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.

Yes I also posted this link in the other thread www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-60646285

To be slightly fair to him, I don't think Farage is racist in the same way I don't think Trump is racist. I just don't think they care enough about anyone other than themselves to even care that much about any aspect of other people. What they do know is how to get racists, religious fundamentalists and misogynists wetting their pants to vote for them, so they can then act in their own interests once they are in power.

Yeah but if you genuinely care about the fetus why does it matter if the mother was raped? Either you think the fetus has a right to life independent of the mother’s circumstances or you don’t (but you think abortion should only be available for “responsible” and “good” women and not the kind who apparently use abortion as contraception). If it’s wrong to kill a fetus, it’s surely wrong even if the mother was raped?

Also as for people who use abortion as contraception, that is often a sign of MH issues or being in a coercive controlling relationship.

So there is no “class” or “dignity” of having an abortion ? Should women feel ashamed, and keep it a secret? Is that for all medical procedures or just this one?

Just sympathy for women who have become pregnant by rape, or who face having a severely disabled child? No sympathy for other women who may find themselves unexpectedly pregnant ? They have made their own bed eh?

Late term abortions are so rare, and nobody has one for fun. There's no good reason at all to ban them. All it will do is force a few women into very difficult circumstances. But I expect that is the point.
IMO, the question he should be asking is, should we be saving 22 weekers?

FWiW I've never had an abortion but I have helped and supported someone else to get one at 18 weeks and had two pregnancies, have two daughters myself.

Personally I knew I was pregnant straight away as I was actually trying to be. But really it wasn't obvious at all until the third trimester. I can well understand how someone very young or in a more chaotic environment or who has been raped or just less aware for whatever reason can not realise or put it out of their minds until it's too late.

If anything going through a straightforward pregnancy and birth myself made me even more pro the abortion law as it is. How horrific to go through pregnancy and childbirth (definitely not straighforward in many cases) and be forced to continue if it isn't your choice.

This idea that any women are twiddling their fingers around waiting till close to 24 weeks for a termination rather that it being choice due foetal abnormalities and very big decisions.

as if women are these lazy loose moral irresponsible harlots who didn’t have time for it into their calendar till the last minute.

if you don’t like abortions don’t get one. Don’t infringe other women’s medical and bodily autonomy to make a different choice.

Okay so you think Farage would be happy with a Somalian family with seven kids receiving uncapped benefits?
Why do people say stuff like that Trump and Farage aren’t really racist and are just trying to court the real racists? Of course they are - anyone who actually wasn’t racist wouldn’t be trying to court anyone who was, would they?

I think everyone woman has a right to choose.
I may not be able to bring myself to have a termination at 24 weeks but that doesn’t give me the right to expect other women to feel the same way.

Dont agree with abortion? Then don’t get one

Boasting openly about having abortions is far from classy. It’s symptomatic of a society which generally no longer values privacy. People over-sharing about everything to everyone. I dislike it.

The UK is a European outlier on this IIRC. For example France (that well-known theocracy) has a 14 week limit.

I do not agree with abortion, and wish that they weren’t necessary. However, I am so glad that we live in a society where women can get one if they feel it is necessary. Watching Call the Midwife and seeing what risks women used to take shows why the availability of safe, legal and non judgmental abortions is essential.
For those of us who disagree with abortion the best way to reduce them is to campaign for more money to be ploughed into support for mothers and families, more accountability for men who abuse and abandon women, better education and easy access to contraception for young people, more money, support and respite for those with disabled children. Just campaigning against abortion is the easy option and solves nothing.

This is abortion by choice though. As in oh I've just found out I'm pregnant and don't want to be... you can currently abort until 24 weeks in that case. If something is medically wrong with your baby it's till term!

Abortion is individual choice. I wouldn't want to have a late termination for choice reasons but I would consider one if my baby was incompatible with life but that's different from what he's saying.

I am a healthcare provider who has worked in abortion clinics. There are very few centres left that do surgical abortions up to 24 weeks any more, at most of them the limit is 13-16 weeks due to understaffing of the correct surgeons and underfunding. It often takes at least a couple of weeks to get a surgical appointment, and women often have to travel from different parts of the country adding to delays and expense. If the limit was lowered, there would undoubtedly be women who only found out about abnormalities at 20-22 weeks and by then it would be too late to arrange a termination.

Women either have bodily autonomy or they don’t. What anyone else believes, feels or would do in that situation is irrelevant. If it’s not your body and you’re not the one raising the child, you have zero say in the matter.

I don't think Farage would be happy with a white family with 7 kids receiving uncapped benefits either.

It wouldn't be a popular stance for any politician.

Not a theocracy but a Roman Catholic country, as many in Europe are.

14 weeks is way too early. We're an outlier - good, in this case.

Anyone who votes for him needs their heads banging together

The conclusuon that appears to follow from your argument here, is that we should stop trying to save the lives of premature babies. If that is your position, then start a campaign on that.

Not quite true

France allows later term abortions due to health risks to mum or if there's a quality of life concern for the baby

That's the reason most late term abortions here occur, after the fetal abnormality screening which would be allowed in france.

The majority of this relates to women being coerced into pregnancy not abortion. Abusers normally want the woman to be pregnant because they are then trapped and dependent. To ban abortion because a small number of women feel pressured to have one is ludicrous and objectively it is better to be coerced into an abortion than a pregnancy given that the latter will involve another person who is born without being wanted and potentially into an abusive relationship.

There are no actual stats though that back up your assertion that "many women are coerced into having abortions".

It says:

15% of women in our survey told us they'd experienced pressure to terminate a pregnancy when they didn't want to

Which is obviously terrible, but not the same as being "coerced into an abortion".

We don't know what percentage of that 15% actually had an abortion.

Even if we had reliable stats that proved 15% of women having abortions were coerced ino doing so, it would still mean that 75% of women having abortions were not coerced.

Furthermore, the problem would be coercive control of women by abusive men, not the availability of abortion.

In this case the most vulnerable person is the unborn baby, they deserve to have someone sticking up for them.

“No, clearly later term abortion are usually for serious health conditions, which are reached after many long, agonising discussions with health professionals” and yet you’re advocating for the limit to be reduced?

Also agree, as early as possible, as late as necessary.

Forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term is barbaric.

Put your time and effort into supporting the funding of family planning clinics, access to affordable childcare and addressing the men who get off scot free paying little or nothing and taking a minor role in raising their children and I guarantee that would result in fewer abortions.

But it’s so much less fun than going on a power trip and shitting on other women in terrible situations isn’t it!