Defend a woman's right to choose

The 27th
April marked the 40th anniversary of the coming into force of the
1967 Abortion Act that led to the saving of thousands of women’s lives. The Act
allowed women in England, Wales and Scotland access to safe abortion on the NHS
in a government approved hospital when 2 doctors agreed to the procedure within
the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. The 1967 Abortion Act does not cover Northern
Ireland. Abortion is only legal in Northern Ireland in exceptional
circumstances and current guidance is unclear and provision is at times
determined by the moral and religious views of the individual health care
professional. Consequently the vast majority of women cannot access abortion
services in Northern Ireland and have to travel to Britain where they have to
pay hundreds of pounds for private abortions. This impacts against a whole
section of the female working class and was a ‘trade off’ in 1967 to MPs in
Northern Ireland so the bill would pass through Parliament. This is totally
unacceptable and must be corrected in the present bills going through
parliament, which will cover the whole of the United Kingdom.

In recent
years the issue of late abortions has become the subject of intense media and
policy interest. Fuelled by the development of 4D ultrasound images of fetuses
‘smiling’ and ‘walking in the womb’ and the increasing emotive nature of the
argument against abortion, concerns have been raised about the ethics of
continuing to allow abortion up to 24 weeks. Although 89% of abortions take
place in the first 13 weeks, women continue to need access to abortion services
later in pregnancy. In some areas lack of sufficient NHS provision or lack of
timely access to service continue to create delays of 6 to 8 weeks, forcing
women to have a late abortion or raise the hundreds of pounds to pay
independent private sector fees, which could, in itself, cause further delays.

The
decision to have an abortion is one which women never take lightly,
particularly when the decision has to be made later in the pregnancy. Less that
2% of abortions take place after 20 weeks and women who face exceptional and
very difficult circumstances need them. These women need help and support not
moralising over by the medical profession and society.

The Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Bill currently in parliament is subject to amendments
to reduce the time limit from 24 to 20 weeks. Some religiously driven MPs are
trying to reduce this to 12 weeks and to impose a ‘cooling off’ period and
compulsory counselling. These measures will have appalling consequences for
women seeking abortion and assume women are not capable of making their own
decisions about something so important. It has been reported that there will be
another ‘trade off’ similar to that in 1967 to prevent the bill’s delay in passing
through parliament. The idea of a ‘trade off’, which would support lowering the
time limit, is totally unacceptable to anyone who supports the women’s right to
choose.

Opinion polls show 83% of people support the
right of women to choose. A woman is in the best position to weigh up all the
factors and make the decision about her own pregnancy. Decisions about abortion
are never taken lightly by anyone involved. Contrary to recent press coverage
there has been no scientific breakthroughs that give cause for a reduction of
the current time limit. During 2007 the House of Commons Science and Technology
Select Committee conducted an inquiry into the scientific developments related
to the Abortion Act 1967. After considering a wealth of evidence from a variety
of expert organisations, including the British Association of Perinatal
Medicine, the committee concluded that there had not been any significant
change in fetal viability which would require the current time limit to be
reduced. Yet religious bigots and mainly male MPs want to restrict a women’s
legal right to abortion leaving some women in desperate circumstances, either
to cope with an unwanted pregnancy or to potentially seek an unsafe back street
abortion. In 1967 parliament decided these alternatives were unacceptable and
they are still not acceptable in 2008. We must not turn the clock back by
criminalising women who find themselves in the position of needing an abortion.
We must join the lobby of parliament on the 7th May to protect the
right to choose and not allow religious bigotry to put women back to the unsafe
abortions of the pre 1967 Abortion Act where thousands of women put their
health and even their lives in danger.