to think older teens should be made to watch what an abortion is in PHSE. (sorry possibly triggering)

[StraightLineOfResignation]

I know this may be controversial but I have thought this for some time.
Abortion is legal in this country but still straight forward , informative talks about it are clouded by morality and judgement and at the end of the day, sometimes people need to have one in tragic circumstances i.e people who are made critically ill by pregnancy.
And are often as well as already scared and sad, i don't think most people make this decision lightly, are woefully underprepared which i'm sure must only add to emotional trauma.
and of course there are too many potential uninterested fathers who just utter 'get rid of it' at the hearing of potentially being a father, so disgustingly flippantly like throwing a crisp packet in the bin, I do think if they especially had seen a medical video of the procedure, well i think the number of people who just thrown that term around would be significantly less, if they had actually seen that image with their own eyes , and would be less detached from the idea and process.
I'm talking older teens , like 16+ here , not 11 year olds.
my mum and i have always though this, i would find it traumatising and pretty shocking, but compared to people who feel shame, go backstreet putting themselves at risk and people who go through with pregnancies they did not want/need. Surely a bit of discomfort is better then that being a legacy of another generation.

Thanks shalli I had a year of therapy but it didn't really help. All I was told is I couldn't possibly love my baby and I was sent in alone to a Marie stopes clinic where one of the older women there took pity on me lying there crying and left her partner to come and hold my hand. The kindness of one stranger helped me get through it.

What a bloody awful thought Op. I have a pre-teen so have yet to approach this, but certainly would prefer to discuss contraception, self respect, autonomy over her own body rather than have her watch such a thing. She will most likely to go to a Catholic secondary as we are in Belgium and most of the schools are, but I seriously hope they don't go to these extremes. I was put off the most sought after school in our area as their website talks far too much about the Virgin Mary - not a key thing for a good education in my eyes.

So, what about me, who had a surgical removal after miscarriage? Should I have had to have watched an identical procedure years before and then felt even worse at the worst time of my life? And do you really think that decisions about sex are going to be affected by that? And good lord, which woman would you like to have their termination filmed? It's not "one born every minute". Of course, young people should be educated about the realities of the possible consequences of sex. But not by showing graphic surgery scenes.

I hope not lovey and glad you have finally made peace with what happened. to you and selfdestructive too.

Scare tactics and pushing guilt. Charming. What a horrible idea.

I have so many negative feelings about that termination that when my DS was thought to be ectopic I still refused abortion. Luckily he wasn't not saying others should do this just pointing out how much damage that termination did to me.

Writer - that sounds like an awful experience, but it sounds in your case like it was more how others reacted to it - making it BAD - than the procedure itself. People OTHER than teenage girls need a bit of education about all this IMHO.

By the way, when I had my erpc, it was on the same list and I was in a cubicle on a ward with others having the same procedure as a termination. Quite right. We were all having legal, medical treatment on the Nhs. I was desperately sad to lose our baby. I might have chosen a termination if I had become pregnant by my previous partner. As it happens, I didn't. And when I had a contraception failure with dh early on, I didn't become pregnant then. But if I had, I would like to think my choice would have been respected and treated compassionately.

SDL, you are bound to have negative feelings after such a horrible experience, but I hope it isn't getting in the way of you enjoying your DS- what I mean is it's bound to be a horrible memory, but if it plays on your mind maybe you could seek help again.

Girl down my road, 13 years old and in the year below me at school, went upstairs one night with a stomach ache and had a baby. Great surprise all round.
She kind of disappeared from view after that. We'd see her around, pushing the baby, but she felt completely alien to the rest of us, our lives were so different.
I think if she'd been educated enough to know what was happening the choice she probably would have chosen an abortion. and who could blame her.
God knows what happened to her.

I know a couple of people who were shown footage of a foetus being aborted when at catholic secondary school.
They said the image haunted them. Even more so for the woman who did have an abortion later in life.
It is not a good idea and can only be perceived as pro-life propaganda imo.

Wanting one is a good reason

That rather depends on whether you are the mother or the foetus!

It is a legal medical procedure for a woman.

Thank you shalli

coco44 Really?

Please do not be so aggressive Thenightisdark
I am entitled to express my opinions

I was pregnant at 17 and knew full well about abortions. It never crossed my mind to have one. I really don't think a video would do anything. Sadly though many young girls have numerous abortions

The problem here is that it wouldn't be males that end up having to see it, it would be women. Women who have to make the decision, women who are haunted by viewing it, women who have to live with it.

Just another stick to beat women with.

As is Thenightisdark, her opinion is you should fuck off and I can't say I disagree.

Have you RTFT? If you have, you should know you are not going to get a good reaction from this group of women. Therefore you are being deliberately obtuse. If you haven't read it then I suggest next time you do.

Coco, clearly I could not ask the foetus but on balance I thought it would probably be better not to be born into a life with no father, a single mother working all hours, limited money and limited life.

I made that decision for them, yes, because I had to and did what I believed was right.

It is sad. But no more sad than the thousands of women carrying on with pregnancies to keep hold of a partner or because they're too worried about being judged for a procedure millions of women undergo each year.
I'm more sad for the teenagers who left it too late to tell anyone and ended up in a desperate situation tbh.

Glitz, would you rather they had numerous unwanted babies?

I can't help but doubt that many people have "numerous" abortions, honestly. After a point the contraceptive implant would be conditional upon performing the termination - the clinic tried to push it on me despite me explaining I had been in a committed relationship, the pregnancy wasn't a "slip up" but a planned baby!

Do people still come out with this pish? It reminds me of being a kid in the eighties. I can't believe these tiny minded opinions are still around.

Well rainy I know someone who's had 2 abortions under the age of 22 because her dp told her to even though she wanted both babies. I'll be completely honest here, my dd was unplanned but I just couldn't go through with a termination