REAL STORY ... BBC1...7.30...should teenagers be given abortions without their parents knowledge.

[RTKangaMummy]

MONDAY 25 JULY



Current affairs

Real Story with Fiona Bruce

7:30pm - 8:00pm

BBC1 London & South East




VIDEO Plus+: 187
Subtitled, Widescreen





Fiona Bruce and the team investigate the children given secret abortions without their parents' knowledge.




.

[kid]

A friend of mine had an abortion without her parents ever knowing. Even now 12 years on they have no idea, she was only 15 at the time.

[sansouci]

crumbo! what a subject... if i'd got pregnant when i was 16, my mother would've shot me. But where do you draw the line between children being given abortions and teens having abortions?

[ZoeC]

At 16 I knew in my own mind that if I'd got pregnant I would (a) have an abortion and (b) not tell my parents. It didn't happen but tbh I'd have been horrified if I'd been forced to tell them.

Thankfully birth control is available confidentially so I went that route instead.

[mismatch]

I would SO want my daughter to tell me if she was pregnant.

Had it been me at that age I think 99% sure I would have ended up confinding in my mum eventually coz shes great.

[TwoIfBySea]

The girl featured (the one who had the abortion and promptly got pregnant again) didn't seem, how do I put this without being crude...

Okay she seemed a bit simple, to put it politely. Certainly extremely immature for her age.

Interesting that if it the issue had been pressed the story would have been different. The girl's mother realised when interviewing that her anger toward the NHS wasn't able to justify a change in policy. For example when she said she couldn't find out if the girl was on the pill because of the confidentiality clause then contradicted herself by admitting the newest pregnancy was the result of the girl forgetting to take the pill for a couple of days. Wonder how much they are suing the NHS for.

Same went for the woman who was trying to have the law changed, when she was talking to the teenagers they were supporting their right to privacy. It was all glossed over so the programme could maintain its stance on the issue.

There are situations where a girl needs to know she can be treated without her parents knowledge but there should be counsellors (sp?) available, under strictest confidence, to help and advise.

[ZoeC]

I did agree with Esther Rantzen entirely though -confidentiality is important to protect children at risk from their parents, to hopefully prevent suicides and self harm from attempted home abortions. Those risks alone prove the need for confidentiality at times.

[sweetkitty]

The hospital involved Kings Mill in Mansfield is the one which killed by friends baby and the paeds who neglected her are still working there pending the inquiry

[happymerryberries]

Thank go I was never put in this awful situation. If, god forbit, dd is ever in this situation I hope she would discuss it with me.

I feel for girls who don't have a supportive mother though. If I had been in this position as a teenager my mother whould have gone ape. She would have insisted on an abortion (what would the neighbours think was one of her ruling thoughts). Sh would then have made my life a hell and would never have stopped going on about it.

So I do understand how these girls would feel.

[tallulah]

As a teenager I couldn't talk to my mum at all. Thank god I was never in that situation but she'd have been the last person I'd have turned to. Had they said "we have to tell your mum" I think I'd have contemplated suicide rather than have to tell her, remembering what it felt like to be that age.

As a mother I would like to be involved, but my DD never comes to me. TBH I would rather teenagers were guaranteed anonymity than have to face a parent like mine. (Luckily I now only have underage boys, so the question should not arise).