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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think late-term abortion rules may need tightening up?

999 replies

FestiveNut · 23/12/2018 09:11

Should people be able to abort healthy fetuses in a low risk pregnancy past 20 weeks gestation?

I read a very sad story concerning this earlier. I considered myself pro-choice in all circumstances but this thread has caused me to question that.

Should the threshold be lowered?

OP posts:
TwistedStitch · 23/12/2018 13:43

I considered termination during my last pregnancy (which was planned and wanted). I was extremely physically unwell, depressed and anxious. I remember being very distressed when I reached 24 weeks and my options were gone. Nobody beyond my DP knew the extent of how I felt, I put on a brave face in day to day life. Its very likely that if I had gone through with a late termination some people would have thought there was no reason for it.

MarthasGinYard · 23/12/2018 13:44

Yanbu Op

'No one has an abortion on a whim'

Sometimes reading threads on here I do wonder.

WilburforceRaven · 23/12/2018 13:49

YABVU. The misogyny on this thread is mind-blowing.

Seniorschoolmum · 23/12/2018 13:50

As early as possible, as late as necessary - for all sorts of reasons.

No one has the right to judge until they’ve had to deal with some of the appalling situations others are faced with.

Ellisandra · 23/12/2018 13:51

@bumblemummy what a ridiculous case to post. That is hardly an example of an abortion at 39 weeks, enabled by a legal system which allows late term abortion Hmm

That was a woman who concealed a pregnancy, bought drugs on line to induce labour at 39 weeks, and then claimed the baby was stillborn and lied that she’d had a clinic abortion and then refused to reveal where the baby’s body was.

The number of late term abortions is so small, that they can be looked at case by case and are none of your business or mine.

Drogosnextwife · 23/12/2018 13:52

Yes some of the attitudes to abortion you come across on threads like these are worrying. People are so blazè with their attitudes to ending a life.

Sindragosan · 23/12/2018 13:52

Until abortion is available in Northern Ireland, limits shouldn't be tightened to allow for arranging travel etc. Ideally everyone should get care near their home, but that isn't currently the case.

formerbabe · 23/12/2018 13:54

For those of you who say...

"As early as possible, as late as necessary"

Please tell me your why you have a preference for it to be as early as possible?

JacquesHammer · 23/12/2018 13:55

Please tell me your why you have a preference for it to be as early as possible?

Physically less demanding for the mother. More straightforward process.

People are so blazè with their attitudes to ending a life

I don’t believe abortion is ending a life.

Espanio · 23/12/2018 13:55

Haven’t read comments
But imagine you were on contraception which also stopped periods, so you had no idea you were pregnant and found out at 20 weeks yet we’re in no sort of position to keep the baby?

BarbarianMum · 23/12/2018 13:56

I'm comfortable with the law as it stands now. It seems like a reasonable compromise bw "the ideal" and reality.

Drogosnextwife · 23/12/2018 13:56

YABVU. The misogyny on this thread is mind-blowing.

Oh ffs! Someone believing that ending a life is wrong is not fucking misogyny!

I know many people who have had abortions. I don't agree with it, I wouldn't do it myself but I would never show them any contempt or hatred because it is none of my business.

BarbarianMum · 23/12/2018 13:57

You dont think a foetus is alive Jacques?

Seniorschoolmum · 23/12/2018 13:58

Because as early as possible reduces the impact on the woman, is less likely to have medical complications and is easier for medical professionals to deal with. Believe me, medical staff dealing with late abortions are human too and while they support some desperate situations, they also have to be sure of their own ethical view.

DarienGap · 23/12/2018 13:58

I'm fairly ambivalent regarding abortion. Luckily my children were very much planned for, loved, and cherished. I realise that abortion has been and will be around forever.

For those that say for any or no reason, does that mean abortion on grounds of sex
is acceptable?

Drogosnextwife · 23/12/2018 14:00

I don’t believe abortion is ending a life

Strange thing to not believe. Considering there is a heart beating, I would have to say I disagree with you. It's basic biology.

Drogosnextwife · 23/12/2018 14:03

For those that say for any or no reason, does that mean abortion on grounds of sex
is acceptable?

Yes they literally mean for any reason.

TwistedStitch · 23/12/2018 14:05

I believe that abortion is technically ending a life. I just believe that bodily autonomy is more important- we don't force people to donate organs or tissue to preserve the life of another in any other circumstances because that would be a gross violation of their rights. Forcing somebody to gestate a pregnancy against their wishes is the same IMO.

NothingOnTellyAgain · 23/12/2018 14:10

"do you believe the only crime committed is assault on the woman?"

In the USA crimes which were "supposed" to reflect that atatcking a pregnant woman and causing damage to the foetus / as well as the woman was an additional crime

Have been repurposed to prosecute pregnant women who have caused harm to their feotus > most famous case was a woman who tried to commit suicide who went to prison for harming the baby she was carrying.

In a world with a lot of pushback against the progress of women and our rights, we need to be vigilant, as things can be repurposed against us.

DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 23/12/2018 14:10

^^ wss.

I find it interesting that the case linked to above where a woman took abortion inducing drugs at 39 weeks was jailed for 8 years, but recently a man was jailed for three years after causing the death of a woman through ‘rough sex’.

I appreciate the two aren’t really comparable, but it highlights that a fully grown woman’s life is worth less than an unborn child when it comes to law.

ElonMask · 23/12/2018 14:11

It's ridiculous. Everyone knows that passing through birth canal does not confer life, nor does being removed from the womb of a mother who wants a baby.

If whatever is in there is not a life, it can be removed and disposed of in the same way as e.g..a tumour.

Who would actually be willing to kill a 35 week old baby in its mother's womb for any reason she gave ? Why should the state find a supply of such people in order to guarantee your "rights". It's honestly such bullshit.

Bowlofbabelfish · 23/12/2018 14:13

For those that say for any or no reason, does that mean abortion on grounds of sex
is acceptable?

Yes. Work towards women being as valued as men and this will no longer be prevalent. It’s a societal issue not an individual liberties issue

NothingOnTellyAgain · 23/12/2018 14:16

"For those of you who say...

"As early as possible, as late as necessary"

Please tell me your why you have a preference for it to be as early as possible?"

Idea that women who believe in choice, see no difference between ending a pregnancy at 1 day and at 39 weeks is, well.

It shows an idea that women who believe in choice for women, are callous unfeeling unemotional bastards, I think?

OBVIOUSLY it is better for ALL concerned > for abortion to be carried out as early as possible. Easier on the woman, easier on the medics, easier on the NHS, easier on society, easier on the foetus, I'm OK with saying that.

However in the early months I'm not sure I would consider it ending a life either. It's ending a poetential life. It is still a part of the woman, it cannot survive on its own and is very undeveloped.

AwkwardPaws27 · 23/12/2018 14:16

I think it's important to note here that someone deciding to terminate at, say, 16 weeks, isn't making that decision at 16 weeks in most cases. They might be deciding at 12 or 13 weeks but have to wait for an appointment.
I had a termination at 9 weeks, when I was 16. It took about 3 weeks from a positive test, getting a referral, having an initial consultation, seeing a counselor and then having the procedure. I was unable to have the abortion pill as I was one day over the limit so had to have a procedure instead.

decemberfrost · 23/12/2018 14:19

Totally agree OP. 16 weeks should be the max IMO.

Allowing abortion at 24 weeks (6 months!) is shocking IMO.

Lowering it to 20 would be a good start though.......

'Their body their choice their business' - cobblers to that. This is about the life a baby too, who is two thirds of the way to full term. The baby doesn't get a 'choice.' Hmm Saying it's the woman's right to abort so late on into the pregnancy, because it's her body is a dreadful attitude.

A lower limit needs to be put in. It's pretty bad (IMO) that abortion is allowed up to 6 months into the pregnancy!

And of course women shouldn't be forced to have a baby they don't want, but the vast majority of women know they are pregnant WAY before 6 months in. (Most will know by 6 to 8 weeks!) So why on earth anyone would abort at 6 months, I don't know.

Definitely needs dropping to 20 weeks.

All this said though, I don't think many women DO abort that late on anyway. Most will have it before 15-16 weeks.

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