Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be disturbed that my DD was shown this anti-abortion video

317 replies

Tanga · 29/06/2010 22:27

DD (15) came home saying that she'd been shown a video of 'the baby's view of abortion' in her RE class today. She was pretty horrified (both for herself and on behalf of one of her friends who has had an abortion)which I'd guess would be a fairly typical response, but she went on to make some wildly innacurate comments about the proceedure (some very graphic so I'll spare you) so I asked her what it was she'd actually been shown.

It's called 'The Silent Scream' (written in Hammer horror style lettering) and I've googled it and am fairly appalled. It's (IMO) an anti-abortion piece of propaganda made in the '80's and is riddled with innaccuracies.

Is this a normal video to show a class of teenagers? It was presented as fact, BTW, and as 'the most humane method of abortion' by the RE teacher.

OP posts:
plantsitter · 29/06/2010 22:36

I would want to be certain what the teacher was intending to do with the video before I complained - was it used to provoke debate? Is she planning to show an opposing view in another class?

You may of course disapprove anyway (and I don't think an inaccurate portrayal is particularly helpful to show to teenagers) but at least you can then get angry about the actual intent, not the presumed one.

Sometimes shock tactics are necessary to get teenager talking but I agree you should've been warned if that was the intention.

MilkNoSugarPlease · 29/06/2010 22:38

It's on youtube if anyone wishes to see it

I am shocked! And would be bloody livid!

Thats absolutely outrageous!

Original poster
Tanga · 29/06/2010 22:38

No, it's not a faith school, just an ordinary comp. DD does not watch graphic horror DVD's - and even if she did, she's smart enough to understand that there is a difference between fantasy and apparent 'reality'.

I AM livid. I've asked her if she wants me to withdraw her from RE but she doesn't want to give up one of her GCSE's.

The more I see of it, the worse it seems - it's a doctor playing a video of an abortion, and at one point he actually says the 'baby' is trying to wriggle away from the instruments and then that it is screaming in pain. It's disgusting.

I've never had to ring the head to complain before but I am now.

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 29/06/2010 22:38

I would be horrified! I'm sending my DC to a Catholic high school, and if it were shown there I would be strongly complaining!

I certainly wouldn't have wanted to watch that at 15.

Did just the girls watch it, or boys and girls?

SirBoobAlot · 29/06/2010 22:39

I was shown this at school at around the same age. One of the topics covered in GCSE RE is abortion, so they show both sides of it - they show this one, and there is another about ending an unplanned pregnancy.

I can't say how I felt about the film, as I refused to watch it, as it was quite soon after my miscarriage.

LynetteScavo · 29/06/2010 22:39

Why was this shown in an RE lesson?

At a push I can see who they might include it in PSHE...but RE?

Sassybeast · 29/06/2010 22:41

Bluecardi - they may not show it now but they most certainly have in the not to distant past.

CoinOperatedGirl · 29/06/2010 22:41

YANBU I went to a Catholic high school and was shown a very similar video. I remember thinking at the time that it was wrong. The only thing I remember was a hand with tiny foetus feet sticking out .

Just one of the reasons I would never send my children to a faith school, I can't believe they are allowed to still do this, it's disgusting.

ravenAK · 29/06/2010 22:43

I would be absolutely incandescent tbh.

'Graphic horror & violence' in the context of entertainment is another debate entirely - it's not appropriate in the classroom & presented as factual.

I can just about envision a scenario where you might contemplate looking at 'The Silent Scream' in a Media lesson on bias (I teach English), but I'd be astonished if anyone actually did - far too likely to cause unreasonable distress to someone in the group.

hairytriangle · 29/06/2010 22:43

This is disgusting, I'd complain. However, Catholics are anti-abortionist so I'm not surprised it was shown.

Original poster
Tanga · 29/06/2010 22:43

Girls and boys were shown it - including DD's friend. I was sent a letter saying that they were going to be discussing the topic but assumed that they would be doing so in a measured, sensible and accurate way.

Even if they are being shown a video from the 'other side' as it were, it's unlikely that it will correct all the innacuracies in this one!

OP posts:
Original poster
Tanga · 29/06/2010 22:44

And it isn't a faith school.

OP posts:
PeedOffWithNits · 29/06/2010 22:44

OP has already said its NOT a faith school

FloraPost · 29/06/2010 22:45

I was shown that video in RE class at school (catholic) 16 years ago. It is a truly appalling thing to show to anyone, let alone teenagers and is totally unreflective of the way that abortions are carried out in the UK. It includes such delights as interviews with American 'doctors' interspersed with sudden cutaway shots of dead, bruised and bloodied full term babies left uncovered in buckets in operating theatres. It also has what purports to be in utero footage of an active foetus being dismembered and screaming in the process.

Many of the girls in my class were upset for weeks by the video. Myself, it just cemented the burgeoning notion already forming within me that the catholic church is a nasty, controlling, intolerant organisation. I should add that my lovely family are catholics and I know many wonderful catholics. However it was a catholic school which decided as a matter of policy that children should be shown this upsetting, unbalanced and gratuitous film.

Our screening was followed up by one of the nuns giving a diatribe about having an abortion like the ones we had just seen on our conscience .

OP, I really hope your daughter is ok. Sounds like at some point you might need to have a calm and rational coversation with her about the realities of termination in order to redress what she has seen.

I wouldn't just be writing to the head or the chair of governors, I'd be writing to OFSTED. Honestly, that's how bad the video is.

funnysinthegarden · 29/06/2010 22:45

Hideous. What is the matter with these pro-lifers. I shudder to think they are teaching in our schools.

Iggisonthesofa · 29/06/2010 22:46

Tanga taking her out of a subject would be cutting off nose to spite face - and it's highly unlikely the teacher has anything else up her sleeve of a similar ilk. Certainly she won't if you write to the school and say you consider it was an ill-advised and upsetting choice (I'd steer clear of calls to have teacher sacked though unless you want to give the office staff a laugh)

hairytriangle · 29/06/2010 22:46

ooops sorry I read in haste, my apologies!

DuelingFanjo · 29/06/2010 22:46

I would be furious. Absolutely furious. I hope you are going to complain and that other parents do so too. This is absolutely out of order of the school.

PotteringAlong · 29/06/2010 22:47

Abortion is on the GCSE RE syllabus so that's why they're teaching it - comes under matters of life and death with IVF , cloning, euthanasia and genetic engineering (although not in that order!). I've never seen it but read enough to know I wouldn't show it. Bits of 'vera drake' usually enough to start a debate. They will have to look at both sides of the argument. Ring head of dept and ask?

julybutterfly · 29/06/2010 22:48

'parental guidance is advised'

I had a termination last year due to medical reasons. It pisses me off when women say they would NEVER had an abortion when they haven't 'been' where I have.

So misguided. Complain, complain, complain!

bluecardi · 29/06/2010 22:48

Just read through the script and it's so shocking that this was shown. I hope your dd friend will be ok - she must feel terrible. Could your dd call her to see how she is? Do this girls parents or someone she trusts know about this.

MummyTo2MonkeysAnd1Bug · 29/06/2010 22:50

Oh my life.

I was made to watch that very film at secondary school when i was in year 9 - 13 years of age.

I went to a very strict catholic school also, and i still remember to this day, the tears streaming down my face as i watched, and all around the room, the whole class, were either silent and ashen or crying.

IMO it is a completely inappropriate video to be shown to anyone under 18 - and especially as a 'lesson video' as it would be.

If a catholic/pro life/pro choice whatever choose to air it in a group session with children present, parental consent should be sought first.

BertieBotts · 29/06/2010 22:51

Lynnette different "issues" are discussed as part of the RE GCSE syllabus, debating about them in general and also different religious views on each issue e.g. abortion, marriage, life after death etc etc.

DuelingFanjo · 29/06/2010 22:52

it's a completely inapropriate video to be shown to anyone. Fine if someone seeks it out but to be forced to watch it is appalling.

PeedOffWithNits · 29/06/2010 22:52

I dont expect that they have JUST started showing this film this year though? so presumably, other parents have not complained, or they ahve but the school are continuing to teach abortion the same way regardless.

i think the fact that you had a letter beforehand(would be interesting to know EXACTLY what it said) is very telling. You had the chance to ask in more detail about what would be covered, and possibly withdraw them if you saw fit? did you actualy sign a consent, or just not enquire further?

Swipe left for the next trending thread