The advice, which would be given to women considering terminations, has caused anger, with anti-abortion campaigners accusing doctors’ leaders of forcing an “absurdly liberal agenda” on women in a vulnerable situation.
The draft guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is for all doctors, nurses and counsellors advising women contemplating terminations.
Its first recommendation on “what women need to know” instructs health professionals: “Women should be advised that abortion is generally safer than continuing a pregnancy to term.”
The guidance also says that women who are deciding whether to have an abortion must be told that most do not suffer any psychological harm. Until now, their advice has been that while rates of psychiatric illness and self-harm in women are higher among those who had an abortion, there was no evidence that termination itself was likely to trigger psychological problems.
Abortion is Safer Than Having a Baby, Doctors Say
Mar 10, ’11
10:11 AM
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8 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.This is true. And beside the point.
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beside what point?
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Well, presumably, if you want to have kids, you’ll take the risk of pregnancy for granted.
It’s not like anyone is now going to have an abortion because they find out that the risks are slightly higher.
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No, but they might not have an abortion, if they were going to, because they’d been misled about the huge, scary, dangers of having an abortion and no information on the dangers of staying pregnant and having a baby. I think most people who want to have a baby do also seem to underestimate or be unaware of the risks and costs, at least somewhat in denial, some of the time. They’re cute and don’t take up much space, let’s have a baby!
I think it is really overwhelming to have a child, even in average-good circumstances that people have to trick themselves into thinking it’s a great idea, everyone makes it look so easy, freak out a little, write blogs full of things nobody ever told them – things that, if anyone knew ahead of time, would never go through with it, and generally manage adequately, if they can and want to. I certainly don’t go through my life thinking it’s a great medical risk to be pregnant and have a baby, except for in arguments discussing abortion. I hear far more often and loudly that abortions will mess you up, you could bleed to death, you will suffer and long for your child, it could make you infertile, depressed, and regretful of the decision the rest of your life. I’m not sure how much anyone in general is aware of any comparable and also realistic health risks of pregnancy before it happens to them and they get to a doctor.
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Anyone who has ever heard of a “torn frenulum” knows this.
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I lost a baby just before completing six months of pregnancy. Physically, I felt fine almost immediately. Carrying my other three to term, it took longer with each birth to feel good again.
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i think you missed the point then circe:
RCOG’s guidance states that for women CONSIDERING abortion, they are made aware that an abortion is statiscally less risky than giving birth.
how is this even an issue? It’s a scientific fact.
It’s like pointing out that flying is significantly safer than driving, to someone about to book a flight. Then the pro-car lobby come in and claim that this is pushing an ‘anti-car agenda’
Total fucking nonsense. these people are experts in their fields and people are trying to overrule them with nothing other than their self-imposed and certified religios position.
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The anti-choicers are often over-stating, exaggerating, or just plain inventing the health-related outcomes of abortion without at all accounting for the greater danger of going through with a pregnancy. For someone who is choosing, if they are listening to the wrong people, may not be aware there are any risks (except rarely) to continuing a pregnancy and having a baby, while being told and scared out of abortions. They don’t care what they tell you as long as you don’t do it. A woman could get scared of the risks of having an abortion with no notion of the risks of continuing her pregnancy and having a child. That’s called a lie of omission.
So yeah. “Absurdly liberal agenda.”
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