I don't know how I feel about abortion anymore

[sirlee66]

I've always been very pro-choice. A woman's body. A woman's right to choose.

I'm currently 34 weeks pregnant with my first and now I think my thoughts are changing.

I believe the cut off is 24 weeks? There was a lovely lady on here the other day whose waters broke and she gave birth to a baby girl at 25 weeks! If a baby can survive that early... It just seems...wrong!

Maybe the cut off could be lowered. I started feeling flutters at about 15 weeks so maybe before then.

I don't know what the answer is. I still feel really strongly that ultimately, the mother should decide but I just can't get past babies surviving outside the womb at the same age as a baby that could be aborted.

Maybe it's just pregnancy hormones. I also can't stop think about the poor women who have to make that decision. It must be so awful and I just want to give them a big hug.

I guess my question is, AIBU to not really know how I feel about it?

because it's growing inside my body - hth

I'm not a forced birthed at all I wouldn't dare tell a woman she can't have an abortion it's up to her but these are the hard facts, is it acceptable to end the life of something you believe to be a perfectly healthy living being ?

NewDad Awww when are you going to go and help mums who are struggling? Are you one of the millions who only give a shit about babies when they are unborn and not the 18 years that follow?

yes it is - because it is in my body - again hth

Because a woman is also a living being and her right to bodily autonomy as an already born sentient human being is more important than the rights of the unborn.

newdadneay30

“is it acceptable to end the life of something you believe to be a perfectly healthy living being ?”

Yes. Anymore questions?

Pregnancy (and particularly miscarriage) changed my mind about my own access to abortions - I'd previously considered them a necessary evil I'd resort to if necessary, best avoided through careful contraception, but I shudder at the idea now.

Pregnancy also confirmed me as absolutely 100% pro choice. No woman should be forced into or through pregnancy or birth under any circumstances. Every child a wanted child; every pregnancy a wanted pregnancy.

I wish politicians had the guts to stand up and say "if elected I plan to reduce the number of abortions by (1) improving access to safe, reliable contraception, (2) running education programmes on domestic abuse and how to stop it, and (3) tackling poverty and inequality." It's shown internationally that numbers of abortions are unaffected by legality - whether an abortion is legal or illegal only affects how safely it is performed, not whether it is performed - whereas progressive health programmes, education of girls, closer gender and economic equality, etc do reduce abortion rates.

Today I have been following an interesting and surprising civil debate about abortion on Reddit in which they reflect that abortion results from unwanted conceptions, which will still occur.

Newdad - only worried about perfect healthy living beings I see

maybe worry about perfectly healthy adult women who don't want to be pregnant - because without them there is no being

As a woman who has had a late term abortion, after feeling their baby move. It’s the shittest thing in the world.
We don’t do it for a laugh.

Late term abortions particularly but all abortions are bloody awful, I don’t think anyone thinks they’re brilliant or plans one in their life plan. People have them because they’re the lesser of 2 evils. And for whatever reason, their personal / financial / relationship/ frame of mind/ life stage / etc etc isn’t ready or capable of being a mum and that in my eyes will always be ok

I was offered one at 25 weeks due to medical reasons and said I had a couple of weeks to decide. I didn't but I am glad I had the choice.

We should all be able to chose what happens to our bodies and if some people aren’t wanting abortions then that’s fine, don’t have them, but please don’t dictate to others what they are allowed to do with their bodies

I think until you have been at a scan where you are told that your unborn baby has a condition that means certain pain and death before birth then you can take your opinion on late abortions and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.

I suffered from infertility for years and if you told me that I’d be wishing for a medical termination in my first pregnancy I would have said you were mad! Thankfully my baby’s heart stopped but not before the condition worsened. Oh and I live in NI so can’t even have a termination for fatal foetal conditions. Our option here is to have fortnightly scans until the baby passes and then have a delivery. So those who are against late abortions.... be careful what you wish for.

I had an abortion for Down's Syndrome. I didn't want to but dh was totally against having her. She died at 12 weeks. I still think of her, she has a name - 3 actually- and in my mind I have her imagined face. I apologise to my grandmother for terminating almost every day. It is nearly 20years ago now but the pain and guilt is still there.

I had had abortions before, 2. She wasn't my first. The others were different and I feel no guilt or uncertainty about them.

We fought hard, really really hard for the right to choose. Please don't change it.

@Newdad

I've been after someone who doesn't believe in bodily autonomy for a while. I've got a friend who needs a kidney transplant, there's no questions that she has a human life.

When can you give up the body part?

@newdad, yes, its fine, its my body and i dont need to use it as a life support system for anything or anyone. That simple

I've always been pro-choice. But have found that being pregnant can certainly change your personal view on abortion. I know that my views have swung from definitely would abort to definitely couldn't abort and back again across my three pregnancies.

With my last pregnancy a problem was found in the third trimester scan. I don't live in the UK, where I live until you actually go into labour you can legally abort - even if you're past your due date. First we knew of this was when we were offered an abortion at 34 weeks.
No matter how you have felt about abortion your whole life, no matter how your pregnancy has made you feel about abortion, until that moment when someone tells you that there is something so seriously medically wrong with your baby that you should consider a late abortion you just can't know how you'll feel about it.

I'm pro-choice because everyone in that situation will feel differently. You have to not confuse your personal feelings with what is right for everyone.

There comes a point where it is unacceptable to put the mother's rights before the baby's, and it isn't only at birth.

@picklemepopcorn

This comment is infuriating.

Remember the woman who died in Ireland because she was refused an abortion?

Clicky BBC link

You are stratospherically off the mark with refusing a woman's right to bodily autonomy.

Even in childbirth. Yes, do let a mother die during childbirth because the child's life trumps the mother's rights.

It's not like the child needs their mother.

Ok I'm happy to hear why ending the life of something you believe to be a perfectly healthy living being is acceptable if there's no risk to mother or baby ? As for thing I've never experienced I understand your point and I wouldn't dream of telling a woman what to do in this situation, I think the laws we have now are about right in relation to abortion but it's dangerous to say you never experienced so your opinion is less valid ? I mean the majority of us hear have never been a slave or a slave owner yet we can all agree slavery is wrong ?

I couldn't withhold treatment from a child who was born - could you? Really? It is quite different deciding to euthanise a foetus, or baby, in the womb before they are born. (Do not recusitate might be different than withholding any care at all, I don't think most people could cope with the ramifications of that.)

Personhood has to start somewhere, and birth is a clear line. We euthanise pets and working animals, as we feel that is kindest. We kill "perfectly healthy living beings" all the time, for far more trivial reasons. Pest control, meat, not liking the look of a spider. Sport.

Biologically before a baby is born and the placenta separates, they act as an organ, not as an organism of their own. They are not even like a parasite, taking their nutrients from another - they are literally a part of the mother.

Then that's perfectly reasonable.

What is your problem @NewDadNearly30. It's none of your fucking business.

Go read the heartbreaking choice website and learn why desperately wanted pregnancies are terminated late.

If you disapprove of abortion, don't have one. If you disapprove of medical termination for disability, you need to offer to take on such a child, watch it suffer and care for it for life. If you are not prepared to do that then don't force someone else to do so.

None of the forced birth campaigns do it. Compassion stops for them at birth.

I'm happy to hear why ending the life of something you believe to be a perfectly healthy living being is acceptable if there's no risk to mother or baby

happy to educate you - because I believe women have the right not to be pregnant if they don't want to be