Cultural as well as legislative change is needed if record breaking abortion numbers are ever to be reduced, Conservative peer Baroness Philippa Stroud has said.
Writing for First Things, Baroness Stroud noted that 2023, the latest year for which figures are available, saw a record 299,000 abortions in the UK. To put that in perspective, it would be the equivalent of the population of Nottingham being terminated in a year. It also means that a third of pregnancies in Britain end in an abortion.
Such staggering figures, she argues, are not only driven by the fact that there are no de facto restrictions on abortion up to 24 weeks in a pregnancy.
Citing evidence by Kara Kennedy in an article for the Free Press, Stroud noted that many women opt to have an abortion because of feelings of inadequacy or lack of readiness, rather than financial concerns or social pressure. In short, they often feel they are not capable of being a good mother.
“The alarming truth is that we have created a culture where women feel they do not wish to have, or would not cope with having, children … ," she said.
"What was once widely considered the most fulfilling—and natural—role a woman could enjoy has become, at best, an optional extra for those who want it and, at worst, an impediment to self-fulfilment.”
Stroud also criticised schemes such as the “pills-by-post” scheme, which allows women to procure abortion pills and terminate their pregnancies at home without ever meeting a medical professional. Critics argue that the scheme effectively minimises the gravity of an abortion, presenting it as a simple health issue that requires taking a tablet or two to solve, while also putting women at risk of medical emergencies.
“When we make having an abortion sound easy, but having children sound inconvenient or ruinous, something has gone very wrong with our society that needs addressing," said Stroud.
"Responding to this may just be the greatest challenge facing lawmakers in the rest of the twenty-first century. The stakes are, quite literally, existential.”
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