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Email: information@spuc.org.uk
A woman's right to choose?
We all have the freedom to make decisions about our lives, but with freedom comes responsibility. Every society restricts choices that harm others. A drunk person does not have the right to drive a car. The right of other road-users to safety is considered more important than a person's right to drive home after a few drinks. Similarly, the choice to commit child abuse is always wrong.
Every woman has the right to
make decisions about her own body, but mother and baby are always two separate
people, with different genetic codes, nervous systems, fingerprints and even
bloodstreams. The baby is still dependent on the mother long after being born
but no one claims that the baby is part of the mother's body for that reason.
Portraying abortion as a woman's right hides the fact
that women are often pressurised into abortion for financial, social or
personal reasons.
- A study in 1989 found that only 30% of abortion decisions are made by the pregnant women themselves. In 33% of cases, the woman's partner made the decision, doctors in 20% of cases, friends in 10% and parents in 7% of cases. (Franco et al. (1989) cited in Psychological Aspects of Abortion: an Update, Dr David Kingsley MB, ChB, MRCPsych, Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Liverpool. p. 7.)
- More pregnant women now suffer domestic violence than pregnancy complications: a study in March 2003 found that 17% of pregnant women had been the victims of domestic violence and 3.4% had been violently attacked during their current pregnancy. (Reuters, 6 March 2003)
- When society loses its respect for the unborn, it follows that it also loses its respect for pregnant women. Women also bear the brunt of the abortion aftermath. 80% of relationships break up after an abortion. (Ney, (2000) Dr David Kingsley, op. cit.)
