illegal to assists and encourages
another person’s suicide under section 2 of the 1961 Suicide Act and is punishable for up to 14
years imprisonment. However, the actions of the suspect are investigated, and the evidential
stage has been passed. The Director of Public Prosecutions then gives consent before prosecuting
the individual. By the considerations of the prosecutor this consent is given or declined, whether
it is in the interest of public or not to prosecute (Dyer.et.al, 2015).

References
 Boyle, E.H., Kim, M. and Longhofer, W., 2015. Abortion liberalization in world society,
1960–2009. American Journal of Sociology, 121(3), pp.882-913.
 Dyer, O., White, C. and Rada, A.G., 2015. Assisted dying: law and practice around the
world. BMJ, 351, p.h4481.
 Hood, R. and Hoyle, C., 2015. The death penalty: A worldwide perspective. OUP Oxford.