Abortion limit should stay at 24 weeks - do you feel different about abortion after having a baby?

[TheDullWitch]

It is the 40th anniversary of the abortion act and I do feel that there is a generation of 20-somethings who take this right for granted and are doing nothing whilst others seek to chip it away.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7059169.stm

i didnt know it was done up to 24 weeks!i was a bit indifferent untill i had my ds he looked so developed at 14 week scan think i thought he was just going to look like a blob untill much later.i think abortions are wrong with the exception of serious medical reasons or pregnancy caused by rape

my views on abortion are the same as before i had children. i love them all dearly, i couldn't imagine life without any of them, but i do not wish to impose my love of my perfect children on a woman who, for whatever reasons does not want to have a baby.

If i got pregnant now I would have an abortion. I support lowering the limit to 20/21 weeks (with the education etc attached) because medical science has improved over the last forty off years to give an opportunity for premature babies to survive at that age. when a fetus is capable of independent life outside of its mother then it stops being a fetus and becomes a baby IMHO - thats where the line is drawn for me.

how on earth could you abort a 35 week formed baby?my son was born 36 weeks not a bother completly healthy no incubator or anything wouldnt they have to give birth to him and then.....kill him?sorry i really dont understand?

TheDullWitch, the cleft palate abortion was not carried out within the 24 week limit.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2367917.stm

I agree with others that abortion on demand should not be freely available after 20 weeks, but obviously later for medical reasons.

Amy, I think they inject potasium into the unborn baby's heart, something like that. It kills them then they are aborted.

thank you kitty

Where I have problems is saying to a 15 yr old girl at 20 weeks go ahead with your pregnancy, because it will make a nice baby for a couple who want to adopt. ie she is just a pod, her emotional distress is nothing.

I thought we were talking about abortions done with the current law -- not 35 weeks, which I don't agree with unless the baby is in pain and has no chance of survival anyway. I also agree with persephonesnape with regard to lowering the limit due to advances in neonatology, but if a woman finds out at a 20-week scan that that the baby is unlikely to survive or is very severely disabled and she is unlikely to cope, she should still have the opportunity to terminate with a bit of time for consideration.

And a 21 week foetus cannot survive. Not without immense amount of techonological intervention and even then it will probably have severe disablities/brain damage. At some point, scientists will create an artificial womb which could continue the incubation of say, a 12 week foetus. So would that mean we role back the law further and further back?

Dullwitch - but surely a 15 yr old girl could be emotionally distressed by either choice?

Agree with SueBarroeeooo's posts and with Kittywitch when she says that as a society we have a very extreme and skewed attitude (on both sides of argument) towards fertility and child-bearing ...

My job is medical-related and in my recent pregnancy I had contact with a woman having an abortion at 24 weeks.

I was 24 weeks at the time.

Really hit me hard.

But I will never have to live her life...

franca i did say the 20/21 week limit should be for social reasons not medical reasons which me came up at the 20 week scan.

TDW a 21 week old fetus can survive

ok they are going to need to be on oxygen and fed hourly but they can still survive in the same way that preemies only a month or so early can. would you think it ok to abort a 36 week old fetus for social reasons because if born at that age they couldn't survive without being on oxygen?

nappyaddict > 21 week old foetus saved at a Baptist hospital, hmm no agenda or chance of facts being contrived there then...

I agree with others who have said thee should be NO overlap between viability age and abortion limit - I am horrified that it overlaps, and would like to see it lowered to 14 weeks.

In view of the disagreement on semantics earlier in this thread I will discribe myself as 'ant-abortion'. I think they are wrong and wish nobaody had them. However, I don't think they should be made illegal. As someone said earlier, it would drive abortions underground and would have horrific consequences for mothers (who for the record, I also care about, and, like suebaroo, I am all for support, councelling and financial assistance for struggling mums - there certainly is not enough of it)

The whole point of legalized abortion is CHOICE. A woman/emancipated girl must be allowed to make the decision for themselves, and not be forced into a decision (either or abort or keep).

People need to keep in mind that one's opinions about abortions and the legality of abortion need not be the same. One can be personlly anti abortion and still be pro choice.

In terms of the limit, I did not have my NHS anomoly scan till I was well into my 21'st week. If there was a terrible genetic problem, I couldn't have had a termination until 22 weeks.

I am pro choice, although would never have an abortion myself.

All women should have the choice to abort imo. Regardless of other peoples opinions. A womans wishes should always come above the rights of an unborn feotus imo.

"Cleft palate" can be the technical term for when the entire skull is split into 2 parts -- none of us knows how bad the deformity was in that case that got the wide publicity, I don't think it should be discussed by anyone not directly involved. At least 2 doctors still had to sign it off and reconcile their consciences to performing the procedure.

I would love to see some hard stats on what % of terminations are done from 12-24 weeks for 1) abnormalities, 2) dumb teenagers, 3)domestic violence or other abuse involved, 4) other circumstances. I feel like I can't have an informed opinion, otherwise (do such statistics exist?). All I know is the stat about ~90% of termination occuring below 13 weeks.

Dullwitch, I am pro-life (and not meaning to take any moral high ground in the use of that term) but in no way would downplay the distress of a young girl having to carry on a pregnancy, or see her as 'just a pod'. That would be unfeeling, and I hope there are many of us out there who are not pro choice but who are not millitant mad anti women etc. I think the choice is hugely difficult, but I believe that every unborn child is a life with as much right as anyone else. If a child is born at 23 weeks and lives, then that is not seen as a bunch of cells or a foetus. But one aborted at the same age is written off as such. This feels so wrong. If a child was born at 23 weeks and then torn limb from limb would that be seen as nothing but getting rid of an unfeeling, unthinking foetus? I think not.
I don't think abortion should be barred altogether. The horror of backstreet abortions would be unthinkable. But I think the limit for social abortions should be 12 weeks. And even then a foetus feels pain. I will doubtless be flamed for this, but it is my strong opinion and has never changed. When I was nine years old I came across some pictures of aborted babies. I couldn't understnad as a child why someone would do this to children. The images always stayed with me, and it may seem simplistic to say this, but I feel the same way, even more so since I had my babies.
I don't want to argue with anyone, but wanted to say that there are 'pro lifers' out there who don't fit the stereotypes as harsh, uncaring twats. I just can't balance the life of a precious child with a 'right to choose'.

TDW - the little girl holds a world record for being the youngest gestational age to survive so i doubt the hospital made it up somehow.

Message withdrawn

still pro choice but could never have an abortion myself, unless for severe health reasons. Think 24 limit far too late, again except for severe health reasons. 12-14 weeks infinitely preferable.

nappyaddict, i would think that this little girl is the exception to the rule, rather than the norm. yes, a baby can survive at 21 weeks,b ut at what cost? what are the long term ramifactions to her health and long term future? is she well ?

i think that the crossover between abortion limit and viability is too blurred.. as medical science evolves, the viability issue will become more and more of an issue.

i think the key is education re contraception, access to free contraception and free MAP if necc... and more education.