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Wednesday Jun 04, 2008

Abortions

The topic of abortion has been widely reported recently because of the push to cut the abortion limit from 24 weeks to 12, 16, 20 or 22 weeks. However, this has now been rejected by MPs; for the time being anyway. Many people think that 24 weeks is too late to abort a baby, especially when a small proportion of babies survive when born earlier than the 24 week limit. At the same time, babies born at 23 weeks or earlier are apparently no more likely to survive than they were a decade ago. It’s not surprising that you may think it’s immoral to abort a foetus when it has the chance of surviving, but after interviewing a couple of family planning advisors, I realised there was far more to it than that.

According to the FPA, many young women find themselves in denial when they realise they are pregnant or are having some sort of a personal crisis. This often means that by the time they get to the doctors to discuss abortion and are put on the waiting list, often it’s too late to have an abortion - especially if their only option is with the NHS and they can’t afford to go private. Then there’s the selection of women who don’t know they are pregnant until it’s too late. It’s for these reasons that MPs decided to stick with 24 weeks.  

But at the same time, if it happened to me, what would I do? I guess that at 28 years old I am regarded as old enough to be a parent, but for many women including myself, it may still not be the right time; you may not have the money, the support of your family or partner, or the wish to put your career on hold.

Whatever choice you make, if it happens to you, finding out what actually happens during an abortion is kept relatively hush-hush and that’s why we’ve expanded our content to include information about the actual procedure and about the recovery afterwards so you know what to expect. Ultimately, the choice is yours, but by knowing what to expect hopefully that will help you make the decision that is right for you. 

Posted by Julia ( 9:33 AM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[0]