It's been a right old week for women who'd prefer to have control over their own bodies, hasn't it...
First, we have a Scottish Cardinal comparing abortion to 'two Dunblane massacres a day', which aside from being the most offensive thing I think I've ever heard coming from a 'man of the cloth', is just plain idiocy. Even a Sun reader could work out the flaw in the logic there, as indeed one of them did with the very fair point that on those grounds, 'every time a bloke has a w*nk he is "murdering" millions of little children'.
And as if that wasn't enough, once again the powers that be want to put more obstacles in the way of women in the unenviable position of seeking to end a pregnancy. A new bill, proposed by Conservative MP Ann Winterton, was rejected in Parliament yesterday, but that didn't stop 107 MPs agreeing with it: The bill would have imposed an obligatory 'cooling off period' of seven days to ensure a woman had made the right decision, as well as compulsory counselling sessions - the one part of the bill I would agree with, if only so that women don't feel they're making a fuss for asking as is the case at present. But a 'cooling off period'? It's for their 'own good', apparently, since *shock horror* abortions have been 'linked to depression'...
Let's go mad and just assume for a minute that this 'depression link' doesn't necessarily mean these women are depressed at having 'made a terrible mistake', as the assumption always seems to be. What about the possibility that an unplanned pregnancy and the additional anguish of having to terminate it may in itself be a fairly major source of stress. What about having to spend every day vomiting and -- in many cases -- racked with guilt while knowing that nothing good can come of it and that however much you might want a child you can't provide for it?
What about the already upsetting circus of appointments, scans, cost (or otherwise the already lengthy waiting time of the NHS) and the increasingly draconian element in the medical profession where 'religion' is often used as an excuse to prolong the ordeal of unintentionally pregnant women? Just a few of the many reasons why seeking to put obstacles in the way of these women is -- if anything -- entirely unnecessary.
The procedure itself, while traumatic, really is the lesser evil in this whole scenario, and making it harder to get to that final point of some relief is entirely unethical. If you want to throw pro-life arguments at me, go ahead; you've got your view and I've got mine. But don't try and tell me it's 'for my own good'.
