David Steel

Steel was a 28-year-old Liberal MP when he came third in the 1966 private members' ballot and chose abortion law reform, drafted with the Abortion Law Reform Association. The Abortion Act of 1967 allowed termination with the agreement of two doctors on set grounds, and the government gave the bill extra time to complete its stages. It still governs abortion in England, Wales and Scotland, now alongside the 2026 change that removed women from the criminal law on their own pregnancies.