Why aren't you all FURIOUS?!

[NewNames]

And you thought the minister for women and equality was bad... Our HEALTH MINISTER wants to reduce the abortion time limit to 12 weeks!!!!

Front page of tomorrow's Times.

[PacificDogwood]

Oh, flip, I typed a terriffically considered and articulate post about how I agreed with MrsdeVere about this obsesssion with perfection and fear of disablitly, whilst at the same time suggesting this was more society driven rather than led by the medical profession (I have a vested interest in that position ), but cyberspace ate my post and now I have had too much to make much sense.

Wrt to Jeremy Hunt, never was a mispronounciation of a name more apt!

[TeaAndHugs]

I am furious. It feels like every time I turn on the radio or look at a newspaper I end up angry about some inane anti-abortion statement that's been made by someone who knows nothing about ordinary women's lives. I'm hoping that one of the pro-choice campaign groups is going to come up with a comprehensive plan of action for tackling this anti-choice government that we can all get behind.

[swallowedAfly]

i haven't seen recent stats but when i used to teach about abortion in medical ethics the vast majority were of older women - say 25-35 which often suprised students because the way the topic is discussed people assume the numbers are big because of teenagers. a surprising number of abortions are for women who are married and already have children also.

so whilst i totally agree we need to be better at sex education and teen pregnancy is an issue to be addressed it really isn't a major player in abortion numbers.

[swallowedAfly]

have just looked it up - 64% of abortions are upon women aged 20-34. teen pregs are a drop in the ocean. also 51% of abortions are carried out on women who have already given birth in the past (live or stillborn).

these are women who know how pregnancy comes about and how to prevent it. so as interesting as the points on sex ed and teenagers are they're really not of significant impact to the figures.

[swallowedAfly]

it is odd actually that something that is legal in this country is discussed in terms of the numbers must be brought down. it is a legal medical procedure with criteria that must be met to access it and procedures to ensure the people who qualify for the procedure and choose to go ahead with it are well informed in their choice.

the numbers are what the numbers are. muddling moral angst with a legal procedure is a nonsense really. if you think abortion is morally wrong then it would be wrong whether ten people did it or ten million. it is legal - there are criteria - as many people will have one as qualify and choose to do so.

i'm tempted to say 'get over it'.

i personally think that taking vast profits whilst raising prices on essential products and services is hugely immoral and should be illegal. sadly society and government disagrees with me.

[OhBuggerandArse]

Slug, thank you for that - I'd missed both stories. Both shameful, both tragedies. How wrong must we be going, that one has to be so careful not to be caught up in other tragic stories because things like this get slipped out when nobody's concentrating?

[Saralyn]

jaffasnaffle
You asked about the abortion laws in Scandinavia. Here is the situation in Norway:

Here, the law is more liberal than in the UK until the 12th week (abortion is then solely the womans descicion), but stricter afterwards, and abortion is very difficult to get after the 18th week.

In 1978 women themselves were granted the right to decide whether to terminate their pregnancies or not. This right is limited in time, and is valid until the end of the twelfth week of the pregnancy.

To have an abortion, the woman must herself fill out a form at a doctor?s office, whether that be a general practitioner?s office, or at a hospital. She does not need to justify her decision. The doctor shall, as soon as possible, forward the woman?s request for abortion to the hospital. The abortion is carried out at a hospital, and the procedure is free.

The Abortion Act also regulates what happens if the woman requests an abortion after the twelfth week of the pregnancy. The woman may apply to terminate the pregnancy, either through a doctor, or directly to the hospital. A committee consisting of two doctors makes the decision about so-called late abortions. The committee is obliged to consider the woman?s reasons. If the application is denied, it is automatically re-evaluated by a new committee, called an appeals committee.

According to the law, abortions between the twelfth and the eighteenth week of the pregnancy may be granted under certain circumstances. These include the mother?s health or her social situation; if the baby is in great danger of severe medical complications; or if the woman has become pregnant while under-age, or after sexual abuse. After the eighteenth week the reasons for terminating a pregnancy must be extremely weighty. An abortion will not be granted if the foetus is presumed to be viable at the time that the abortion is carried out."

more here //www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/hod/Documents/Veiledninger_og_brosjyrer/2000/About-the-Abortion-Act.html?id=419252

[BoffinMum]

Maybe numbers are going up because we've have significant inward migration of women of childbearing age into the UK in the last decade ...?

[NewNames]

Are numbers up?

If they are maybe it's because we can't afford to have these accidents any more like we used to.

[swallowedAfly]

from what i could work out they're up since 2001 but down since 2007. as are teen pregnancies. and the percentage of terminations carried out before ten weeks and before 13 weeks is also up.

it's pure moral posturing rather than reacting to any real event i think.

[BoffinMum]

Thought so.

[ttosca]

What do you expect from a government which wants to turn Britain back to the Victorian era?