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Cultural change during the Wilson Government - Coggle Diagram
Cultural change during the Wilson Government
The Permissive Society
Capital punishment
Hanging of Ruth Ellis in 1955 after she murdered he Abusive boyfriend gave a boost to the hanging campaign.
In 1957 the homicide act had limited the use of the death penalty after a royal commission in the late Labour and early conservative government
Sydney Silverman was the main campaigner in Parliament to abolish the death penalty and was the member who proposed the private members bill in 1965
In 1965 hanging was abolished for a trail period of 5 years and in 1969 it was abolished by a bill introduced by James Callaghan
Homosexuallity
Women's rights
Abortion
Up until 1967 abortion was strictly illegal unless there was a medical reason
If you wanted to an abortion you had to find a private clinic, if you could not afford it then a backstreet abortionist was your only option
There was between 100,000 and 200,000 illegal abortions were performed and 35,000 women were admitted to hospital with complications as a result
Between 1958 and 1960 82 women died due to backstreet abortions
Abortion law reform association had campaigned for a reform in the law from 1945 and argued for a removal to legal barriers to abortion
However there was considerable oppositin to aboriton law reform as many feared that it would lead to abortions on demand
In 1966 the Society for the Protection of the Unborn was set up
The thalidomide disaster of 1959-1962 caused a huge shift in public opinion as children were being born without the long bones in arms and legs.
Polls after the disaster showed a majority of people favoring abortion when there was abnormality with the fetus
Divorce reform
Until the 1960s the restrictions on divorce were extreme, there had to be clear evidence of adultery by one of the parties
This led to the use of cameras and private detectives which made divorce expensive and inaccessible for many
The Divorce Reform act of 1969 allowed for a "no fault divorce" which allowed divorce if
If they had lived apart for two years and both partners wanted a divorce
If they had lived apart for 5 years and one partner wanted a divorce
However after the reform the number of divorces increased rapidly
In 1950 their had been less than 2 divorces per 1000 married couples by by the mid 70s this had skyrocketed to 10 in every 1000.
Educational reform.