Abortions

Sorry meant to read ‘they see getting an abortion like a trip to the dentist’

An excellent post Barracker.

Lang I was thinking that 2 doctors wouldn’t have signed it off for me all because I didn’t see them doing it, I forgot that they would’ve had access to my file and then signed it.

I think most women in the UK that want an abortion will get one, unless it’s used as a form of contraception which unfortunately, I’ve heard that some women do this, they are getting an abortion like going to the doctors.

I wasn’t spoken to about my mental health pre abortion and nor did 2 professionals say if it was okay or not, I just went to the doctor really upset and said I’m only 18 and this isn’t what I want, and I asked for an abortion and it was set up, it was 1999 so maybe things were different then.

No, you did not have a termination signed off by one doctor. That would be illegal. Another doctor would have co-signed your doctor's recommendations. Abortions in the UK are almost entirely based around a workaround of the law. You would have had a ground C termination, which is only legal if TWO doctors sign a form to say that your physical or mental health would be severely impacted. We do not have choice-based termination law in the UK.

The system basically operates as though we do, but everyone involved knows it's a workaround of what the law actually says.

I think forced abortions should also be done on some circumstances
For example addict who have already screwed their unborn babies up
Some people can't look after themselves never mind bring a baby into the world

Ahh that’s obviously why I don’t know about it then Sagrada, thanks.

Female I had one this year, legally the abortion still needs signing off by 2 doctors but never in person. After the consultation, scan and seeing the nurse, my details were forwarded and signed off while I was back in the waiting room before being called in and given the tablets.

I wasn’t spoken to about my mental health pre abortion and nor did 2 professionals say if it was okay or not, I just went to the doctor really upset and said I’m only 18 and this isn’t what I want, and I asked for an abortion and it was set up, it was 1999 so maybe things were different then.

Why are we discussing such an inflammatory subject if each woman is free to make her own choices?

1. women aren't free to choose an abortion in the UK. They operate under a patriarchal system that requires two doctors to make a judgement about her mental health for the most part.

2. OP wants to discuss removing term limits - women in the UK aren't free to have terminations after a term limit

3. it's a feminist board where discussions of even controversial and emotive issues affecting women take place

HTH

Canada has the best abortion laws. You can get it at any time and don't have to state a good reason like they pretend you have to do here

Also well said LangCleng

A Miscarrying Woman Nearly Died After a Catholic Hospital Sent Her Home Three Times - Rewire.News

I live in WA it is rough here with all the Catholic hospitals if you are a woman. I am always afraid to go to one even for non reproductive care. I had a hysterectomy, but the fear still lingers. Women shouldn't be afraid to go to the hospital.

rewire.news/article/2019/09/25/miscarriage-catholic-hospital/

Women in the UK where our abortion laws are fairly liberal and we have the NHS with mandated standards of care wherever you are (except Northern Ireland) have no idea how the abortion debate impacts on basic gynaecological care in countries like the USA.
Women are put at severe risk by not getting the treatment they need for miscarriage due to locally imposed rules covering abortion even though it really isn't an abortion but life saving treatment.

People generally fail to distinguish properly between
'I don't like that at all and wouldn't do it myself, and wish it would never happen'
and
'I advocate the following legal punishment to be enacted upon a grown woman of full capacity for having absolute autonomy over her own body'

It isn't enough to think 'I'm against this'
You have to be prepared to to state to a woman "you can do what you like with your own body, just as any human can, except under these circumstances, where the state has been authorised, legally, to criminalise you for controlling your own body. Your body is under state control and restriction for this period of time, and you will continue to be owned by the state, not yourself, for that time period. That's the price of being a female, not a male human"

If you want to criminalise women for what they choose, with full capacity, to do with their own bodies at ANY point in their lives, you have tacitly accepted that we aren't free. We are literally slaves for periods of our lives, and our bodies are not our own. And for those periods, we will be punished for exercising the same bodily freedoms that other humans are entitled to enjoy.

This is how I arrived at my position. I can't countenance that removal of bodily autonomy, that temporary enslaving of women to a higher power. My body is mine, to revere or to destroy and everything in between. And I see that as the highest principle of human freedom.

Within my skin. Mine.

Why is this even a thread?! Why are we discussing such an inflammatory subject if each woman is free to make her own choices? Seems like an odd topic if you're not after advice.

If somebody hadn't found out til say 8 weeks, they'd be way over that 12 if they'd had to wait as long as me

The reality of the change in the law to abortion on demand in the Republic of Ireland up to 12 weeks is that women are still travelling to England.

Britain (excluding NI) is currently only one of three countries in Europe that offers abortions after 14 weeks on request. Sweden goes to 18 weeks and The Netherlands to 22 weeks – but the latter has only two medical clinics which would potentially carry out the procedure on non-residents. That makes Britain one of the most important countries for women in Europe in need of a later abortion.

@Lovethetimeyouhave Nobody is god, god isn’t real. He’s no more in charge of life or death than any of us are.

*I believe that abortion should be available on demand and free until 12 weeks, this allows for the oops situations that many of us have found ourselves.

Late abortion for social reasons is wrong and very traumatic for the mother.*

Not true, you can’t speak for all women. Age 17 I had an abortion at 16/40. I didn’t find out I was pregnant till around 8/40, spent 5 weeks housebound with hyperemesis, admitted to hospital with a central line in my neck for 2 weeks because I was so sick and dehydrated and then finalllllly managed to get the procedure done at 16 weeks.

From the moment I found out I was pregnant I knew I would terminate, I was 17, my life hadn’t even started, no part of me wanted to grow up or become a mother. I wanted children when I was older, when I could provide for them and give them a nice life, I didn’t want a life of drudgery and struggling. A baby wouldn’t have made it all worth it, because I simply did not want one, it was no prize.

I was not traumatised by having an abortion for “social reasons”. It was the only thing in the world I wanted. I was properly traumatised by becoming so horrifically unwell though.

I believe that abortion should be available on demand and free until 12 weeks,

I found out very early on I was pregnant (5 weeks say) and did not get my NHS abortion til pushing 12 weeks. So a wait of 6 weeks. I was 17 and skint, so couldn't afford a private abortion.
I had to go about my business for 6 weeks, go to college, conceal my morning sickness from my parents. It felt like an eternity.

If somebody hadn't found out til say 8 weeks, they'd be way over that 12 if they'd had to wait as long as me.

Disgusting? I don't think so. I think of the shitty state care looked after children can recieve and think that's disgusting.

Children with numerous ACEs rejection and abandoned issues who go onto perpetuate the cycle. Having a baby you don't want and want to adopt is disgusting to that actual born living baby. Why would you do that to an actual person?

Cool username OP.

Abortions up until full gestation? Disgusting.

I've had two abortions, one early one late. Both post dc.

I think the negative effect it may have on some people outweighs the negative effect of having unwanted babies or being shackled to abusive men.

Adoption is a shit option. Lots of adoptions go horribly wrong and these children end up with shit lives in and out of foster and childrens homes. We already have enough unwanted children in this world. I think it's a selfish decision to use morals as a way to keep women pregnant and have more unwanted children.

I see no shame in abortion. I see no harm in abortion. I see abortion as a good for women.

I agree if the woman wants one. Lots of the posts I see on here from women undecided about having an abortion seem to be because the woman wants to have the baby but is worried that she can't afford it, that her living situation isn't right, that the dad doesn't want it, that her family don't want her to have it...

In those cases surely abortion isn't necessarily right nor harmless for the woman concerned? She wouldn't be having it because she wanted it but because she felt forced into having it.

Isn't that as bad as being forced not to have an abortion that she wanted?

I believe in choice - the choice to have an abortion if that's what the woman wants or the choice to have the baby if that's what she wants.

My adopted son was born to a young mum who wanted an abortion but was advised to continue the pregnancy by a religious family member who helped her conceal the pregnancy until late on (24 weeks) thought they thought it was less than that. She went through a pregnancy she didn't want to be having and by the point of birth, she was a shell of a person.

She is a family member of my husband. Not very, very close but close enough for him to have known her all her life and to have grown up with her mother. Her mother was oblivious to the pregnancy until 24 weeks but it would have been hard for her to be approved to adopt the baby for reasons plus her daughter wasn't in a place where she could give up her mother for her baby. She didn't want to see the baby every day or even often. She hasn't seen him at all in these 3 years though she will look at the occasional family photo.

It's pulled his family apart in that her closest relatives find it hard to see our son with us in another family setting so we carefully manage family events so that her closest relatives rarely see him. My husband has a huge family so there are other people who are closer to him and her closest relatives opt out of attending those events. The process of realising that few members of his family could take the child at short notice given the SS involvement and what they'd need from prospective parents was upsetting, embarrassing and intrusive for all.

This whole situation was awful for everyone
The only person who got anything good out of it was us who gained a son and my son who gained parents. It has split the family though. Even though nobody is angry with anyone else, it is just hurtful for my son's biological grandmother that her relative is in fact his grandmother now. His biological mother has never been the same and has much input from mental health services.