ABORTION

Abortion is an emotive and therefore a controversial subject. By removing the embryo (which is the name given to the fertilised egg in the first eight weeks of a baby’s life) or the foetus (which is what it is called thereafter), a potential life is lost.

However, Nature also makes use of abortion. In some unknown way, a pregnant woman’s body ‘inspects’ an embryo and if it is defective it is likely to be rejected without the woman even necessarily knowing she has conceived. It is thought that a half to three-quarters of all fertilised eggs are lost like this. Later, when the pregnancy is recognisable and established, a further 10 to 15 per cent of pregnancies fail, mostly between the second and third months. Many such foetuses are found to be visibly defective. Sometimes, the woman may be hormonally deficient or may have an abnormality such as fibroids. All such naturally occurring abortions are labelled ’spontaneous’ and the public calls them miscarriages. Not all imperfect babies are spontaneously aborted. Around 2. per cent of babies are born with congenital defects, but most of these are slight. Nature may be a little more ’strict’ in her scrutiny of female embryos, in that they are probably rejected earlier than male ones. This may account for the preponderance of male births of around 104 male to 100 female.

Abortions which are caused by human intervention are called induced abortions. They can be self-induced, criminally induced, or therapeutically induced (by doctors). One effect of the passage in Britain of the Abortion Act of 1967, which legalised therapeutic abortion, has been to eliminate almost entirely the first two categories.

The Abortion Act allows abortion provided that it is carried out in places approved for that purpose and is undertaken by a medically qualified person, and that two medical practitioners certify that the pregnant woman’s existing children or her own physical or mental health would be at a greater risk if the pregnancy continued than if it were terminated. If there is a substantial risk that the child would be born handicapped then abortion is also legally allowed. By and large the medical profession increasingly supports the Act because it means that women no longer have to become unwilling mothers or be abandoned to the dangers of illegal abortion. Understandably some obstetricians and gynaecologists are somewhat reluctant about the Act because it is they who have to carry out the operations when their training and orientation is towards helping women to have live, healthy babies safely.

In an ideal world no woman would become pregnant unless she wanted a baby for its own sake and was able to provide an emotional and physical environment in which it could prosper. But there is evidence that up to a quarter or so of all babies born are not wanted in this positive way although, we should add, they may not be completely un wanted.

Women who have abortions are sometimes represented as being unnatural or frivolous, but there is another way of looking at the subject. The age group which has most abortions is the late adolescent and young adult one. There is no evidence to suggest that these women are trying to avoid pregnancy altogether, only this pregnancy. Presumably, a strong motive for seeking an abortion is that they cannot provide properly for a child at the particular time and so want to defer pregnancy until they can. From this point of view having an abortion is a responsible act.

The younger generation, contrary to appearance perhaps, is the one which encounters the most problems arising from psychosexual conflicts and confusions. Many long-married women with families have abortions because they cannot face another baby for a whole range of reasons. Whether or not such women should be ‘allowed’ to use abortion as a form of birth control is a debatable subject, which we do not want to go into here, but some women only come to the decision after much heart-searching and agonising. Almost all women are disturbed by the event.

As a result of various difficulties, the National Health Service in the UK is able to undertake abortions in only half of all cases. The remainder have to make private arrangements, usually at a private hospital specialising in the operation. Such specialist organisations are usually very efficient because of the experience they acquire in doing the operation. There are also both National Health Service and private counselling services which help women decide whether or not to have an abortion and then help them, practically. If an abortion is the decision, then good counselling can reduce anxiety, guilt, misapprehension and the possibility of depression later. An experienced counsellor may also be able to detect unconscious motivations, a knowledge of which may prevent the woman starting another unwanted pregnancy. Pregnancy bureaux or advisory services exist and carry out immediate pregnancy tests. They provide counselling, advice and help in connection with abortion and have to be licensed with the Department of Health to ensure their competence.

Over the years the techniques used to carry out abortions have become more refined and safer. In ordinary, uncomplicated, early cases, an abortion is safer than having a baby, even though having a baby is itself now a very safe process.

*130\164\2*