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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:
GunpowderGelatine · 23/12/2018 17:27

What is weak is saying "here's a prescribed list of reasons why abortions are ok, and a prescribed list why they are not...we have only used subjective measures to decide this based on what we think is morally right"

GunpowderGelatine · 23/12/2018 17:29

Also why is 200,000 abortions a disgrace? I think it's fantastic 20,000 women had the choice and made it. I know it's hard to grasp that women are also human beings who are allowed to be in charge of their health but there you go, mind blown!

TulipsInbloom1 · 23/12/2018 17:37

200,000 abortions is 200,000 fewer babies being born who will possibly grow up unwanted/neglected/killed/mistreated/emotionally scarred/

Very very very few women spontaneously choose to abort their pregnancy at 35 weeks with no prior warning.

BertrandRussell · 23/12/2018 17:40

You have no idea what the woman’s reasons were. It is entirely up to her. None of anyone else’s business.

BWatchWatcher · 23/12/2018 17:51

Do you know what no having access to late abortions actually does to women?
I had a close friend with a foetus with a heart condition who wouldn’t survive outside the womb. She had to carry the baby for weeks knowing it would die, returing every week to the hospital to see if the heart had stopped.
This is in NI, part of the UK. Don’t go back in time.

Sparkles07 · 23/12/2018 17:54

I work in a community with high abortion rates. I am pro life, but would never push my opinions on anyone. But for the sake of this thread, yes I think it should be lowered. The community I work with have been known to abort girls for no other reason than being a girl. ☹️

Drogosnextwife · 23/12/2018 17:55

@TulipsInbloom1

That is exactly what I came on to say. I was very much pro life in my younger years, until on a thread on MN about abortion one poster said she wished that her mother could have chosen an abortion because her childhood had been really pretty bad because her mother did not want her. That stuck with me and even although I would never chose abortion for myself I don't think we have the right to chose for anyone else.
As someone else said, there are worse things than death, people just can't get their head around it. No child wants to be brought up neglected, abused or bounced around the care system their whole lives.

Drogosnextwife · 23/12/2018 18:00

Also we would run the risk of a lot of abandoned babies. Look at some other countries where babies are abandoned in bins, under hedges, flushed down toilets. Someone feelings towards a child don't always change as soon as they give birth and see the baby.
Now, in China I think it is, they actually have small shelters with cribs in where people can go and leave unwanted babies, ring an alarm and leave and someone comes and collects the child. A small charity set them up because there were so many abandoned babies left to die in the streets.

GunpowderGelatine · 23/12/2018 18:02

That is key - banning abortions doesn't actually stop abortions happening. It stops safe abortions happening.

But some people really would rather see dead women in back streets than a foetus who has sod all to do with them being born. They're called misogynists

ElonMask · 23/12/2018 18:02

I'm not arguing for a reduction.

I'm saying that women should not be able to get an abortion right up to birth and for any reason. This has nothing to do with bodily autonomy. The "I am entitled to x, y or z no matter what other people might think of it or what it costs" is a ridiculous mindset.

Is a man who wants his penis removed because he says he's a woman being denied bodily autonomy or is he in fact in his natural state ? Same as a pregnant woman.

user1457017537 · 23/12/2018 18:03

Sparkles07 and that’s not spoken about either is it, although totally illegal. Obviously not the reason being given for requesting a termination.

TulipsInbloom1 · 23/12/2018 18:04

I am entitled to x, y or z no matter what other people might think of it or what it costs

I see this in fact as "I am entitled to decide what I need or want to do to my own body".

LakieLady · 23/12/2018 18:05

*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.......*

That would have forced my friend to have a child at the age of 54. Despite not having had a period for over a year, she was still using condoms. She didn't think anything of the continued lack of periods, assuming it was the menopause. She never dreamed she might be pregnant, had no other symptoms and it only crossed her mind as the slightest possibility when she felt the baby move. Even then, she was convinced that it was menopause, not pregnancy. Right up until she peed on a stick and saw the blue line.

Her first grandchild was at secondary school, she was 6 years away from drawing her pension, her own health was starting to deteriorate. Do you really think it would have been ok for her to to continue to have him/her? She's 75 now, he/she would be in their last year at uni ...

It also took a fortnight or so to get the necessary appointment, she was getting very close to the 24 week limit and was beside herself with worry.

MamaDane · 23/12/2018 18:11

I only support abortion to the 12th week of pregnancy unless there's something physically wrong with the fetus or if the mother is ill and it is life threatening, like cancer for example.

Those are also the rules in Denmark (where I'm from)

Personally quite against abortion in general but I do see it can be a necessary evil, so yeah I do support the option up until the 12th week.

After this the woman should give the child up for adoption.

I was honestly a bit shocked to hear how far into the pregnancy you could abort in the UK. I mean, Jesus, I know a woman whose son was born in the 23rd week and is alive and perfectly well today (3.5 years old) and yet abortion is allowed until 24 weeks?

Yikes.

I do think that is murder.

JacquesHammer · 23/12/2018 18:15

I mean, Jesus, I know a woman whose son was born in the 23rd week and is alive and perfectly well today (3.5 years old) and yet abortion is allowed until 24 weeks

Do you understand the difference between a wanted and unwanted pregnancy?

KonekoBasu · 23/12/2018 18:21

"After this the woman should give the child up for adoption."

And I'll say again, that completely ignores the potential physical and mental risks of pregnancy, the latter, I'm sure, increased by an unwanted pregnancy.

It's nearly six years since DS was born and I'm still on medication for mental health issues. Pregnancy is not risk free.

ScrumpyBetty · 23/12/2018 18:21

after this the woman should give the child up for adoption

It's not that easy. Adopted children can come with a host of baggage and trauma, and it can also cause trauma and distress to the birth mother. I worked with families with adopted children for a while, some were having severe problems and the children were displaying challenging/ aggressive behaviour, parents were not coping and at point of breakdown.

user1457017537 · 23/12/2018 18:24

There are physical and mental risks associated with terminations but these seem to be overlooked.

BertrandRussell · 23/12/2018 18:25

You can’t ban abortion. You can only ban safe abortion.

CosmicCanary · 23/12/2018 18:27

I'm saying that women should not be able to get an abortion right up to birth and for any reason.

Legally they cannot do wgat is your argument?

HellonHeels · 23/12/2018 18:31

If that's your view OP then you are not pro choice.

I don't agree with you.

DSHathawayGivesMeFannyGallops · 23/12/2018 18:34

It's as early as necessary as late as possible for a reason. And I trust women to make that choice as they see fit and according to circumstance, such as the 54yo example above. I defend that right whether or not I agree with the reason given. I believe that there are far worse things in this world than not being born.

DSHathawayGivesMeFannyGallops · 23/12/2018 18:35
  • early as possible, late as necessary, even. Mustn't type whilst pissed!Xmas Blush
CosmicCanary · 23/12/2018 18:37

There are physical and mental risks associated with terminations but these seem to be overlooked.

There are physical and mental risks associated with giving birth but thesse seem to be overlooked...works both ways.

TwistedStitch · 23/12/2018 18:38

MamaDane what is so important about a 12 week cut off that you would force any woman even a day over that to go a further 28 weeks, against her wishes, as a walking incubator?