Mr. Peter Thompson:

The first iteration of this, in the Abortion Act 1967, used the term "viability". That was then changed in 1990. It then effectively said that babies at more than 28 weeks' gestation were viable, but it did not say that babies under that limit were not. That became an issue as survival rates for babies increased as time passed by. It became more about a specific gestational age than about viability. That is how it has changed. There have been several attempts to change it again through the UK Parliament, as I am sure the Deputy is aware, but none have been successful or supported.