Ignoble lies in public debates

The pro-abortion beast is raising its ugly head again. As we live in benighted times, it is making hay while the... full moon shines.

The PN is still in the labour ward giving birth to its new self under a new leadership, and Labour has now become a neoliberal werewolf, not even pretending to be dressed up in social-democratic sheep’s clothing.

I say “benighted” mostly because whereas we believe we live in the light of knowledge, in reality we still stumble around in the darkness of myths.

One such myth is that abortion has been depenalised in England when in fact, abortion is still a crime there. In 1967, when David Steel of the Liberal Democrats presented his private member’s bill on abortion, the procedure was not depenalised. The law simply made exceptions to the rule, citing medical criteria. In other words, if two doctors agree in good faith that a pregnancy should be terminated – within certain restrictions – then if a doctor performs the procedure, there is no criminal liability. All other abortions are penalised.

The sad truth is that those exceptions are being rampantly abused.

In 2007, The Guardian reported David Steel saying that “abortion is being used as a form of contraception in Britain”, [admitting] he never anticipated “anything like” the current number of terminations when leading the campaign for re- form. The Liberal Democrat peer [said] an “irresponsible” mood has emerged in which women feel they can turn to abortion ‘if things go wrong’. “Everybody can agree that there are too many abortions” ...’

Earlier this year, The Telegraph reported that new tests could lead to sex-selective abortions, meaning you can choose to terminate the pregnancy if the baby is not of the desired sex. “Forcing pregnant women who do not want a child of one sex or the other to give birth could harm both the baby and the mother’s mental health, a leading doctors’ union member has said.” In a Jungian or even Dostoyevsky-like twist to the story, the doctor in question is called Wendy Savage.

So the truth (as opposed to myth) is this: (i) abortion is still penalised in England; (ii) liberalising abortion does not do away with the back-street variant, it simply brings a shift in mentality to accept abortion as contraception; and (iii) backstreet abortions continue for those who want something more, which means that once you push the door slightly ajar you have to keep opening it wider and wider.

While on the subject of myths, but on a different topic this time, another myth was flagged to me by a friend.