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December 21, 2006
New UK abortion restrictions?
Tory MP Nadine Dorries is pushing a bill that would reduce the timeframe a woman is allowed to obtain an abortion from 24 weeks to 20 weeks and would call for a one-week “cooling off” period.
Lovely. The “cooling off” period would mean that a woman would have to wait a week after seeking an abortion before she can actually get one. You know, so she can get counseling and think about her decision. Because god knows, she hasn’t thought about it before.
Labour MP Chris McCafferty has called the cooling-off proposal "an attack on women's reproductive rights".…Ms McCafferty has said that forcing a woman to have counselling goes against the whole principle of counselling, while the 10-day delay [proposed in an earlier version of the bill] could prompt women to travel abroad for abortions "when they are in a vulnerable state" or resort to illegal abortions.
Not to mention, this whole “cooling off” period nonsense implies that women are basically children. That we’re incapable of making our own decisions without a “time out” from the government to really think things over. Disgusting.
Posted by Jessica at December 21, 2006 11:47 AM