Late abortions

In a new report Marie Stopes has said that women who undergo a late abortion do not take the decision lightly.

 

Marie Stopes International studied 100 women's reasons for having terminations between weeks 19 and 22 of pregnancy.

 

There have been calls to cut the legal limit from 24 weeks, but Marie Stopes said this would increase the hardship and distress for women.

 

 

Stakeholder Response: Marie Stopes

 

 

Sarah Roebotham, research co-ordinator at Marie Stopes International, told ePolitix.com: "The main findings of our report were that women who present late for abortion generally are not aware of the pregnancy until well into the second trimester.

 

"There is a variety of reasons for this. Some women did not get the signs or symptoms of pregnancy and others who did put it down to perhaps weight gain or missed periods.

 

"We basically found that in many cases, presenting late for abortion was largely unavoidable. This means that lowering the legal limit is not the way forward. We do not believe that lowering the limit will lower the overall proportion of women having later abortions.

 

"We believe that women should continue to have access up to 24 weeks.

 

"We need to start thinking of other ways to address this problem. Lowering the limit is not the way forward. We need to be thinking about educating women about contraception and the side effects of contraception. Women also need to be taught about the variability of symptoms between pregnancies and addressing the delays in the referral process."

 

 

Stakeholder Response: Prolife Alliance

 

 

Julia Millington, political director of the Prolife Alliance, said: "The Marie Stopes study is totally predictable. Very little is revealed about their methodology, and one is naturally cautious about the neutrality of research undertaken on their own clients. 

 

"Who conducted the research? Were the women selected randomly or self-selected? And why were the actual statistics not revealed? Is MSI reluctant to publish numbers? 

 

"In effect nothing new is revealed other than the fact that women go to their organisation for late abortion, and that the reasons for requesting these abortions seem to have little to do with the conditions as laid down.  We knew most of this already.

 

"The abortion debate has been presented over the years as an attempt to balance the rights of the mother with the rights of the child.When death is the outcome, as it is always for the aborted baby, we can never accept that this will ever be, or can be, a fair balancing act.

 

"Our opposition to abortion is absolute, a position not yet shared by the majority of the public.  Whenit comes to late abortion, however, we are convinced that the public is firmly on our side. 

 

"The aborted babies, subject of the Marie Stopes research study, are between 19-24 week's gestation, and nobody of honest mind could ever deny their humanity or their right to life. 

 

"Some 2,500 to 3,000 are aborted every year, many capable of surviving on their own. The public at large is understandably not happy with this.

 

"The ultrasound pictures of Professor Campbell, showing the wonder of life in the womb, awoke the heart of the nation to this reality, and we believe that the majority of people in the UK will welcome abortion reform.

 

"In one quote in the Marie Stopes report we read that a woman aborted her baby because she was beaten by her partner with a baseball bat.  Surely it was the partner who was the wrongdoer, not her innocent child? Nothing has been resolved by such an abortion.

 

"Society must address the difficulties that pregnant women face - violent relationships, inadequate economic support, discrimination in the work force – but the courageous and fair response to these social injustices is not the killing of  the innocent unborn child.  Any attempts by Marie Stopes to justify late abortion should be rejected by right thinking people, men and women alike."

 

 

Stakeholder Response: BPAS (Abortion Care)

 

 

Ann Furedi, chief executive, said: "The 24 week limit on abortion should remain as it is because women will always need access to this service. Late abortion is extremely difficult for women and they choose it reluctantly.

 

"Women are not being irresponsible, some women don’t even know they are pregnant or have just found out there is an abnormality. 

 

"Now they face an extremely difficult decision - what they need is support and information not judgement."