General Chat

Well I am glad
As I have said before only a tiny percentage of abortions are done after 18 weeks,mostly they are for abnormality and people do go through an awful lot to get them.
Dont kid yourselves it is easy because it is not.
Everybody must be certified by two doctors and they see counsellors and in cases of abnormality a genetiscist.
As for no abortion at all,what do people suggest.
women go back to aborting themselves .
I am lucky enough to have only practised in the last decade and a half, in a time when abortion is available yet I have seen young girls who have thrown themselves down stairs,drunk poison,taken tablets and done everything they can to end a pregnancy.
In the third world women die and are maimed everyday trying to end there pregnancies...and I am sure anyone over 50 on these boards remember the trauma women unexpectedly pregnant had to go through
teenage girls are notorious for delaying diagnosis as they are terrified,they usually let at least 3 if not 4 periods slip by before they say a word or there parents simply notice..
They make up most of your 12 - 18 wk figures
along with women who come from countries like Ireland.
I see someone has come up with the figure of 540 abortions per day
How many children are in care in the UK?
How many children are on at risk registers in the UK?
How many children are beaten or treated cruelly
How many are drug and alcohol affected by mums drinking in there pregnancies
How much child benefit is paid in the UK?
These are all questions you must ask yourselves ,because this is the end of the population that most of these babies would end up in.

Its not even a matter of personal belief for me because wether I would have an abortion or how I feel about abortion is irrelevant,its just such an important right for women.
And I feel that the appropriate checks and balances are already in place

I'm just wondering whether this will have a knock on effect for prem babies?.

Will the fact that the abortion limit is still 24 weeks mean that Doctors will effectively *write off* a 22 week baby? How does that work? xx

I dont think many people would disagree that there are certain circumstances when it should be allowed just 2 In my opinion.
1,If the mothers life is in danger
2,If the Baby has severe deformities.

Agreed Muffy like I said earlier, sometimes it is needed for health reasons.
Davex

Dave the big problem with finding out whether your baby has any abnormalities is that the major scan is at 20 weeks. Once they've further investigated and double checked that they are correct often the pregnancy is another 2-3 weeks along.

I have no problem with the selective abortion limit being lowered to 20 weeks but I wouldn't want to see it being adherred to when there is a potential health issue for either the mother or the baby xx

Well,It being kept at 24 weeks:-(( so Ive just heard.

I really dont understand the need for it to be 24 weeks,thats 6months!! far to long in my opinion.

As a Catholic, basically I am anti abortion, but I realise sometimes it is very needed.It probaly sounds mad for a man to say this, But surely in these days of technology and medical science, that by 20 weeks a woman should know whether her baby is going to be disabled? Or whether she wants to keep it?
I have two daughters one had abortion, and she regretted it for a very long time after and was very upset. The other lost a baby miscarried and the baby looked perfect, It took her a long time to get over it.
Both I must add or not Catholics like myself.
I think 20 weeks should be the time it is 5 months!!

Davexx

I think it should be reduced to 20 weeks (although 18 would be better) except for when a doctor thinks the circumstances are exceptional enough
x

I think it should be reduced to 20 weeks if it is not for medical reasons.

two people quoted the morning after pill, remember that isn't 100% - trust me I know and he'll be 10 in September!!!!

i dont think abortions should be allowed so late on.

i,v never agreed with it .... even more so when i lost my little girl at twenty two weeks.... i didnt get offered
any counciling or anything... the doctor even put on my notes medical abortion i went mental i said you can change that for a start i dont want people thinking i murdered my baby.
i dont care what anybody says unless its medical its murder in my book.

too many women have a relaxed attitude to having an abortion... i heard two women discussing one of them having an abortion and one said to the other what will you do if you are pregnant and she just carlmly said have an abortion and the other women said isnt it your third and she said no my fourth,,, there were no kind of remorse in her voice at all..
that disguest me..

i agree with pat 530 is way two many

Yes I think it should be lowered.
I personally don't agree with abortion, BUT It is up to every woman, Im sure it is not a decision that is taken lightly in most cases.

From the stats that Penny has posted,

There were 193,737 abortions in total
ONS figures from 2006

Thats over 530 a DAY!! Too many in my opinion.

Pat

Some one said at 20 wks its fully formed, which they are of course right. It got me thinking that my friends daughter who lost a baby at 16 wks.She had a picture of her son and although he was very red he too was fully formed not like a full term baby in colour but apart from that he was fully formed so maybe it should be even lower.

A lot of people consider it safe to announce that they are pregnant after 12 weeks. This is because it can be common to miscarry a baby before 12 weeks. This is considered by many as natures course (it doesn't feel like it if it happens to you though ) So may be this should be the cut off for abortion, 12 weeks as it is for natures way.
Unless of course there is a good medical reason.

I do think that if the mothers life is in danger or if the child has got severe deformities then it should be allowed.
but as Gwyn said unfortunately this is not always the case,it gets abused,especially in the private sector.

Here are some stats from the BBC website
for percentages of abortions at what weeks.

Under 9 weeks: 54.9%
9-12 weeks: 34.3%
13-19 weeks: 9.2%
20-24 weeks: 1.5% - approx 2900

There were 193,737 abortions in total
ONS figures from 2006

Your right Gwyn,

Years ago, only the rich girls went to Switzerland for their health, but we all knew what it was for.

Quoting the film Vera Drake again, where the rich mans daughter got an abortion,and the poor woman with loads of kids had to resort to back street abortion. and I think this was in the 1950's

From the NHS site........

The reasons that an abortion may be necessary are set out in The Abortion Act 1967. These are:

continuing with the pregnancy would be a greater risk to the woman's life than would ending the pregnancy,
continuing with the pregnancy would involve a greater risk of injury to the woman's physical or mental health than would ending the pregnancy,
continuing with the pregnancy would be more of a risk to the physical or mental health of any of the woman's existing children, or
there is a real risk that the child, if born, would have a serious physical or mental disability.
...........................................

Sadly these conditions sometimes have been applied with a very flexible interpretation.

Gwyn

I think it should be reduced to 16 weeks unless its advised on medical grounds. I had a complications with my 2nd child & had to have regular scans I remember 1 scan at 21 weeks seeing my baby tiny but formed, my daughter was born premature & survived.
There are load of contraception methods available & also Yes accidents do happen but there is now the morning after pill.

I would not like to go back to the back street abortions, as film Vera Drake. but I do think that in this day of contraception being easy, there are too many abortions.

If there is something wrong with the child, or the mother's life is in danger, yes.

If a girl/woman has made a mistake, there is now the morning after pill. So why wait for over 12 weeks to make up your mind if you want to keep a baby or not.

So I think the time limit should be 12 weeks, I could not bear to think of a baby being left to die on the side. Especially when you see the premature babies fighting for their lives.

I do not agree with abortions,
but it everyones right to do what they think is right with their bodies,
however I do think the weeks should be reduced, as 99 percent of people can tell if they are pregnant before they even miss a period. an article in the paper yesterday, reported that some women had had up to nine abortions.......

Muffy, I am sorry about your cousins experience
I may be wrong, but I dont think there is a limit for severe medical conditions, is there?
cmdx