To this that the abortion age should be lowered

[Hai1988]

Hi all i just wanted to know what peoples thoughts were on this?

At the moment the cut off time to have an abortion is 24 weeks, but on here there has just been a story about twins born at 23 weeks!!

I think the cut off time should go right down to 12 weeks.

What do you lot think??

SanctiMoanyArse very sorry for what your mum went through, how awful I do see where your coming from and understand how what you have been through has shaped your view. I suppose everyone has their own views on what they could cope with. For me we decided it would have to be very severe/fatal to have a termination at any stage inc late. But others would make that choice for any disibility and that is up to them.

Thing is, sometimes you can't win. I know a lady who went ahead with the pregnancy and the baby (well older child now) is disabled and I heard people say it was cruel for her to go ahead!!!(was really disgusted by their comments) Yet others would have condemned her if she had terminated.So really you can only make your own choice and ingore others views.

Look, all these arguments come down to one question:

is a foetus a person, or not?

If it's a person then no one should be allowed to kill it - for ANY reason EVER - that includes rape, disabilities, etc.

If it's not a person then the only relevant consideration is what is best for the woman who is pregnant.

Me, I take the second view. In my view, it's not a person till birth.

I could just about understand people who take the complete opposite view: i.e. they think that a foetus is a person from conception onwards and therefore are against ANY abortion for ANY reason.

But I could never understand someone who thought abortion was wrong except in certain circumstances (eg before a certain stage of pregnancy, if disabled, following rape, etc). It wouldn't be ok to kill a disabled child so why a disabled foetus (if you believe a foetus is a person).

It's either a person or it's not.

But after the 20 week scan, so maybe 22 weeks to allow for a scan then a few days of consideration

So, what happens then if you can't get a 20 week scan until 23/24 weeks? That is VERY common here (Australia). So she has her scan at 24 weeks, baby has a condition that is incompatible with life, so she decides it would be better for her, not to go ahead with the pregnancy...only she can't terminate, because you have lowered that cut off to 22 weeks.

So straight away you have denied a woman her basic human right (that to choose if she carries a baby or not).

Stop trying to play God with other woman's bodies. It is NONE of your business.

abortions for no reason should be lowered

I can assure you, with a great degree of certainty, that a woman NEVER has an abortion for no reason

There will occasionally be a very good reason for a late abortion but I do think that abortion is far far too easy.

An abortion is a killing. It is ending a human life. I am not saying that the balance of compassion should not permit some abortions but they should be treated as a serious matter and abortion should not simply be a substitute for contraception.

I am not religious and I am a feminist but I think that the "my body, my choice" argument is deeply flawed. Yes, it is my body but it is someone else's body too. The fact that it is not yet independent of me does not change that position.

The terrible grief that some women suffer after abortions seems to me that deep down they also don't believe that it was "just cells".

I accept that any tightening of the rules would have to be accompanied by better help for women in difficult situtations.

No-one will agree with this; and yes it is judgemental; but it is not lacking in compassion

Oh I agree you can't win Jelly, tell me about that!!! (have you seen Claire Kraw's bile?)

And absolutely it should be each to tehir own.

I very carefully worded the post about early term risk factors becuase I didn't want that poster to feel bad because I don't think she has done anything wrong.

That post was just how it is for me

IMO you can't keep on lowering the age for abortion based on the youngest babies that have survived out of the uterus - what with constant medical advancement, that age is going to keep on lowering. At what point would this justification stop? 10 weeks? 6?

I think it has to be based on common sense, to what would be a fair amount of time for (pah!) a woman to discover a pregnancy and make an informed decision. Obviously this would need to be generalised and lots of buts would be raised eg 'but I didn't find out I was pregnant until I was 6 months gone' (true, I didn't!!). You can't be objective about something so controversial, emotive and distressing!

I wonder if a way could be found to remove the foetus and implant it in a suitable pro-life volunteer.

Actually they wouldn't have to be volunteers as the serious pro-lifers don't believe the owner of the womb has a vote.