Sexuality and abortion
Overview:
The Modern Records Centre's collections include material relating to the debate over abortion during the 1960s and 1970s - particularly from around 1979, when the Corrie Bill was first debated in Parliament. Searches for and in our online catalogue will identify some of the relevant material.
= This symbol after a link means that it links to catalogue descriptions of the documents (including the reference numbers which will help you to order up the original documents at the MRC).
All of the material listed below is in copyright, so in most cases we are unable to publish digital copies online. Researchers are welcome to look at the original documents in the MRC reading room.
Selected sources:
Two large files compiled by campaigner Dodie Ellis / Weppler. They include journals, leaflets, circulars, minutes and other organisational material relating to the National Abortion Campaign.
Issues of a newspaper produced by the pro-abortion Abortion Law Reform Association.
Publication produced by the Birth Control Trust. It includes a series of articles by politicians, campaigners, medical professionals and a clergyman on abortion and the developments in the ten years since the medical procedure was legalised.
The Andrew Whitehead collection includes 13 files of leaflets, bulletins and other items of ephemera relating to the debate over abortion and the rights of women following the introduction of the Corrie Bill. Most are pro-abortion, but the collection does also include material from several anti-abortion groups.
Leaflet produced by the Black Women's Group, Brixton. It includes comments on broader attacks on the black family and enforced sterilization by medical professionals.
National Abortion Campaign leaflet produced in response to the Corrie Bill, c.1979, included in a .