British women treat abortion as the easy option, claims angry Archbishop

The British public is in danger of losing its 'moral focus' on abortion and treating the procedure as normal, rather than a last resort, says the Archbishop of Canterbury.

With the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act less than a week away, Dr Rowan Williams uses an article in today's Observer to claim that people are close to slipping to a new 'default position' on the issue.

'There has been an obvious weakening of the feeling that abortion is a last resort in cases of extreme danger or distress,' Williams writes, noting that 'nearly 200,000 abortions a year in England and Wales tell their own story'. Instead, the leader of the Church of England claims the growing belief that 'abortion is essentially a matter of individual decision' means it is no longer 'the kind of major moral choice that should involve a sharing of perspective and judgment'.

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As a result, Williams argues the spirit of the Abortion Act is in danger of being lost. While many of the Act's supporters took for granted 'the wrongness of ending an unborn life', according to Williams, he questions whether this is still the case, especially given recent discussions on making it simpler for women to take abortion-inducing drugs at home.

'The pregnant woman who smokes or drinks heavily is widely regarded as guilty of infringing the rights of her unborn child,' Williams argues. 'Yet at the same time, with no apparent sense of incongruity, there is discussion of the possibility of the liberty of the pregnant woman herself to perform the actions that will terminate a pregnancy.'

He also suggests that the present 24-week limit for abortions should be reviewed. 'This issue needs attention, if only because of the fact that the existing law assumes a rather less developed state of medical science than is now the case.'