IT'S one of the most difficult decisions a woman will ever have to make. But every year, thousands of pregnancies are terminated in Scotland – and the figures are growing steadily.
Now, 40 years after the Abortion Act became law, campaigners on b
oth sides of the debate say it is time for a change.
Conservative MP and former nurse Nadine Dorries has labelled the current laws "barbaric" compared to other European countries. More than 200 MPs are supporting her amendment to lower the upper limit from 24 to 20 weeks. They say there is growing evidence that babies as young as 20 weeks can feel pain and survive outside the womb.
But others, including the British Medical Association, say that there is no need to reduce the limit, which is only used in a tiny minority of cases. They are calling for medical abortion – where pills are taken as opposed to surgical ones – to be more freely available in early pregnancy.
Women currently need the agreement of two doctors. They can only have a termination after 24 weeks if the baby would be severely disabled, or the mother's life is in danger. This is much higher than the 12-week limit in other western European countries, including France, Italy and Germany.
Mrs Dorries has tabled an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
She said: "The abortion process, post-20 weeks, is frankly not the mark of a decent society because as a process itself it is frankly barbaric. The mother has rights, has the right to choose, but there does come a point where the baby has rights too. For us, those rights come when if that baby was allowed to be born it would stand a chance to live, and if, as part of that abortion procedure, that foetus or that baby suffers pain which we also know is factual now."
She labelled Britain the "abortion capital of Europe" with the highest rate in Western Europe.
The number of abortions in Scotland has increased almost every year since 1967, and the most recent figures show 13,081 were carried out in 2006, or 12.7 per 1000 women of childbearing age. Much higher than the rates – 7.2 and 9.6 per 1000 respectively – in Germany and Spain for instance. The situation is even worse in the Lothians, where the rate is 13.9 per 1000 women. This is the joint second highest rate in Scotland, equal to Glasgow and second only to Tayside.
Michaela Aston, of the pro-life charity LIFE, said the current laws were failing women and their unborn children.
She said: "We don't think reducing the limit goes far enough. But when you have the message that you can abort a baby up to 24 weeks, then it devalues the human. A lot of babies who are being aborted could have survived.
"We've effectively got abortion on demand now, but women are not making an informed choice. There is growing evidence of the physical and mental scars that are left by abortions. There's not enough support for women who want to keep their babies."
NHS Lothian has come under fire in the past for its liberal approach, which has included handing out the morning-after pill in schools. But it says it has had some success in limiting the abortion rate, at a time when the rate in the rest of Scotland is rising. It is promoting long-acting methods of contraception, in a bid to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.
The Scottish Government has also committed £15 million to its National Sexual Health Strategy, to provide access to contraception, counselling and safer, early abortion. The Family Planning Association says that increased access to contraception is the key to cutting the abortion rate. It says termination is never the easy option, but women must be able to make their own choice.
FPA spokeswoman Rebecca Findlay, said: "Nearly 90 per cent of abortions are carried out within 13 weeks. Only a very small percentage happen between 20 and 24 weeks. These women are usually in the most desperate circumstances."
The BMA supports the FPA's call. Research findings in today's British Medical Journal says few babies born before 24 weeks are likely to survive.
Dr Tony Calland, chairman of the BMA's medical ethics committee, said: "There is no scientific justification for lowering the 24-week abortion limit. The results of this study are very important as this is the most up-to-date research in the UK investigating the survival of very premature babies."
There will always be a divide between those who are morally opposed to abortion, and those who accept it can be the best option in some circumstances. Any amendment to the law will therefore be a difficult balancing act.
The full article contains 848 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
