>The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) issued new guidance to medical professionals in January, urging them not to report women to police if they suspected they may have illegally ended their pregnancies.
>RCOG said it was concerned that “traumatised” women were being prosecuted after abortions.
>But abortion providers MSI and BPAS say this does not go far enough, because women can still be subject to criminal investigation if they are reported by someone else.
Quite incredible that a professional body advises it’s members to not report suspected illegal activity to the police.
I can see where this is going and the BBC are facilitating it: a further easing of abortion restrictions off the back of four convictions in 20 years. I wouldn’t be surprised if Parliament allows for abortions including after the time that the feotus is viable like in several U.S states.
This was an inevitable outcome of continuing the pills by post scheme. Giving members of the public free access to abortifacient pills without any medical supervision was always going to lead to a) mistakes being made and b) a very small minority of people abusing the system to illegally procure abortions. The article talks about Katie who took the pills thinking she was under the 10 week limit but was actually over 24 weeks. This could have endangered her life and I think it’s 13% of people who take abortifacient pills beyond something like 20 weeks require emergency medical intervention. Now I’m against abortion which I know is pretty unpopular but if you’re going to have it you need in-person consultations with trained medical professionals. It’s the safest thing for pregnant people and stops the kind of distressing but necessary investigations talked about in this article. A functioning healthcare system would be able to provide this and we should strive for better healthcare provision from the NHS, not taking shortcuts in care.
I am wildly pro abortion, but we have legal limits on it which are law. You can debate whether those limits are in the right place, but I doubt anyone would seriously suggest that there should be *no* limits.
If you want to change the limits, you have to campaign, win public support and change the law. Not just unilaterally decriminalise it via guidance like this.
In the article the woman says she thought she was 7 weeks pregnant but was actually over 24 weeks? If there are going to be laws around term limits then surely this would need confirming? Not exactly sure how that timeline was SO out either. I have many questions. I get not gaining weight to a degree but… I dont fully get this.
Better birth control education and options may be helpful in preventing these kinds of difficult situations. I’m pro-choice but after 24 weeks is a tough one and I understand why the law exists as it is. Babies born after 24 weeks usually live, so morally it’s very questionable.
> Katie was taken to hospital, where staff called the police. She was arrested on suspicion of self-inducing an abortion illegally and held in police custody before she was released on bail.
Imagine going through something obviously traumatic and being held by police over it? I don’t doubt her at all, people go through the entirety of pregnancy having no idea until the water breaks.
If full legalisation can’t happen, we should at least keep what we have but decriminalize anything outside of it where instead of triggering a police visit it should trigger welfare checks and the start of help if needed for these women who obviously only do these things through mistake or out of desperation. It’s not at all in the interest of the public to lock them up.
Now, if someone was consistently getting pregnant and inducing abortions after the pregnancy would have been viable, multiple times, then sure – something is going on there that needs looking into. But I don’t think anyone has ever done that. But otherwise it’s an incredibly rare thing and doesn’t happen without good reason or unfortunate circumstances (like the woman above).
The law needs to be changed. And additionally protected from the MPs who try to bring in private members bills restricting it further based on personal religious belief.
I think we should increase the timeframe for an abortion to about 18. That’s enough time to really realise how viable the child is
6 comments
>The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) issued new guidance to medical professionals in January, urging them not to report women to police if they suspected they may have illegally ended their pregnancies.
>RCOG said it was concerned that “traumatised” women were being prosecuted after abortions.
>But abortion providers MSI and BPAS say this does not go far enough, because women can still be subject to criminal investigation if they are reported by someone else.
Quite incredible that a professional body advises it’s members to not report suspected illegal activity to the police.
I can see where this is going and the BBC are facilitating it: a further easing of abortion restrictions off the back of four convictions in 20 years. I wouldn’t be surprised if Parliament allows for abortions including after the time that the feotus is viable like in several U.S states.
This was an inevitable outcome of continuing the pills by post scheme. Giving members of the public free access to abortifacient pills without any medical supervision was always going to lead to a) mistakes being made and b) a very small minority of people abusing the system to illegally procure abortions. The article talks about Katie who took the pills thinking she was under the 10 week limit but was actually over 24 weeks. This could have endangered her life and I think it’s 13% of people who take abortifacient pills beyond something like 20 weeks require emergency medical intervention. Now I’m against abortion which I know is pretty unpopular but if you’re going to have it you need in-person consultations with trained medical professionals. It’s the safest thing for pregnant people and stops the kind of distressing but necessary investigations talked about in this article. A functioning healthcare system would be able to provide this and we should strive for better healthcare provision from the NHS, not taking shortcuts in care.
I am wildly pro abortion, but we have legal limits on it which are law. You can debate whether those limits are in the right place, but I doubt anyone would seriously suggest that there should be *no* limits.
If you want to change the limits, you have to campaign, win public support and change the law. Not just unilaterally decriminalise it via guidance like this.
In the article the woman says she thought she was 7 weeks pregnant but was actually over 24 weeks? If there are going to be laws around term limits then surely this would need confirming? Not exactly sure how that timeline was SO out either. I have many questions. I get not gaining weight to a degree but… I dont fully get this.
Better birth control education and options may be helpful in preventing these kinds of difficult situations. I’m pro-choice but after 24 weeks is a tough one and I understand why the law exists as it is. Babies born after 24 weeks usually live, so morally it’s very questionable.
> Katie was taken to hospital, where staff called the police. She was arrested on suspicion of self-inducing an abortion illegally and held in police custody before she was released on bail.
Imagine going through something obviously traumatic and being held by police over it? I don’t doubt her at all, people go through the entirety of pregnancy having no idea until the water breaks.
If full legalisation can’t happen, we should at least keep what we have but decriminalize anything outside of it where instead of triggering a police visit it should trigger welfare checks and the start of help if needed for these women who obviously only do these things through mistake or out of desperation. It’s not at all in the interest of the public to lock them up.
Now, if someone was consistently getting pregnant and inducing abortions after the pregnancy would have been viable, multiple times, then sure – something is going on there that needs looking into. But I don’t think anyone has ever done that. But otherwise it’s an incredibly rare thing and doesn’t happen without good reason or unfortunate circumstances (like the woman above).
The law needs to be changed. And additionally protected from the MPs who try to bring in private members bills restricting it further based on personal religious belief.
I think we should increase the timeframe for an abortion to about 18. That’s enough time to really realise how viable the child is