Policymakers should butt out of late abortion and trust women to work out what’s in their best interests. At the Battle of Ideas festival in London at the end of October, Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, debated the issue of late abortion with Will Saletan, a writer for Slate magazine. A transcript of Furedi’s opening comments is published below. I think the reason we are having this debate is because there has been a strong argument put forward, particularly in the US, that support for later abortions is a problem. Apparently it is undermining public support for early abortions, and therefore it is becoming a burden and a barrier for the pro-choice movement. I think Will [Saletan] gave an indication of this in his final remarks, where he was kind of making the point that, well, abortion’s okay - just about - but if women are going to do it then they have a responsibility to make sure they do it earlier. I think this raises some important questions. Because where Will is absolutely right is that public opinion on late abortion is very shaky. It is something that all of us who are involved in abortion care and abortion advocacy find quite difficult, because people look at pictures of the developed fetus and they perceive it as something fundamentally different to a very early embryo. And it is different, in some ways. It looks different; it looks like a baby, and for that reason it can provoke a more visceral response in people than early abortion does. Early abortion is looked upon by many as being more like inducing a period a bit late. Also, there is a strong understanding in British public opinion that planning parenthood is a good thing and that sometimes contraception fails, and therefore women do need some access to abortion. But because abortion can be done early on, some believe there’s no excuse for women who, as Will indicated, are delaying because they’re having difficulty making up their mind. So I think we can all see that there is a problem when it comes to the debate about late abortion. What we have to ask ourselves is whether there needs to be any policy intervention or social intervention to change or regulate what is going on at the moment. And I don’t think there does. There is no evidence to suggest that we need to restrict later abortions in any way, by enforcing legal time limits. And I certainly don’t see any reason to think that doctors are abusing the current situation, or indeed that women are abusing the current situation. But what are your views on this!
Abortion: how late is ‘too late’!
by Grumblers Call
Mar 31, 2012
Policymakers should butt out of late abortion and trust women to work out what’s in their best interests.
At the Battle of Ideas festival in London at the end of October, Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, debated the issue of late abortion with Will Saletan, a writer for Slate magazine. A transcript of Furedi’s opening comments is published below.
I think the reason we are having this debate is because there has been a strong argument put forward, particularly in the US, that support for later abortions is a problem. Apparently it is undermining public support for early abortions, and therefore it is becoming a burden and a barrier for the pro-choice movement. I think Will [Saletan] gave an indication of this in his final remarks, where he was kind of making the point that, well, abortion’s okay - just about - but if women are going to do it then they have a responsibility to make sure they do it earlier.
I think this raises some important questions. Because where Will is absolutely right is that public opinion on late abortion is very shaky. It is something that all of us who are involved in abortion care and abortion advocacy find quite difficult, because people look at pictures of the developed fetus and they perceive it as something fundamentally different to a very early embryo. And it is different, in some ways. It looks different; it looks like a baby, and for that reason it can provoke a more visceral response in people than early abortion does. Early abortion is looked upon by many as being more like inducing a period a bit late.
Also, there is a strong understanding in British public opinion that planning parenthood is a good thing and that sometimes contraception fails, and therefore women do need some access to abortion. But because abortion can be done early on, some believe there’s no excuse for women who, as Will indicated, are delaying because they’re having difficulty making up their mind. So I think we can all see that there is a problem when it comes to the debate about late abortion.
What we have to ask ourselves is whether there needs to be any policy intervention or social intervention to change or regulate what is going on at the moment. And I don’t think there does. There is no evidence to suggest that we need to restrict later abortions in any way, by enforcing legal time limits. And I certainly don’t see any reason to think that doctors are abusing the current situation, or indeed that women are abusing the current situation.
But what are your views on this!