An important step on the road to legal abortions in Britain came in 1938 when Dr Aleck Bourne performed an abortion on a 14 year old girl who had been gang raped in Horse Guards Parade, London by some soldiers. The doctor was arrested and charged with performing an illegal abortion because it had not been done to save the life of the mother (the only permissable reason at the time). He was acquitted after succesfully arguing that it had been neccessary for the mental health and wellbeing of the girl, although carrying on with the pregnancy would not have been physically dangerous to her. This began to open the courts up to the idea that factors other than danger to the physical health of the mother might have a part to play in whether abortions were permissible or not.