The James White Bill and the Select Committee

The Abortion Amendment Act was introduced by James White (1922-2009) in 1975. He was the Labour MP for Glasgow Pollock from 1970 until 1987, and had won the ballot to promote private member's legislation of their choice in late 1974. The Bill wanted to restrict the reasons why a woman could get an abortion, and which doctors could perform one. It passed two readings but fell at the end of the Parliamentary Session in 1975. A Select Committee was appointed in February 1976 to look into the original Abortion Act of 1967, and recommended that the present act was successful, but could perhaps in the future reduce the abortion limit to 24 weeks from 28.

This Bill was never passed largely thanks to NAC, which formed in March 1975 in response to the Act, and gained a large support base from MPs, the general public and Trade Unions. The documents include; correspondence, leaflets, press releases, reports and evidence to the Select Committee, and information on various demonstrations regarding this campaign.