To want autonomy over my body.

[thebodydoestricks]

Aibu here. I am 50 but apparently still fertile.

I have 4 children already and do not want any more.

According to some posters if I fell pregnant but hadn't used at least 2 methods of contraception I should be denied the abortion I would most definatly want.

I would have to go before a panel of judges in a court to plead my case. They would judge whether I should have an abortion or not.

Of course if there was a back log of cases then I would have to wait and if it reached 24 weeks it would be too late anyway.

I would be forced to give birth.

Aibu to be absolutely stunned at this posters view in Britain 2014?

If you believe the foetus is equal to the mother, then you are prioritising it over her by default because you would see her risk her physical and mental health, and her life, to gestate it.

javotte that's the choice I would make

Excellent but if it's not your choice then don't make it.

It was babys right to choose and people just like you denied her.

So you do have children.

If you became ill and were pregnant then you would quite happily not be treated and die so making the children you have orphans?

Oh and poor savita died because she wasn't considered above saving over a foetus with a heart beat. Read the report.

Soon it's total nonsense to give a non-viable foetus equal personhood with a living breathing human being. Do you think women who have miscarriages should be jailed for murder? Should women who drink or smoke before finding out they are pregnant and subsequently miscarry be jailed for manslaughter? Should a foetus who kills its mother (like Savita's foetus killed her) be jailed for murder? I mean, if you can put the mother on trial and the foetus is 100% equal, surely you should put the foetus on trial too?

Surely you can see how ridiculous it gets when you give a foetus equal personhood with the mother - it's totally illogical and unscientific, not to mention totally inhumane. By the way, anti-abortion legislators in the US really do want to put women in jail for having miscarriages, and want all pre-menopausal women to be considered pre-pregnant. It is a real danger for those of us who appreciate our bodily autonomy.

Myrtle your post reminded me of something I wanted to post earlier.

Now this is Northern Ireland specific but it is relevant. In the last 4 weeks it has been decided by the powers that be that all still births (which here in ni they now class as any baby born from 18 weeks gestation) must be investigated by the coroner and a report issued. This investigation can involve any medical professional involved with the care of the pregnant woman and also a visit to her home by the police to investigate any potential 'criminal activity' that might have led to the stillbirth.

This is the direction Northern Ireland is going. Not thousands of miles away in the US but right across the English Channel.

Haha so I'm a misogynist because I oppose abortion? Actually I'm a feminist and respect women that much that I think we're capable of brilliant and intelligent things, including obtaining free contraception and using it correctly.

Fyi I'm a single parent and support my family single handedly with no benefits. I'm a strong woman and would like to help all women to aspire to more in every aspect of life.

TheBaby how awful, and how shocking that this is allowed to happen in the UK. I am consistently appalled by how far NI is allowed to drag behind the rest of the UK re abortion, equal marriage etc.

I'm not aware of your specific circumstances having only just joined, but I do very much feel for women in NI being kept in the dark ages. It's appalling.

including obtaining free contraception and using it correctly.
Perhaps you'd have a word with the doctor that inserted my coil. They took it out with the placenta.

I am pro choice but I feel very conflicted about late term abortions.

For those that believe that a woman should have the right to abort at full term without question do you also believe that a woman can abuse drugs and alcohol during their pregnancy without any repercussions?

as a feminist I don't think I have the right to tell other women what to do with their bodies

but if people are anti abortion the solution is shocking simple ...DON'T HAVE ONE as to the rest - it's non of your business

Lovely seeing abortion in terms of 'cute babies' and condemning poor women who can't afford a privately funded abortion is hardly feminist. Abortion being freely available on the NHS is a brilliant, intelligent, life-saving thing. Why should only rich women get an abortion?

And what about women who are raped, or abused, or have a contraception fail? What about women whose partners purposefully impregnate them against their will (yes, this happens)? Do they just not count as proper women to you, because they were unable to obtain free contraception and use it correctly?

Valuing foetuses over women is inherently misogynistic. You don't know the meaning of 'feminist'. How come a 92 year old nun is more of a feminist than you?

I don't particularly object to a fetus having a right to life, I just don't think it should have the right to live inside my body, against my wishes.

You could ban safe abortions and use the money saved to set up foundling hospitals. People could go there for a nice day out to admire the sweet little unwanted children.

Yes because all contraception is 100%

Oh no...wait...

Sorry. After a couple of days of reading fuckwitted forced-birthers spouting nonsense about the rights of the fetus trumping the rights of the mother to have life-saving medical treatment, I'm in the mood for some sarcasm.

I don't feel any guilt for having a termination nor do i care that people on the net may disagree or are appauled at a decision i thought through and made for my own sanity and the welfare of my family. The people who matter to me know and stand by my choice. I understand people have a different opinion even though i don't agree with it and theres nothing i can do to convince them otherwise so it's pointless trying. If they are anti-abortion and find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy then its their choice what they do with their pregnancy and they have to live with their choice as i do mine. I don't know anyone who use termination as contraception that i know of and the 2 other people i know in RL who have had terminations did so after much thought and choose to do what they thought was right for them at that time so i respect their choice as an adult to decide what to do with their pregnancies. .

oh yes - you could even make 'wicked sinful girls' who dares to have sex work for free doing the laundry and such as penance for having babies

lovelyjubberly You are most certainly not a feminist.

Glamping I don't think women should be criminalised for alcohol and drug abuse during pregnancy. Again, it's about bodily autonomy. There's also the problem of defining 'abuse', especially regarding alcohol - some medical bodies recommend no alcohol during pregnancy whatsoever, so a woman having a small glass of fizz on her wedding anniversary could potentially count as alcohol 'abuse'. There are so many conflicting guidelines on safe alcohol intake during pregnancy that it would be difficult to enforce fairly. With drugs, most women who abuse hard drugs during pregnancy are suffering from some kind of severe mental health issue....I don't think criminal action would be appropriate.

I am in favour of late term abortions for medical reasons only, I think, but these are still my thoughts on alcohol/drugs etc. For me it's not quite the same issue.

TheBaby your post at 20.44 is shocking.
A forced-birther's wet dream, in fact.

Oh right, so I should have left my baby with his feet trapped in my cervix for as long as it took him to die, even though it increased my risk of infection and I couldn't bare him being trapped like that unable to move

After all its better to be alive right? And he might have survived even though his limbs might have been damaged and his lungs not developed.

So I shouldn't. Have had the right to choose that he die peacefully in my womb, the environment he was used to for the last 20 weeks. Rather than during birth or struggling for breath after he was born

Myrtle I would support better care for women who keep their baby, help in training and finding work etc. Women are capable of better than abortions. I doubt many women want to have their pregnancy stopped or baby taken away.

I love my child, I'd rather have died if someone tried to make me abort. Why not help women to keep their babies?

And what about women who are raped, or abused, or have a contraception fail? What about women whose partners purposefully impregnate them against their will (yes, this happens)? Do they just not count as proper women to you, because they were unable to obtain free contraception and use it correctly?
Javotte has made it quite clear that she will not support abortion for rape victims.

Myrtle I would support better care for women who keep their baby, help in training and finding work etc. Women are capable of better than abortions. I doubt many women want to have their pregnancy stopped or baby taken away.
And in Baby's case?

Glampinglove Wed 23-Apr-14 20:49:36
I am pro choice but I feel very conflicted about late term abortions.

For those that believe that a woman should have the right to abort at full term without question do you also believe that a woman can abuse drugs and alcohol during their pregnancy without any repercussions?

Drug and alcohol abuse is classed as an illness.