The hopes and fears of many different sections of the population were pinned on the legislation that took effect on 27 April 1968. To some it represented the admission of civil rights long denied, to others it seemed an uneasy compromise. The implications of the new Act have been reviewed by Hordern (1971), but there is still much confusion in the mind of the man in the street (and particularly the woman in the street) about what the legal position now is. Many laymen are under the impression that one can now obtain abortion on demand, but they must be balanced against those cynics who feel that the situation has not been changed in effect from what obtained in earlier years. There is certainly a lot of misunderstanding about what may be regarded as 'social’ reasons for termination of pregnancy, and this extends to a common belief that the majority of terminations are carried out under this category.