1 in 4 pregnancies ends in abortion?

[MultiBird]

Reading the BBC article about the US ruling, it says that in the US 1 in 6 pregnancies ends in abortion, which I thought seemed very high, but I looked it up and it's 1 in 4 in UK.

I'd fight very hard indeed if anyone challenged a woman's right to choose here, but isn't that very high? Is there some truth in the argument that it's being used as contraception? I've heard it said before and dismissed it as ridiculous but 25%?!

Bear with me a sec and I'll post the links.

I'm confused, you want us to ignore the people arguing against abortion as contraception and the people arguing for the choice of abortion regardless of the reason, so who are we supposed to talk to.

Or are you just trying to shit down all conversation? In which case you might struggle given this is a talk forum.

I may fundamentally disagree with some of what @Barelyfunctioning3 is saying, but I stand up for her right to say it without being shut down with someone telling everyone to ignore her.

’There are MNers who are against cavalier use of abortion and carelessness with contraception’

There are judgemental arseholes everywhere. When it comes to abortion the only opinion that matters is that of the woman.

Stop policing women’s choices.

@placewherewebelong Thank you. I’m not trying to be goady.

@FlyingMasticatedParticles No it’s not my body, but I have to listen to her moan and wonder why the hell she doesn’t take steps to avoid it. Well you pay for condoms. Vasectomies are free.

As I’ve said women should be able to choose.

My point was I suppose, related to personal experience- why would you repeatedly put yourself through it. I admit this isn’t likely to be the case for most women. Another friend has an awful experience trying to obtain an abortion due to her circumstances and had to pay privately. It dragged on and was very traumatic.

@Pippinbird Why don’t you check out the other thread. I’m just having a discussion, abortion should always be available to women and the choice shouldn’t be taken away, as it has in the U.S.

I have a daughter and if she ever wanted an abortion I would support her and want it managed properly.

I really am off now.

"I trust women to do the right thing for themselves without requiring them to self flagellate first", agree Applesandroses. But it’s an argument that’s been promoted as a useful one to use by pro-life groups, they know a lot of people don’t agree with their approach so they play up how it’s always hugely traumatising to have an abortion, it’s just another way of getting the result they want. I know plenty of women who’ve had abortions, some more than one, who weren’t traumatised at all. It was the right decision for them at the time, and a relief that abortion was available to them as an option, they would have been far more adversely affected if they’d been forced to go ahead with a pregnancy they didn’t want. And it’s interesting that the same pro-lifers who hide behind these trauma-type arguments never discuss the potential negative impact on health – physical and mental - a pregnancy can cause. As for judging why women do or don’t have abortions, the supposedly good decision versus the supposedly bad one, I would prefer not to judge other women’s health care decisions and trust that they will do what’s right for them. If, however, a fraction of these decisions relates to external factors such as lack of affordable housing, decent child support then, rather than worry about abortion, I’d prefer people diverted their energy into lobbying for/supporting political groups who want to tackle those kinds of issues. The level of child poverty in the UK is appallingly high.

I am not policing women's choices.

I'm entitled to express a personal opinion on an anonymous form, said opinion has no baring on what anybody will or won't do with their own body.

I respect a woman's right to choose but that doesn't mean I have to agree with the carelessness in some cases which lead to the abortion.

Thank you

Thank you, I 100%agree 👏

Its 1.82% !!!!!

18.2 per 1000 pregnancies.

Youre looking at miscarriages

FFS All this fuss about contraception etc etc and the figure isn't even correct

If abortion was legal, I wouldn't exist. I still support EVERY woman's right to choose. I also wish my birth mother had that option, not because I wish myself dead. Because no one should have to go through what she did.

I think there's a very good chance I wouldn't either. Grandmother in my case.

I would trust her to make that choice as I trust every woman.

Why is it that women still have to fight tooth and nail to be sterilised ?

Whole different argument but I agree completely. Docs were more than happy for my DH to be sterilised but tried to talk me out of it when I had my third section.

ITS NOT 25%
ITS 1.82%
CAN'T ANYONE DO THE SIMPLEST RESEARCH?

Isn’t it 18.2 out of every 1000 women? Not pregnancies

18.2 abortions per 1000 women
25 abortions per 100 pregnancies

Not the same statistics

Don’t care what the statistics are as the only one that bothers me is 100% right to choose.

This represents an age-standardised abortion rate (ASR) of 18.2 per 1,000 resident women aged 15 to 44.

From the gov website @cottagegardenflower … maybe you should do your own research more carefully before shouting at people on here.

I too am not bothered by statistics. All abortions are valid for all reasons. Abortion is essential healthcare in all circumstances.

Out of interest OP where did you get the figure you're quoting? The only place I could find the suggested one in four figure was on a pro-life/right to life website. The Irish Times did an article in response to a similar pro-Life/anti-abortion campaign around the time abortion in Ireland was under debate, pro-lifers at the time were using a one in five figure in their material that they claimed reflected up-to-date UK stats for continued pregnancies versus abortion. The Irish Times crunched the numbers and concluded that from the nature of official UK-wide statistics available it wasn’t possible to reliably work out what percentage of actual pregnancies ended in abortion.

In the Times article I linked at the top. And the US Figure is in the BBC article.

Having done a quick bit of maths i am personally of the opinion that its lower than 1 in four. The number of abortions does come to approx 25% if you only look at the figures for actual births and abortions together.

Given 1 in 4 pregnancies also end in miscarriage then including those would immediately bring it down to closer to 1 in 5

Thanks do you have a share token for that? Although part of my initial confusion possibly stems from the fact that in your opening post you stated that the figure was "one in six" for the US versus "one in four" for the UK, but The Times article only seems to refer to figures for England and Wales. Another article in The Times from March 5th, 2020, again can only read the lead section, also refers solely to England and Wales and links abortion rates to:
"Couples were deciding to have smaller families, experts said, with uncertainty over Brexit or changes to child benefit likely to have played a role."

Personally, whatever the figures, I support the right to choose, and for women's autonomy over their own bodies. If, however, there are some women who would have wanted to continue with a pregnancy if their economic situation was better then I'd say that's something to worry about but not something that will be solved by agonising over abortion rates. Instead we should be campaigning for access to flexible, affordable childcare: decent, secure and affordable housing; decent maternity leave; support for women to continue their careers after interruptions; more men taking on domestic roles and childcare; decent support for women trapped in abusive relationships; resources dedicated to lifting the UK's existing children out of poverty; the list is long...

It's an absolutely disgusting figure imo and does show its being used as a method of contraception, especially given the number of repeat aborters!

There should be, imo, far tighter restrictions and a move towards the father having greater rights over their unborn child. We supposedly expect equality that men should now be viewed as equal parents, except when it comes to killing their unborn children!

But you are policing their choices.

You are agreeing with abortion but only on certain grounds and looking down on those who make mistakes.