Reproductive Rights Blog

Abortion for Minors in the UK

It looks like minors in England can have abortions without parental consent according to new guidelines. In 1986 the House of Lords ruled that children have the right to confidential advice on contraception, which, it appears, also extends to abortion rights. In the UK the age of medical consent is 16, but those under 16 can get contracedptives and advice without parental consent if the treatment is necessary or if the patient demonstrates maturity such that she is able to consent.
The Guardian has a whole series of articles on this row.

Fetal Anomalies & Abortion

Today the NYT runs and op-ed piece about women who exercise their right to choose, and are somehow not pro-choice. The example used in the piece is the increasing number of women choosing to terminate their pregnancies due to fetal anomalies.

They, as do many women I see, think they are an exception.
"How is everyone here so calm? I can't be that calm. I'm not like them, I CARE about this".
"I didn't believe in this, but now that I don't want this baby it's different" and
"I don't like that I'm doing this; why can't it be illegal - then I wouldn't have a choice to make?"

These women frustrate me to no end. They are exercising their choice, and in the same breath denying other women that right. The empathy I show them is absorbed, and not reflected one iota on the other women in their same situation.

As usual, everyone thinks they're the exceptions. Over one million exceptions a year. Because you're just THAT special.

The article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/opinion/22ehre.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1090505871-6JljAkVYZLVkriZLzIhnsg

Brittel v. US

Maureen Britell, the wife of a military officer, was expecting her second child. During a routine ultrasound her doctor discovered that the baby had a rare medical condition called anencephaly, which means the baby didn't have a brain. While it is possible to carry most of these babies to term (in order to have them baptized or other personal reasons) unless they don't have skulls, the majority of women seem to want to terminate the pregnancy for their own emotional and physical reasons.

These children will never achieve consciousness, yet, under many laws women are forced to pay for their own abortions, and hospitals are refusing to perform abortions on women who are carrying fetuses with deformities.

(I'm using a Mac, and I can't link, so look here for an article on how anti-abortion laws are forcing women to go to abortion clinics for fetal deformity abortions: http://www.obgyn.net/newsheadlines/womens_health-Abortion-20040520-0.asp)

Now, while the Catholic Church says that anencephalic fetuses are still humans (http://members.rogers.com/mlmhopeinturmoil/), they have reptilian brains, and there are arguments that since they will never reach consciousness their organs should be available for donation upon birth (http://www3.azwestern.edu/psy/dgershaw/lol/DonorBabies.html). Most bioethicists seem to disagree.

Regardless, Mrs. Britell chose to terminate her pregnancy at an abortion clinic, and the procedure cost $4,000. Champus would not pay for it, since they only pay for abortions when the mother's life is in danger. Appeals and more appeals, and the First Circuit decided (http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:8JRWL4JV0Y0J:pacer.mad.uscourts.gov/dc/opinions/gertner/pdf/britellsj.pdf+brittel+v.+United+States&hl=en) that the government had an overriding interest in human life, and was able to refuse to pay for the abortions.

Two years ago a different Federal Court ruled differently; in this case the woman was a Navy dependant, and was otherwise in a similar situation. A press release can be seen here: http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=6801.

Sorry about my inability to link. Must be some sort of incompatibility between Macs and Typepad..

RU-486 Death

A few months ago a young woman took RU-486. Seven days and two trips to the hospital later, she died. She probably didn't take the FDA-approved regimen, which is normal, since the other way to administer the drug is more private and comfortable. The doses are different, but the efficacy is just as good. Anyway, now, since we have this totally anti-choice administration, including Hager getting reappointed, RU-486 might be a thing of the past in America. After a 1/200,000 complication rate.