I had an abortion at 24 weeks, it would be illegal under cruel new laws

MORE than 700 doctors are calling for the term for terminating their contracts to be shortened from 24 to 22 weeks.

The proposed change will be debated in parliament in the coming weeks and has cross-party support.

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Today, a writer and an MP Alex Lloyd give their views for and against the controversial move.

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HILARY, 52, from London, had a late-term abortion, leaving her wary of restricting access.

She says: I was just over 22 weeks pregnant, in 2012, when test results showed that the baby I was carrying had an extremely rare and serious chromosome abnormality.

I really wanted my daughter, but the doctors told me it was unlikely she would be born alive and that if she was, she would suffer for the rest of her short life.

Everyone agreed that it would be better for me to terminate my pregnancy.

That’s why I heard about the proposals to reduce abortion deadline at two weeks, to 22 weeks, I was shocked.

I don’t believe this is in the best interest of either babies or women.

The only people who do that advantages are the so-called pro-lifers, who really want to abolish abortion rights completely.

Pain and trauma

The rationale behind this proposal is that medical advances mean that more extremely premature babies are now surviving.

But British research published last year found that only 261 of 1,001 babies born alive at 22 and 23 weeks were able to leave hospital in 2020 and 2021.

The majority of these babies still die.

And being viable – surviving – means just that. It doesn’t mean you live a healthy or happy life.

Babies born after 22 weeks only survive because they are kept alive by machines, artificial nutrition and a team of specialized nurses and doctors.

They spend four months – or longer – in the hospital with 24-hour care.

A very high percentage of babies who survive and leave the hospital will suffer permanent disabilities – the sooner they are born, the more severe.

According to the charity Tommy’s, one in 10 premature babies will have a permanent disability such as lung disease, cerebral palsy, blindness or deafness. And one in two will have some kind of disability.

Lowering the abortion term will not lead to fewer abortions. Many experts think it will lead to more.

Women panicked

Women who, like me, only discover what is wrong with their baby late in pregnancy will be forced by the earlier legal deadline to make a choice about abortion before they have the full facts.

Women may panic when making decisions because they fear that doctors will not sign off on this decision once the 22 weeks have passed.

Jonathan Lord, medical director of MSI Reproductive Choices, has said that when expectant parents get bad news At the 18-20 week ultrasound they rightly want diagnostic tests and these can take some time.

I agree with him when he says, “Lowering the limit to when these tests are not ready will put pressure on this group to consider an abortion while they still can, rather than waiting for some reassurance that the test could provide.”

If I had known early on that my daughter Elodie’s condition was so serious and life-threatening, I would obviously have terminated my pregnancy sooner. It would have saved everyone so much pain and trauma.

But it took months of blood tests, invasive procedures and scans to reveal what was wrong with her. And I prayed to everyone that everything would be okay, that the doctors were wrong and that I would have a healthy baby.

Lowering the abortion term will not lead to fewer abortions. Many experts think it will lead to more

Ultimately, I opted for termination to spare her suffering. By the time it could be arranged, I was in my 24th week of pregnancy.

It was an experience I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy: first a procedure to stop my baby’s heart, then, two days later, an induction, followed by hours of labor and finally a stillbirth.

When I close my eyes, I can still see her face, just like my other daughter’s – and her little hands and feet. No woman would do this to herself without good reason.

That’s why there are so few late-term abortions in Britain. In 2021, 89 percent were under ten weeks, one percent after twenty weeks. After more than 24 weeks, the current limit, there were only 276 abortions.

A late termination is never a lifestyle choice; it is often a life-saving choice. Women who undergo late abortion do so because of a fetal abnormality, danger to their own lives or because they are extremely vulnerable.

They may have been raped and have serious psychological problems health have problems, are in an abusive relationship or have suddenly become homeless.

Not a lifestyle choice

Others only find out they are pregnant late.

It is sheer cruelty to stop these women from having an abortion, forcing them to carry a baby to term and give birth. What they need is compassion, not fear of persecution.

Changing the legal limit also means doctors will have no choice but to resuscitate all babies born after 22 weeks, even if they know they have no hope of survival and will suffer. If they do not do so, they also risk prosecution.

The abortion limit does not need to change. We shouldn’t focus on how early babies can become viable, but on women and our rights over our own bodies.

‘LAWS MUST BE ETHICAL FOR MODERN TIMES’

CAROLINE ANSELL, 53, MP for Eastbourne, has tabled an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to reduce the abortion period from 24 to 22 weeks.

She says: Two of my youngest constituents recently celebrated an important milestone.

Twins Rocco and Franco, from Eastbourne, turned two years old after being born extremely prematurely at 23 weeks and six days.

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Not so long ago, their early birth would have meant their chances of survival were slim.

But thanks to medical advances, the survival rate of babies born after 23 weeks doubled in the decade to 2019, from two in 10 to four in 10.

This led to new guidelines from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM), allowing doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks’ gestation, where previously they were advised against before 24 weeks.

According to research from Leicester University and Imperial College, in 2020 and 2021, 261 babies born alive at 22 and 23 weeks survived before being discharged from hospital.

The UK upper limit of 24 weeks for abortion is now above the gestational age at which many children survive, except in limited circumstances.

It’s also much later than many of us neighbors, with an average among EU countries of twelve weeks. Doctors who support the change tell me how hospitals can have one team of medics working to save a baby’s life, while a second team terminates another – and yet both have the same gestational age.

The NHS website states that the unborn baby is “fully formed” at 12 weeks, and by 22 weeks he gets into a pattern of sleeping and waking.

But in 2021, 755 abortions were carried out after 22 or 23 weeks under ground C of the seven permitted grounds for termination in the Abortion Act 1967.

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This poses a risk of personal injury or mental health of the pregnant woman, for which the limit of 24 weeks applies, together with ground D, which covers the risk to existing children.

All reasons without this time limit are for medical reasons and are not affected by the change.

The public does not support abortion under any circumstances. A ComRes survey shows that 60 percent want the period to be reduced to twenty weeks or less.

This amendment does not even go that far and would not apply to cases where the mother’s life is in danger or there is a fetal abnormality.

It is long overdue that we need to revise our laws to take progress into account.

It is not a pro-life versus pro-choice argument, but making laws and ethical decisions that are fit for the modern age.