MPs vote to decriminalise abortion

[AirborneElephant]

AIBU to be thrilled! Sorry if there’s already a thread, couldn’t see one.

Yes I can. Your opinion is stupid too, in my opinion. Are you allowed one and I’m not?

@nautys which part was stupid? You must be a joy when it comes to healthy debate. This is how 5 year olds respond

it's about overturning a Victorian piece of legislation that criminalises individual women for terminating a baby past 24 weeks.

Taken from the BBC website:

" The law will still penalise anyone who assists a woman, including medical professionals, in getting an abortion outside the current legal framework".

This change follows the rather worrying prosecution of Nicola Packer.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp852g0l6j6o

If anyone is a fan of the podcast Electoral Dysfunction, they talk about it in the latest episode.

I see it was passed with a very sizeable majority in the House of Commons? Decisive, fortunately.

Edited to say, I quoted the wrong person.

This is crazy. You can’t give away rights to prevent bad people from seizing them. You have to accept continuously fighting for our rights.

People aren’t having late term abortions for fun
what about a woman who doesn’t find out she is pregnant until late on, then goes for a scan and her baby has problems which means it will die at birth or shortly after
you can look up later term abortions and the reasons women have given for having them and not one has been a “bad” reason

Backstreet abortion has been legalised.
Women will be able to abort up to birth at home.
How will they be expected to dispose of the infant's body?

How do you all not understand that any woman who miscarries or has a stillbirth can be accused of procuring her own abortion? The new law makes that tragic overreach of state power less likely.

What part was stupid? Maybe the part when two posters stated late term abortions FOR ANY REASON were disgusting. Or how it’s the same as leaving a new born to die in a bin. Have you had a late term abortion? I have. I would have died if not. My baby would have been born with severe disabilities and not lived long after birth, dying in pain and discomfort. Does that make me disgusting? So you agree with@ladykale@Oatshakenespressoand think it does?

Happy to be told I’m acting like a 5 year old when people post bullshit on the internet.

It's absolutely fine to murdering a baby now, so it seems. You can get away scot free with infanticide.

In cases where the mother is at grave risk I understand. There have been tragic cases where the mother has been investigating following a still birth. That's awful, of course.

However, the cases like the one where the woman was 32 weeks along but told her doctor she was 8ish weeks in order to obtain an abortion pill should be locked up.

Murdering a baby is illegal and will continue to be illegal.

Late term abortions are so incredibly, incredibly rare. They are not being done lightly; they are the result of sad, loving or desperate decisions by women who can be trusted to make them.

If you are talking about Nicola Packer, she genuinely thought she was 8 weeks but was actually 26. And she was dragged from hospital still bleeding to a jail cell and put through four years of hell before being exonerated.

And even if a woman does know, I wholeheartedly support a woman’s bodily autonomy throughout her pregnancy. As early as possible, as late as necessary. Vanishingly few women intentionally abort pregnancy late, and those that do always have a very, very good reason. And there should be no risk of a woman who has suffered a stillbirth or late miscarriage being investigated by the police to check she hasn’t done anything that may have risked the pregnancy.

Abortion. Is. Not. Murder!

“Very very good” reason hmm… I find it so confusing that people like you are of the view that the day before birth the mum can choose to kill that baby (who would be able to survive outside of the womb) but the day after the birth it is infanticide if she killed the baby!

stop talking bollocks, thanks.

The same can be said about almost any limit, including the current 24 week one.

The day before the 24 week limit, 23 weeks & 6 days, a woman can get an abortion. At 24 weeks, unless she or the foetus are at risk, she can't and some have survived outside of the womb when born before 24 weeks.

You are being ridiculous. Women don’t just ‘change their minds’ at 36 weeks or whatever. All it will do is stop the criminalisation of women who suffer late term pregnancy loss. I understand this is already the law in NI and I have heard of no women suddenly deciding to abort themselves.

I find this alongside the ‘Assisted Dying’ bill to be a grotesque reflection of our disrespect for life.

It makes logical sense to decriminalise it - as people are pointing out - but I am still left with a feeling that makes me very uncomfortable.

I think we all understand the issue with late term abortions and I kind of think we need firm, unambiguous laws that prioritise the sanctity of life. This just leaves me feeling something is wrong. And like I say, alongside the Assisted Dying bill, I can’t help but feel we are saying something strange about the value of life.

I'm watching it thinking it's a plan to strip women of their rights tbh as the extent of it seems far too extreme and I think that's the overall plan.
They intend to call it barbaric in future and use that to strip all rights.

It’s not confusing at all. A woman has full bodily autonomy at all times, she is not just an incubator or vessel. There is absolutely no other situation where anyone is required to give up any part of their bodily autonomy to save another life, regardless of how easy that would be. Pregnancy should not be the exception.

The 'sanctity of life' should never be at the expense of a woman's bodily autonomy.

yes, what we are saying is that people who are dying or incurably suffering should be allowed to choose to end their lives in a dignified manner at a time and place of their choosing. And what we are saying is that women should be allowed to choose what happens with their own bodies without fear of prosecution and jail. HTH.

Am I misunderstanding or if a woman has a late miscarriage or stillbirth there is a legal/police investigation into her pregnancy history.
So if she says to a GP or other HCP at the first appointment something like "I didnt really want to be pregnant but....." then that could lead to calling the police if the foetus dies.