Abortion Vote in House of Commons Tomorrow Night
Westminster MPs will vote tomorrow night on an amendment to lower the number of weeks at which a baby can be aborted from twenty-four to twenty-two, twenty or even sixteen weeks. It's the first potential change to abortion law in eighteen years.
The debate involves two important questions.
Firstly, is a baby viable at twenty-four weeks? That is, can a baby survive (even with massive assistance) being removed from the womb at this stage? If a baby is viable, it's argued that an abortion should not be permitted.
Secondly, is a woman's right to choose being denied by lowering the number of weeks?
The Public Health Minister, Dawn Primarolo has accused those backing the change of campaigning for a stricter law on abortion because they have a hidden agenda which aims ultimately to prevent all terminations. For a few MPs, this may well be true. But not for all. They will be looking at the evidence for viability and weighing this carefully.
Many MP's in favour of such an amendment are not against a woman's right to choose. They will simply argue that she should choose sooner.
It might be helpful to consider where the European Union nations stand on this issue:
Illegal
Ireland
Malta
10 weeks
France
Portugal
Slovenia*
12 weeks
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Czech Republic*
Denmark*
Estonia*
Finland
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Luxembourg
Poland
Slovakia
Spain
14 weeks
Romania
18 weeks
Sweden
24 weeks or above
Cyprus
Great Britain
Latvia
Lithuania
Netherlands
*social abortions can be allowed later if authorised by a special committee.
If even a socially liberal nation like Sweden can have a lower number of weeks, maybe we ought to consider a change?



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