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.

If you are interested, The Samaritans. We do a rotation of through the night shifts, and the calls during the early hours are the ones when people really talk and are most honest. Quite an eye opener. Well worth anyone taking the time to listen, there are a lot of distressed people out there. Gives you a fuller insight into most debates.

UK government data shows that just 0.1% of abortions happen after 24 weeks. 0.1%. All for medical reasons. In 2022, of the 260 abortions performed at 24 weeks and over, 256 were carried out because of serious fetal abnormalities.

And only 1% were performed at 20-24 weeks.

what about women who want abortions but are being pressured not to have them?

Oh jog on with this attitude. My birth Mum had me at 15 and gave me up for adoption and it has deeply, deeply affected my life. In every single way, in every fibre of my being it has impacted on me. I'm on the waiting list for trauma therapy because the trauma of being removed from her at birth leaves me with a feeling of grief that I'm not sure I would ever get over.

Suggesting that teenage pregnancy is super smooth sailing and great and fantastic is disingenuous. Plenty of teenage Mums struggle. Plenty dont but plenty do. Their right to have an informed choice about their bodies is the most important thing. Being a Mum at any age has an enormous impact on our careers!

I had a termination and whilst it was a horrible process to go through I have zero regrets.

99.9% of the women having late term abortions are actually incredibly brave and loving of their babies, they're having those abortions so their child doesn't have to suffer a short life on earth while crippled with pain and undergoing invasive and uncomfortable medical treatment to keep them alive for a short time of suffering.
A baby that is never born only ever knows love, warmth and safety of their mothers womb, they don't know their life was cut short, but the mother mourns for the child that wasn't compatible with life, she takes on the pain the child would have suffered and makes it her own so they never have to know it.

Restricting access to abortion will only mean the rise of back alley abortions again and more women dying. No one has the right to control another persons body. It's a dangerous road to start down.

So that would imply after debate and scrutiny that the limit will stay as it is then surely?

@OutandAboutMum1821

thing is something that you don’t seem to comprehend and/or accept is that not every woman wants to be a mother. It’s not the right thing for some women. They won’t enjoy it, they wouldn’t be happy. So they have the right to choose to not be mothers. It really is that simple.

@OutandAboutMum1821

why do you think she chose fame as opposed to a fulfilling exciting career that has enabled her to travel the world and have some amazing life experiences? Because that’s what she’s had. And good for her.

And the women who want abortions and are being pressured not to have them?

@KidsDr

Thank you, this is really helpful to understand from a medical perspective. So would Drs only try aggressive interventions at 22-24 weeks if the parents are onboard? If the child would likely have severe disabilities would Drs not intervene if the parents aren’t onboard, or is there pressure on Drs to keep going with treatment?

I’ve been a Samaritan for 11 years (A branch in Hampshire), and i have never taken a call, or a live chat, or an email, from someone who is being pressured into abortion.

I haven’t read the full thread so sorry if this isn’t an appropriate response but surely a woman would or should know before the 24 week mark if she wants the child or not.

Of course women should have a choice, banning abortion like in the US is fucking crazy and dangerous. But equally I do feel uncomfortable about abortion at such a late stage. At some point the baby stops being a cluster of cells and starts being a person who could theoretically survive outside of the mother. This is where it becomes muddied for me.

Obviously this doesn’t apply to medical issues that arise with the mother or baby and may impact their quality of life. That’s different.

I just think there has to be a cut off otherwise would we still be approving abortion the week before the due date? The day before? No because it’s clearly unethical.

What an utterly bizarre reply that shows a complete comprehension fail.

But it’s a good point. Why should they need a reason other than that they don’t want another child? If someone doesn’t want a child then forcing them to have one is going to have a pretty detrimental effect on them.

You need to be careful about misrepresenting what women have said. This is the second time.

Bridgers wrote in a post on Instagram: “I had an abortion in October of last year while I was on tour.

“I went to Planned Parenthood where they gave me the abortion pill. It was easy. Everyone deserves that kind of access.”

What is callous about stating that access to a chemical/medical (not sure of correct term) abortion was easy for her and that should be available to everyone?

That’s why only 0.1% of abortions occur post 24 weeks and all for medical reasons.

Voice of reason 👆. I remember reading a post on here a while ago and the poster was basically saying….not wanting a baby is reason enough, this is not the X-factor and there doesn’t need to be some sob story with Westlife playing in the background, in order for a woman to justify having an abortion. If she wants one, and it’s within the legal parameters, then she should jolly well have one. End of.

Lily Allen: ‘Most people I know, including myself, just didn’t want to have a f*ing baby’.

Sounds awful! Grow up! Do more to stop getting pregnant in the first place then. Take some responsibility, but no, we like rights these days more than taking any personal responsibility. And swearing to make your point lowers it even further in my opinion.

Celebrities are broadcasting these views to millions of impressionable young girls. If politicians should stay out of it, then so should privileged celebrities!

Pregnancy is miserable. 99.99999% of women are not staying pregnant for over half term and then suddenly decide they don’t want the baby anymore. Most “abortions” done at that stage are because pregnancy poses a significant risk to the mother’s life (abortion in quotes there because generally the women are induced, and the babies are “delivered early” and kept alive, though this is still medically an abortion) or the baby has died (in this case, most people say that the pregnancy was aborted and the baby was “delivered” as a stillborn) or has some kind of condition that makes it incompatible with life outside of the womb.

In such cases, the babies are generally very wanted. Parent will have found out the gender, started gathering toys, clothing, supplies, etc. for baby, thought about or picked out names… It’s a tragic thing. I hate the idea that politicians anywhere are trying to impose gestational age limitations on abortions for those reasons. Why should any woman be forced to carry a dead or soon-to-be-dead-shortly-after-delivery baby for the rest of the pregnancy? She should be allowed to pass it, grieve properly, physically recover, and begin working on conceiving again as soon as she is wanting and able.

But they don’t think about such things.

ETA: for the extremely rare case where a woman does get super far into a pregnancy and suddenly decides she doesn’t want the baby… I don’t think there’s many doctors out there who would be willing to perform the abortion at that stage.

Lilly Allen went up in my estimation when she said that. Didn’t rate her much before.

Then we’ll have to agree to disagree. It sounds awful, immature, spoilt and selfish.

There is nothing wrong with these views. We need to stop reinforcing the belief that abortion is some kind of tragedy. Bodily autonomy is never tragic.

@OutandAboutMum1821

you do realise that some women who have unwanted pregnancies will have taken every single precaution available to them? But that contraception failures can still happen? There is no infallible method of birth control. So this is one of the key reasons why abortion exists - yay! 🥳

So exercise more ‘bodily autonomy’ with your partner to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place then 🤦🏻‍♀️ It’s free, available in multiple forms for both sexes and not frowned upon anymore.

Why should an already over-stretched NHS keep dealing with abortions which absolutely could be avoided if people were more responsible?

And plenty don’t. People openly celebrate their lack of planning, care and responsibility. Awful.