Abortion to be reduced to 20 weeks

Another in favour of 'as early as possible, as late as necessary'.

I think it vanishingly unlikely that any woman would choose a late abortion if her circumstances weren't desperate, and if she really can't bear to remain pregnant then why the hell should she.

I do think it would be reasonable to have early induction followed by adoption as another option for women in this circumstance, alongside late abortion.

Also, for those who say abortion/late abortion only in cases of rape, do you really think it realistic or ok to make a woman go through a court case first? Because we all know how easy it is to get a conviction

Well thank goodness we don't make laws based on what makes people a bit uncomfy.

Since the anomaly scan is done at 20 weeks, it'd be inhumane to have the cut-off date for abortion reduced - a woman should not be forced to carry a pregnancy with a severely disabled, possibly incompatible with life, child to term.

I am just uncomfortable with the fact that aborting at 24 weeks as you legally can at the moment in one room they could be fighting to save the life of a wanted baby and somewhere else they are destroying the life . I think 20 weeks is perfectly reasonable and is more than enough time to make the decision on wether you are opting to keep the baby or not.

Good article Sunny

Guardian article

Sorry you had a bad start thairish but there would have been no "you" to have an opinion if your mother had made a different decision. Other posters have previously stated that their own bad starts led them to a strong pro-choice position as they feel that an abortion would have been better for their mothers.

Yep I'm in the camp of abortion on demand (why does it still need 2 doctors?) as early as possible, for free, in a setting of the women's choice (i.e. Clinic or hospital, whatever they felt most comfortable and was safest) and absolutely without needing to run the gauntlet of anti-choice campaigners first.

Definitely no lowering of the limit.

I think very, very few women would opt for a late abortion unless in desperate circumstances.

Blackcurrants, can I add to your list

(5) Support enforceable mandatory child support payments from the father/sperm donor

Just saying..as so often women are quite literally left holding the baby having been forced to give birth to it.

Aaargh!

Abortion isn't, and has never been, a simple issue Misslb88 read some of the links and learn a bit more about it [from the perspective pf a pro-abortion campaigner in the 70s, if you want to know my interest]

I'm 28 weeks pregnant now. I cannot imagine myself in early August turning around and saying "Whoops, changed my mind! Five months of puking, sweating, swelling and feeling like shite weren't enough to convince me that I don't want to have a baby, but suddenly I've changed my fickle ladybrain and so I want an abortion right now!" Whoever imagines this kind of woman doesn't like women very much.

Less than 2% of all abortions happen after 20 weeks.

These abortions are invariably tragic stories; it's an unpleasant procedure for which no woman would volunteer on a whim.

I trust women to make the right decisions about their health and their lives and their families.

If people want to reduce the amount of late-term abortions in the UK (Which, as noted above, is a tiny amount of all abortions) they they should do the following things:

(1) Support comprehensive, mandatory sex education
(2) Support increased access to family planning clinics and rape advisory services
(3) Support abortion upon patient request up to 12 weeks, not this '2 doctors sign off' paternalistic delaying nonsense
(4) Support easier access to medical abortion

Oh, and those who are anti-abortion, I do hope you all give blood and bone marrow tissue regularly? Have donated one of your kidneys? And adopt and foster children?
Yeah, thought so.

Please can everyone read TeaandHandbags link!!!

I've known 3 very sensible women who haven't know they were pregnant and continued to have period type bleeding.

One had two DCs and a new job and was mega embarrassed as she must have been PG at interview and was certain they'd think she'd known.

One who felt awful and who's GP found she had high blood pressure due to being 5+ months PG.

And one who lovely big young lady who'd been had glandular fever and expected to feel tired and grotty. She'd long since split up with her BF and labour was a total shock, her DC was put up for adoption.

The other two kept theirs.

However all 3 had very supportive families, that can not be the case for all women.

Marcheline, as someone who has been lucky enough to have been born, I would have preferred a 'bad start' in life than no start at all. Abortions at such a late stage are totally wrong. I would be greatly interested to hear what reasons women would have for allowing the pregnancy to progress so far anyway? Just can't fathom the logic that allows '"foetuses" to be aborted in one part of a hospital and same gestation babies to be resuscitated in another. Women's rights should not be allowed to impinge on the rights of the baby at such a late stage.

Given there must be an exception for problems identified at 20 week scan.

Surely this reduction only serves to hurt very venerable, very frightened and often very young women.

I can't imagine many women taking until the 5th month of pregnancy to decide on an abortion unless they genuinely didn't know (it happens), were too frightened to admit it or were in very difficult personal circumstances.

Misslb88, I take it you haven't bothered to read anything above your post.

Y does it take 20 weeks to decide whether u want to keep a baby or not?? Its disgusting to leave it until 20 weeks if u dont want a baby then the simple answer is use contraception get ur man to put something on the end of it not rocket science. Think of the poor people that cannot carry a baby. Reduce it alot lower. To all the people agree with it being 20 weeks ur all just messed up in the head and obviously dont really care!!

"I would like Maria Miller to read this and rethink her comments about late-term abortion having a damaging effect on women - what exactly does she think forced childbirth is going to do to these people?"

With a late abortion the foetus/baby/whatever you call it/him/her has to come out someway. There is no way you magically wave a wand to get the fetus out.

Either the fetus comes out vaginally (ie. labour) or its a c-section. A late miscarriage/ abortion is a similar experience to labour. The women who have late abortions are forced to give birth to a dead fetus or have a c-section. These women will in effect experience childbirth without the living baby.

I find it hard to imagine someone going through that experience unless there are some desperate reasons. It would be interesting to know how many people have an abortion after 20 weeks for social reasons. Maybe women should be allowed to induce their babies early and have the children adopted if they can technically survive.

The only person I know who had a late termination had a baby with anencephaly at 28 weeks. The experience has scarred her.

Good post Tea and Hugs. Numbers of abortions even after 20 weeks are relatively few, but again it's rarely because someone has just "changed their mind" late in the day.

I support no reduction in the time limit and maintaining the same conditions regarding later abortions. I also support removing the requirement for the approval of two doctors, particularly up to 24 weeks gestation, but at least up to 12 weeks. Actually, up to 12 weeks, I believe it should be on request of the patient.

Smells you are right

I think it should be lowered, 4 months is long enough to make an informed decision on whether you want.

I can believe anyone would condone an abortion to term there has to be a line somewhere.

I understood Fiona to be referring to the possibility of the mother going into spontaneous labour before the abortion had been carried out? Quite an unusual scenario I would have thought.

Ah, thanks Tea, was just coming on to post that link. In particular the woman given bad advice by her HCP was awful.

Fiona, my understanding is that the foetal heart is stopped by an injection prior to any late-term abortion, so the situation you describe shouldn't arise. I'm working from memory though so may be wrong.

Here is an excellent case study of the reasons why women request abortion after 22 weeks. It's not simply because they change their mind. A quarter of the women in the study did not know they were pregnant, some of them having continued to have periods and negative pregnancy test results. One had her pregnancy dated incorrectly by her GP. One was lied to by her GP about the options available to her when she requested an early abortion. Nearly 10% were struggling with addiction. Some already had children in care. Some were recent immigrants with poor English skills and no knowledge of the UK system. Nearly one third were teenagers.
www.bpas.org/js/filemanager/files/bpas_press_briefing_late_abortion.pdf
I would like Maria Miller to read this and rethink her comments about late-term abortion having a damaging effect on women - what exactly does she think forced childbirth is going to do to these people?

I still don't understand why the possibility that a baby can survive outside the womb is an argument for forcing it to stay in there. There is another person involved here - the woman who is forced to go through the later stages of pregnancy against her will. Why is she so often ignored in this discussion?

If there was research into better ante natal testing at an early stage then women could have their abortions early. If access to a chemical abortion was made easier then late abortions would not be easier. Maybe the school nurse should be allowed to arrange early chemical abortions for school girls without parental permission.

I think the present law is about right. Abortion is never an easy decision and women need to offered skilled councelling and the chance to discuss their options.

I accidently got pregnant at 25 years old and I chose to continue with the pregnancy. I now have a beautiful ten year old, but I really had a baby at completely the wrong time of my life. In some respects it has messed up my life totally as I lost a fanastic career. I can understand and emphasise with someone who chooses to have an abortion.

I feel that better access to early abortions will reduce the number of late abortions.