Nigel Farage on abortions- slippery slope?

[Ph2028]

Following the speech, Farage was also asked about his view on abortion limits. He replied that he was pro-choice but that it was "utterly ludicrous" for abortion to be allowed up to 24 weeks, when a hospital would "move heaven and earth" to help a baby born at 22 weeks survive.

Aibu to think it may be a slippery slope to reducing the number of weeks until it is effectively banned...

Anyway it's a bit of a non issue on Nigel's part given nearly 94% of reported abortions happen before two and a half months of pregnancy.so very few abortions happen at 24 weeks.

Now i remember why I requested a tubal ligation when I was pregnant with first baby as I didn't want anymore in any circumstances. It was predictably denied so dh got a vasectomy instead.

It’s his thoughts on the matter, he’s allowed them, and actually he’s not wrong is he? They do look to save babies earlier now, they can survive at less than 24 weeks.

Personally I think that with medical advances it should be reduced to 20 weeks, but it is what it is at the moment and that’s my personal opinion, which I am allowed as is Farage.

I don’t see it as a slippery slope to stopping terminations at all

I think given his links with Trump and America, anything he says about abortion should be met with concern. Surely we are past the time when politicians should be discussing abortion rights. Plenty of other more pressing matters for him to be talking about.

I do think any anti abortion rhetoric from right wing factions is to be treated with caution.

Personally I don't believe there should be a limit at all. As early as possible, as late as necessary.

As much as I hate to agree with Nigel Farage, I personally think 24 weeks is rather late. And we are a bit of an outlier - I believe in France and Germany the limit is 12-14 weeks (unless there is a good medical reason). But like you say the vast majority of abortions happen well before 24 weeks, so it doesn't seem like it's an urgent issue given all the other problems this country faces.

This is my view too.

There's a lot of Christian American influence going on at the moment. I imagine Farage has his fingers in a lot of pies.

I always thought it was 24 weeks because of the 20 weeks scan? If it shows something "wrong" with the baby then the parents can use that information to decide whether to terminate, is that not the case?

The reasons women opt for late abortions are often complex and due to conditions for the baby being incompatible with life and often difficulties in accessing timely services via the NHS.

Perhaps instead of getting his fingers into women’s autonomy over their own bodies, Nigel might consider where his responsibility lies given brexit has reportedly caused shortages in contraceptive drugs along with the many other impacts to the NHS.

Babies born at under 24 weeks gestation can indeed survive, but not without a huge amount of medical interventions keeping them alive. Therefore the argument about viability vs abortion limits, is in my opinion a total red herring. Those calling for the time limit to be lowered are often those who don't agree with abortion full stop. 35 years ago I had a baby born at 23 weeks who survived birth but died at 9 months old. This has not changed my opinion that the limit should remain as it is. Abortions near the limit are not only uncommon, but usually carried out for very legitimate reasons. I think abortion law should be left alone, as I agree that lowering the time limit is just not helpful or necessary and I worry about where this would lead.

Abortion is allowed up to term for serious disability in this country. You could have one at 39 weeks if necessary. People always seem to gloss over that bit though. In reality almost all later term abortions near the 24 week limit and beyond it are where there are disabilities, as women who don’t want to be pregnant don’t wait for five and a half months just for funsies.
Nigel should fuck off. It doesn’t matter whether the hospital would try to save a birth at that stage (and if you’re born at 22 weeks you are more or less guaranteed to have lifelong medical issues and very likely to be profoundly disabled).

I agree that the rhetoric around abortion is worrying. And it always centres on the tiny, tiny minority of “late” abortions. Rights are hard won and easily lost. We need to be vigilant.

Viability as a cut off for abortion was considered prior to thr introduction if our abortion laws. There’s nothing about what he said that in any way equates with promoting an anti-abortion stance. We have excellent abortion laws in this country. They are the result of robust parliamentary debate that ironed out most potential pitfalls and resulted in carefully drafted legislation. But that was over 50 years ago and, surprisingly, despite absolutely no demand for it, the government has been indicating a willingness to relax abortion laws. I think this is a huge mistake as it makes vulnerable women more likely to be subject to pressure to have late term abortions. Pointing out that viability issues indicate the opposite might help shut down that attempt.

The NHS scan is at 20 weeks though. In reality that’s often 21-22 weeks because of delays. No abnormalities would be picked up before the cut off.

I think 24wks is late, as you can terminate for medical reasons at any point up to 40wks. So 24wk limit is for people who find out late. I personally couldn’t go ahead as late as that, i’d look into adoption.

24 weeks is far far too late for abortion other than for serious medical reasons. It's not a slippery slope. The slippery slope happened when the current practices came in. F

I doubt he feels very strongly about this
tbh. Or about much else for that matter. He just adopts a contrarian position on many topics. Its weird the way he is allowed to waffle and pontificate across so many media platforms and without any proper scrutiny.

And yet women aren’t running round getting late abortions so it’s not very slippery is it. Most of them happen early in the pregnancy.

Yes, it’s worrying, as is some of the ignorance on here. No one is going around having late term abortions willy nilly. It’s usually because the alternative is to wait and give birth to a baby that dies in pain because their disease/disability mean they can’t survive. The vast majority of abortions are before 12 weeks.

He and his right wing cronies have been trying to make it a culture war here for years now, and now the evangelists are getting involved. Don’t buy into it. It must be resisted. Actually, we need to push for full legalisation, as at the moment it is merely a legal exception to the offences against the person act.

You’ll be pleased then to know that the overwhelming majority of abortions post 20 weeks ARE for serious medical reasons.

just under 40 weeks ok?

The Right Wing love nothing more than to control Female bodily autonomy.

There is a brain dead woman being kept “alive” in the States as she was 9 weeks pregnant when she died. The baby already has hydrocephalus, and is unlikely to survive, if they do, they will be severely disabled. The relatives want the machines switching off, but, right-wing “Christians” who think that a woman’s only role is producing children, have enacted laws so stringent, that no Dr dares do it.

It is up to women to decide what happens to our bodies, we shouldn’t lose that right when we become pregnant.

Nigel should be pleased to know he doesn't have to have an abortion if he doesn't want one. That reflects his personal beliefs and he can shush when it comes to anyone else's.

The left love to quote extreme cases which often aren't even in this country. I am extremely anti abortion (while recognising others unfortunately are not). As I said on another thread many women are coerced into abortion which is a feminist issue. Unfortunately it doesn't just affect a woman's body as another body (the baby) is involved. I have had four pregnancies and very much felt like a baby from very early on.

I suspect we might be later than a lot of countries because of the difficulty of getting an appointment quickly on the NHS.

Unfortunately, we are going to have to put up with this nonsense for the next four years. Then, you will have a choice.

Personally, I wouldn't want Mr Farage or the repulsive Lee Anderson anywhere near my reproductive organs, metaphorically speaking.