Happy 41st Anniversary!

Today we celebrate 41 years of legal abortion in the UK. I had a good long think about whether the use of “celebrate” is appropriate in that sentence and I stand by it. That doesn’t mean I celebrate abortions; the decision to terminate a pregnancy is a sad and difficult one. However, if the anniversary of the end of the era of botched backstreet abortions and women bleeding to death after a misadventure with a knitting needle or drinking bottles of gin and throwing themselves down the stairs to end their pregnancies, then celebrate is the right word.

It is interesting, then, that these rights are being threatened by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill. Members of Parliament have a free vote on this, as it is (quite rightly) regarded as a matter of conscience, separate from political agenda. One of the items up for the vote is whether to reduce the legal limit for abortion from the current 24 week limit. I really don’t think this is necessary, and just gives credence to those folks who are anti-choice (we are all pro-life by virtue of the fact we keep breathing, so that is a meaningless term IMO).

From the Abortion Rights website:

Less than 2% of abortions take place after 20 weeks. They are needed by women facing difficult, unforseeable and always individual circumstances, most commonly women using contraception or nearing the menopause whose pregnancy was diagnosed late, or women with a previously wanted pregnancy who face life crises such as domestic violence.

I can’t imagine that anyone would request a late abortion unless they had a desperate need for it, as you have to be induced and go through labour to give birth to a stillborn half-developed baby, which must be horrendous. Surely women in that situation need compassion, not judgement? After all, it’s the easiest thing in the world to say “I would never…” but until you are in that situation you will never really know.