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AIBU?

to think older teens should be made to watch what an abortion is in PHSE. (sorry possibly triggering)

546 replies

StraightLineOfResignation · 13/01/2014 17:19

I know this may be controversial but I have thought this for some time.
Abortion is legal in this country but still straight forward , informative talks about it are clouded by morality and judgement and at the end of the day, sometimes people need to have one in tragic circumstances i.e people who are made critically ill by pregnancy.
And are often as well as already scared and sad, i don't think most people make this decision lightly, are woefully underprepared which i'm sure must only add to emotional trauma.
and of course there are too many potential uninterested fathers who just utter 'get rid of it' at the hearing of potentially being a father, so disgustingly flippantly like throwing a crisp packet in the bin, I do think if they especially had seen a medical video of the procedure, well i think the number of people who just thrown that term around would be significantly less, if they had actually seen that image with their own eyes , and would be less detached from the idea and process.
I'm talking older teens , like 16+ here , not 11 year olds.
my mum and i have always though this, i would find it traumatising and pretty shocking, but compared to people who feel shame, go backstreet putting themselves at risk and people who go through with pregnancies they did not want/need. Surely a bit of discomfort is better then that being a legacy of another generation.

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Pleasetryan0ther · 13/01/2014 17:23

So, they could watch someone taking a pill and having some cramps?

Or was that not the kind of termination you had in mind?

Biscuit

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lilyaldrin · 13/01/2014 17:25

A medical video of which procedure exactly?

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Juno77 · 13/01/2014 17:26

You think teenagers should be shown videos of abortions? People having abortions, or what happens to the foetus?

Hmm

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Justforlaughs · 13/01/2014 17:26

I agree OP, and have thought so for a long time. Too many teenagers (and adults) believe that a quick pill is all it takes - regardless of how far gone the pregnancy is.

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Thetallesttower · 13/01/2014 17:26

I was just about to say that, a chemical termination at under 12 weeks is really nothing to see, and from what my friends have told me similar to a miscarriage of the same time.

If you want everyone to sit through a surgical late abortion, then I would question your sanity as well as your motives. Even those involved in carrying out these procedures may find them difficult, even if they feel them justified for example through disability.

I am not sure why you want everyone to see a termination, better see women talking about their terminations, including the positive and negative, surely?

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StraightLineOfResignation · 13/01/2014 17:26

well both, most young girls have no idea , I had no idea that was available till i got older.

People watch birth videos now, which would have been unthinkable in past generations.

Treating it as a taboo , I don't think serves youngsters as much as its unpleasant.

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formerbabe · 13/01/2014 17:27

Why would it stop backstreet abortions? Also, why would anyone have a backstreet abortion when they are free on the NHS?

Sorry, I don't get your last paragraph at all.

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Juno77 · 13/01/2014 17:27

What a great idea, imagine a 16 year old is raped and impregnated, and before allowing them to go through with the abortion, they have to watch a video to guilt trip them!

Great idea.

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Justforlaughs · 13/01/2014 17:27

Of course, you would need to find women happy to be filmed Hmm

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Fingerbobs · 13/01/2014 17:27

What's your point, exactly? I had an abortion aged 32 - how would watching a film at 16 be supposed to influence me in that decision?

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YoureBeingASillyBilly · 13/01/2014 17:28

YABU

I was shown footage of Aborted foetuses at my catholic secondary school in religion class. It infuriated me. It is propaganda used by the anti abortion crowd to shock people into having feelings of disgust wrt what is sometime the right option for many women. Shame on those who use this type of shock tactic.

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RevoltingPeasant · 13/01/2014 17:28

Abortion is legal in this country but still straight forward , informative talks about it are clouded by morality and judgement and at the end of the day, sometimes people need to have one in tragic circumstances i.e people who are made critically ill by pregnancy

Yeah, or just women who don't want to be pregnant anymore? Hmm

Abortion isn't necessarily a tragedy. It's a medical procedure.

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lilyaldrin · 13/01/2014 17:28

80% of abortions are carried out before 10 weeks Pleasetry, so I'm sure a the procedure of taking a pill is exactly what the OP was thinking of Hmm

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Starballbunny · 13/01/2014 17:28

ODFOD

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mrsjay · 13/01/2014 17:28

so you want young adults to watch a womans womb being scraped and foetus suctioned out or a woman having severe stomach ache then maybe depostiting into a toilet from taking pills which do you want to show them

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StraightLineOfResignation · 13/01/2014 17:29

I went to a school with lots of girls under 16 who had several, ( rough area) must have been awful with little or no education on the subject.

Why does that make me mad? its not sensationalist, its to educate.

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fifi669 · 13/01/2014 17:30

Are you talking about seeing a dead fetus? I think that's a bit extreme myself. Rather a 3d scan of a baby in the womb to make it seem real rather than a line on a stick. A friend had a 3d scan at 17 weeks, amazing to look at. Bit freaked out that you could have an abortion up to 7 weeks after for no good reason.

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Juno77 · 13/01/2014 17:30

Would you have preferred those girls didn't have the abortions that they chose at the time?

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MoominIsGoingToBeAMumWaitWHAT · 13/01/2014 17:30

YANBU. All the options should be shown to them - including keeping the baby.

At the minute, sex education is pretty much non-existant in many rural areas, and lacking even in more populated areas. The extent of my sex education was "Don't have sex. If you do, boys should wear a condom". Literally, that was it. Nothing of the consequences, nothing of the options should it happen. (This is going to be my dissertation topic so I'm a bit militant about it Grin ) My brother and sister haven't even had any sex education whatsoever - they're 14 and 12.

They need to be taught the practical and emotional consequences of pregnancy and abortion and relinquishing a baby for adoption, as well as the support available in each instance, and more in-depth about the different types of contraception. It's all well and good saying "Don't do it", but if you leave it at that, once they've gone and done it anyway, they're screwed. Same goes for STIs, they need to know that they can be tested and treated confidentially and without judgement.

I think also what might help would be to have young women who have had babies, and others who have had abortions, as well as young fathers and young men who've supported their partner through an abortion, to talk about the realities, rather than a middle-aged school nurse reading it off a whiteboard.

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Thetallesttower · 13/01/2014 17:30

Straight it is you to seem uneducated, many terminations now consist of taking a pill and having a miscarriage type experience. Is that what you want to show?

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Fingerbobs · 13/01/2014 17:30

And the procedure was identical to the removal of my miscarried baby. I had general anaesthetic for both so nothing actually to experience.

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welshnat · 13/01/2014 17:30

i had to watch a video of a surgical abortion as part of my R.E class. I was in a Catholic school and the main aims were to put people off sex and abortions. In my year alone there were 6 teenage pregnancies so it obviously didn't work.

Personally I don't think it would affect a male's opinion as it is the "woman's job". Well that was the general opinion of the boys in my class.

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JonSnowKnowsNothing · 13/01/2014 17:31

Would you show them footage of a body being scraped off the road after a traffic accident to scare them into driving carefully? No?

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Juno77 · 13/01/2014 17:31

fifi - there is no such thing as 'no good reason' for an abortion. Wanting one is a good reason.

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JapaneseMargaret · 13/01/2014 17:31

My first thought on reading your OP was, you must be affiliated with some sort of religion, to think this is a good idea.

Are you...?

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