How many people having made the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy that endangers their life, or that will result in a profoundly disabled life have had to face unthinking, unknowing spite and bile?
Relatively few, since the majority of such abortions aren't carried out in abortion clinics but NHS hospitals.
I realise that, according to 2013 figures, the NHS funded 98% of all abortions carried out in England & Wales, (don't know the figures for Scotland), and that some 65% of those where carried out in independent clinics under NHS contracts.
So although people attend hospital to have their situation diagnosed and discussed, 65% of them attend clinics for the procedure. There is no difference in the procedure based on the reason people go - occasionally the diagnosis makes a difference. Hospital abortions are typically only where surgical intervention is required or expected, where complications are likely (because of underlying medical conditions) or for late-term terminations.
There is no way to determine what reason people attending a clinic are attending for. You have no idea of their condition, or their attitude, or their reasoning. I don't doubt there are people who treat abortion like a form of contraception, who trivialise the process, and I disagree with that mentality, but in the absence of any way to identify them from rape victims (for instance) I say that to harass vulnerable (or, at the very least, potentially vulnerable people) is wrong.
I'm personally in favour of lowering the limit on how late voluntary abortions can be granted, but I appreciate that it's a difficult discussion - it's a discussion, though, to be held soberly, reflectively, between medical professionals and the parliamentary authorities with an eye to reviewing the law.
It is not for a mob to try to enforce their opinion by harassing women in a vulnerable place. Are some people coerced into attending clinics - it's likely there are a few, yes. Is that number greater than the number that are coerced out of attending by the harassment when having an abortion actually is in their best interests? Is it a greater number than the number of pregnant rape victims that are put off attending because they don't want to have to run that gauntlet? Is it greater than the number of people who have an already difficult time made harder by people ignorant of their condition presuming they know better?
I don't know the figures, but I suspect the answer to at least one of those questions is no.
There is a place for this debate, and it's not in the face of people facing already difficult circumstances.
But nor do those with medical conditions that could be exacerbated by pregnancy, or in the case of damage to the foetus, generally take themselves off to a clinic without meeting and discussing with their GP, who will tend to refer them to their local hospital.
No, they will tend to refer them to whichever situation suits their circumstances. Early term abortion with no other complications is better treated outside of the formality of a hospital. Some clinics are situated within hospitals, some aren't, to presume that someone attending a clinic is therefore 'fair game' is to a) fail to understand the medical system and b) still a presumption which you shouldn't be making about someone else's medical condition.
Maybe a rape victim hasn't seen their doctor, doesn't want to go through the official rigmarole, just wants to get it over and done with - you are positing adding to their harassment. I know that's not a common circumstance, but I suggest that it's probably no more unlikely than your frogmarched victim rescued from their psychologically-controlling partner/family by the complete stranger harassing them at the door.
O.
