In 2014, 179,967 abortions in England and Wales (98% of all legal abortions) were carried out under statutory ground C only1 (“risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman”).2
According to 2014 figures for England and Wales, 80% of abortions are carried out before the tenth week of pregnancy and 92% are undertaken before 13 weeks.3 It is perfectly possible for a teenage girl to have an abortion within two weeks of her initial pregnancy test: the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends for any woman that the total time from seeing the abortion provider to the abortion taking place should not exceed ten working days.4 Pro-abortion groups recommend that abortions should take place within a week of deciding to have one.5 This is a lamentably short period for reflection on such a life-changing decision.
Guidelines say that counselling should be available, if required, before an abortion takes place.6 However, there is no legal requirement for the woman to be thoroughly informed about the possible consequences of her decision or the alternatives available should she continue with her pregnancy (such as adoption).
In June 2007 Ann Winterton MP moved a backbench Bill to introduce compulsory abortion counselling and a week-long “cooling off” period. The Bill also sought to clarify the information recorded by doctors who approve abortions. The Bill was rejected by MPs.
Claiming statutory ground C makes it too easy for doctors to carry out abortion on demand by obscuring the reason for the abortion. This argument (that continuing a pregnancy to birth would carry more physical or mental risk to the mother than an abortion) is becoming ever-less credible in the light of the medical evidence, particularly the evidence of increased risk to mental health.
Among women who have had abortions, it is very common for them to experience regret, along with other mental health problems.7
If women were made fully aware of the long-term health risks associated with abortion, and the positive alternatives available to them, many would choose to continue with their pregnancy. Such information is in fact necessary for proper ‘informed consent’.
A compulsory ‘cooling off’ period would give women time to consider all the arguments and alternatives and change their decision if desired. It would reduce the very real risk within the current fast-tracked system of women rushing through the abortion procedure only to regret it later.
A number of EU Member States have laws which require informed consent and/or counselling before allowing abortions to take place.
1Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2014, Department of Health, June 2015, page 13 and Table 2
2Abortion Act 1967, section 1(1)(a); Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, Section 37 (1)(a)
3Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2014, Department of Health, June 2015, page 5
4The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, November 2011, page 8