MPs will have a free vote next week when the highly controversial bill to decriminalise abortion in Britain is voted on in Westminster.
Abortion remains a criminal offence in England and Wales if it takes place after 24 weeks of pregnancy, although there are a number of exceptions to that permitted at present, including allowing abortion up to birth where an unborn baby has a disability of any kind.
If the vote to decriminalise abortion passes, the criminal law would no longer apply in protecting the lives of unborn babies on any grounds, at any stage in pregnancy, including up to and during birth. It would inevitably result in an increased use of the abortion pill and an escalation in late-term abortions, putting the lives and health of women and their babies in serious danger. Without question, it would also lead to more women being coerced and pressured into having an abortion as there would be no explicit deterrents to stop it from happening. Those pushing for the full decriminalisation of abortion appear entirely unfazed by any such concerns.
It’s only in relatively recent times that prosecutions have occurred in a small number of cases concerning illegal abortions. Since abortion was introduced in Britain in 1967, any restrictions regarding access to abortion in the law served as a deterrent, but in practice women were not prosecuted for illegal abortions. That changed in recent years and there’s every reason to believe the change was instigated deliberately to pave the way for bills like the one due before the House of Commons next week.
Until 2022, only three women had been convicted of having an illegal abortion in the 150 years since the 1861 Act, under which most illegal abortions are prosecuted. But, recently, within just a three-year period, six people have been charged for procuring illegal abortions.
It’s murder, call it for what it is. Those aiding and abetting it are equally guilty of this crime.
In 1967 I was a medical student in London and I publicly protested against abortion, after which My flat mate gave me L.S.D. behind my back and I was forced into unnecessary unsafe experiments at my medical school. I was in the peak of health before but now I have deed deemed ‘ill’ for the last 57 years
China allowed abortions of full term babies under their One Child Policy. I remember the horror in the UK press at the time; so now it is being suggested as acceptable by those supporting this bill!
Under the Abortion Act 1967 the statistics for England and Wales reveal that under Ground A where it relates to the threat of the physical life of the woman if the pregnancy were to continue or Ground B which refers to the threat of either a physical or mental injury to her in 2021 there were 111 abortions relating to these, including Ground F, to save the life of the pregnant woman. The low take up of abortion for grounds A, B and F demonstrate that the cut off period of 24 weeks is the defining time limit for the majority of women. Termination at this stage isn’t ‘in your face’, as is the case with the dismemberment of a much more visible, viable life form at more advanced stages of pregnancy. However, as I outline further on this isn’t a given and with increasing desensitization of society’s norms legalising abortion up to birth will become the ‘new norm’. As things currently stand the vast majority of people find abortion up to birth abhorrent. Polls taken by ComRes who do polls for BBC and ITV show only 1% of women support full-term abortion. In addition, 70% support a reduction of the 24 week limit to 20 weeks or less. 91% of women are opposed to sex-selective abortion.The overall figure for abortions in 2021 was 214,256. As from March 2020 due to Covid restrictions when medically induced abortions were permitted and then legalized on 24 February 2022, the 2021 figures are necessary to peruse in order to see how ‘pills by post’, which is how mifepristone and misoprostol were administered, had an effect on abortion figures. In 2021 87% of abortions were medically induced, up from 85% in 2020. There has also been one publicized case of a woman using the pills at home in a much more advanced state of pregnancy than they were permitted for, which resulted in her being sent to prison. She was later released, an act which served to mitigate the horrific nature of her actions. There was also a woman whom the public were made aware of doing the exact same thing and needing emergency surgery. Other cases have also been reported necessitating emergency hospital admission. This out of sight out of mind approach has overtones of the ‘wild west’ in the abortion Industry an obvious extension of the commodity culture that abortion exemplifies – the unborn is unwanted and easily disposed. Another consideration is coercive abortion for which the postage of pills is easily obtained and implicit in this is that if a woman has no say in her pregnancy, likely to be abused, then it’s not unreasonable to conclude that not much consideration will be given to when these pills are administered, particularly if she’s been too frightened to admit being pregnant and is in a much more advanced stage when telling her partner / husband. The necessity of emergency hospital care provides the very real need to ban medically induced abortions via the post. Finally, the increasing desensitized nature of society, I alluded to in my previous comment regarding the wild west theme is that under Ground E where it is deemed that if the child was born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped, there has been a rise in such abortions from 3,083 in 2020 to 3,083 in 2021. Furthermore, for selective termination at 12 weeks, where an embryo (s) are removed from the womb, there was an increase from 65 in 2020 to 88 in 2021. Of these 80% were under Ground E. The societal drive for the ‘ideal’ child is only going to further increase in our appearance driven society, the path made easier by. legalizing abortion up to full term.
CORRECTION: Under Ground E regarding physical/ mental disabilities as to be seriously handicapped, the rise in abortions rose from 3,083 in 2020 to 3,370 in 2021.