MANY women seek late-stage abortions after failing to realise they are pregnant early on, a new study has found.
Researchers at Glasgow University interviewed women who had abortions between 16 and 24 weeks of pregnancy to find out about their experiences.
The study found that out of the eighteen women who participated, around two-thirds did not have their pregnancy confirmed until after 12 weeks.
The researchers have called for more effective support of women seeking second trimester abortions, including ending the “shroud of secrecy” around the issue.
Lead author Carrie Purcell, of the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at the University of Glasgow, said: “The project was to try and provide an evidence base grounded in women’s experiences, rather than it just being about more abstract moral or ethical debates on whether abortion is right or wrong.
“It is about women’s experiences and using that as a jumping off point to inform provision of later abortion services in Scotland.”
The abortion limit in Scotland is 24 weeks, although the procedure can be carried out later in certain circumstances – such as if the mother’s life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe disability.
Around 5 per cent of abortions take place at 14 weeks or more in Scotland – accounting for around 600 out of 12,000 annually.
The study found twelve of the 18 women who participated in the study had not had their pregnancy confirmed until they were 12 or more weeks – for many it came as a shock as they had not shown symptoms.
One participant, Tina, said: “There was nothing indicating I was pregnant. I hadn’t even put on weight…I didn’t have a wee bump or anything like that…And I didn’t feel pregnant.”
Another woman, Fiona, said: “I felt really stupid that...how can you be, well, nearly five months pregnant and not even know about it? I’m not daft. I would go and get a pregnancy test.”
The circumstances which led women to seek a termination varied, but examples included a relationship ending, not wanting to rely on welfare and an unsupportive partner.
Purcell said: “There is a lot of assumption in general about why women have abortions and often this is not grounded in evidence. For two-thirds of the women in this particular study, it was after 12 weeks of pregnancy that the pregnancy was confirmed.
“So for them there was a real feeling of shock about not having expected to be pregnant and being quite taken aback that could have been happening in their own bodies without them knowing for so long.”
The study has called for greater discussion around abortion as a “legitimate pregnancy outcome and reproductive healthcare procedure” and argued for better provision of later abortion in Scotland.
At the moment, Scottish women seeking terminations for non-medical reasons from 18-20 weeks usually have to travel to England. In January this year the Scottish Government said it was looking at improvements to later abortion services.
Purcell said there was a “shroud of secrecy” around talking about abortion, but pointed out the figure of 5 per cent of women having late abortions in Scotland had remained consistent for more than a decade.
A spokeswoman for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which provides abortion care for women, called for the establishment of a specialist centre in Scotland to provide late abortions.
She added: “We hope that studies like this will be the catalyst for the change needed to ensure that women in Scotland are able to access high-standard abortion care as close to home as possible.”
But Michael Robinson, of pro-life group Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) Scotland, called for a “fuller and more comprehensive study” into the “long-term consequences of abortion to a mother’s health and wellbeing in Scotland”.
He said: “SPUC do agree there is a great need for a more open discussion about the reality and harm of abortion to both the unborn child and the mother. When talking about abortion we often talk about ‘rights’, but there is no greater human right than the right to life.”
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