Termination

[Same1977]

More and more babies survive being born before legal abortion limit...how comfortable are you with 24 week abortion limit?

I'm quite embarrassed that ar my age I had no clue what the limit is till approx 5 min ago :/

As someone whose mother has had a termination and who herself had a termination I have always considered myself to be strongly pro choice so I'm yet to decide where an article I just read about a baby born 23 weeks going home etc leaves me views wise.

Am I alone on this?Are you 100 percent one way other?

Think this is one better suited to the Pregnancy choices board, OP.

(Or, as MNHQ have written on that board, debating the ethics should be done on Chat or Politics.)

I couldn’t and agree with you that if they could survive then I wouldn’t do it, but ultimately I think it’s up to each woman to decide. Whether I feel uncomfortable or not is irrelevant as it’s not my body and not my choice. I think that’s what you’re asking.

I'm not comfortable with it at all unless it's a case of TFMR - I spent a long time in NICU with my own children and met many babies born on or just before the 24 week cut off. I'm certainly less pro choice than I was. I think 12 weeks is more than enough time for someone to decide if they want to continue a pregnancy or not

I am entirely comfortable with it. The fact a baby can survive doesn't mean a woman should be forced to have it. I am fiercely pro choice and personally don't actually think of a baby as a baby until it is born.

I have had an abortion in the past and post having children I don't think I could ever have another but I never regretted. I hope women can make their own choices, always.

Hi there OP,
Just to let you know that we have moved this to Pregnancy choices as we thought it was a better fit :-)

86% of terminations take place before 10 weeks, OP, and only 1% are after 20 weeks - usually for late diagnosed lethal malformations. So the vast majority would not be viable anyway.

I'm entirely comfortable with it because;

a) those babies born so prematurely will almost always need masses of intervention to survive and quite often have ongoing issues far into their childhood.

b) the vast majority of abortions - over 90% - happen by 12 weeks anyway so it's not as if current limits are being exploited. 88% are under 10 weeks.

c) 0.1% of all abortions are carried out after 24 weeks, and they are all for medical reasons.

But mainly I'm OK with it because it's not my uterus, not my business. Neither is it yours or anyone else's. No woman should be made to contine with an unwanted pregnancy just because you don't feel comfortable with it. JFC.

Is nothing that is not 'my business ' worth debating? It's also not my business what people do in their homes but I would vote against smacking children for example.

I'm just trying to see where on the opinion spectrum I stand.

Yes this is my viewpoint too.

My cousins baby survived at 23.5 weeks. The current limit is months too late

Too late for who?

And that is already the case in the vast majority of abortions, so that should make you feel better. What about those women who actually didn't know they were pregnant before 12 weeks? Should they be forced to remain pregnant when they don't want to be?

I had two micro preemies one born at 24 weeks no long time medical issues at all, in fact you'd never guess. My 26 seeker is the same and taller than me now at 14.
I watched a lot of babies go home whilst I was in NICU, most have no long term issues and some were even more premature than my son.
I'm certainly pro choice but I'd welcome a lowering of the gestation limit for termination to maybe 16 weeks (except for TFMR of course)

If you say 'I'm pro choice, but', you're not pro choice.

Many fatal foetal abnormalities are picked up at the 20 week scan (which sometimes happen at 21 weeks). Forcing a woman to continue a pregnancy to term, knowing that her baby will have no chance of survival is the very definition of cruelty. This isn't about terminating healthy pregnancies; it's about protecting a woman's right to health care in the worst of circumstances.

Sorry the question in general was over healthy pregnancies.Up to 24 weeks is allowed for all pregnancies.

For those posters saying you’d know by 12 weeks if you wanted to continue with a pregnancy or not, pregnancy doesn’t always happen in “ideal” circumstances !! What about women in abusive relationships, what about teenage girls wanting a termination but not able to seek help, what about victims of rape who may be too traumatised ? Should these girls and women be forced to continue with an unwanted pregnancy if they aren’t able to seek help until after a lowered time limit ?

This is my feelings too. I have had a termination an no regrets. An unwanted child that you can't afford is not something that should be forced onto people.

I am in the camp of

As early as possible and as late and necessary.

Vanishingly few terminations are carried out after 20 weeks.

I had a diagnosis of a complex cardiac abnormality at my 20 week scan. This was done at 20+3, I saw Cardiology at 20+6, had an amniocentesis at 21+4 and got the results back at 23+5. Those were all the soonest appointments I could get. There wasn’t a time limit for us because of the anatomy - we could have gone for a post-24 week termination under ground E of the act.

Considering a late term abortion was very painful, I was obviously pregnant and feeling lots of foetal movement. The fact that I knew babies could survive at 22 weeks played heavily on my mind.

After 21+6ish termination involves an injection under ultrasound guidance into the baby’s heart to stop it, waiting 2 days then having an induction of labour. I don’t think anybody is considering that lightly. These will be people with challenging diagnoses, who didn’t know they were pregnant or with very complicated life situations.

I elected to continue my pregnancy as personally felt I couldn’t go through with it and our baby has a shot at survival but I’m very grateful the choice was there. And I’m grateful it wasn’t a right up to the wire - you must make a decision by this date.

I might have made a different decision if there was a genetic diagnosis on the amniocentesis which had clear quality of life or survivability implications. I already have one child with complex health needs and this was an IVF pregnancy with genetic testing to ensure this baby didn’t have the same genetic problem. It doesn’t but it has a different health issues and who could have predicted that? This is a much wanted pregnancy. There can be all kinds of layers of complexity and there usually is with late term cases.

I couldn’t go through with it but I feel strongly as early as possible, as late as necessary. Probably more so now given recent experience.

Its only in exceptional circumstances such a late termination would take place, such as incompatability with life following birth

Up to 24 weeks it is legal regardless of circumstances.After 24 it is exceptional circumstances.
My question was only about healthy pregnancies

Have you ever actually looked at the stats of the reasons for terminations at that stage?

@Shmithecat2

Because it's highly unlikely these days for a woman not to know they are pregnant before 12 weeks

Clearly in cases of rape or abuse sure if the limit was ever lowered there would be caveats

The women I know who have had 24 week abortions did so because they simply "changed their minds"

I haven't and the question I was pondering was more about legalities than percentages if you know what I mean.
I'm not sure how I feel about it being legal that late not about whether anyone actually takes up their legal rights.