Last week we became aware of something pretty shocking. Undercover reporters working for the Daily Telegraph discovered abortion counsellors in Britain giving women false – and quite frankly frightening – information in order to dissuade them from terminating their pregnancies.
Many women seek advice at ‘independent’ clinics before making the life-changing decision on whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy. These vulnerable women need all the guidance they can get in order to make the best decision for both themselves and their potential future child: Crisis Pregnancy Centres (CPCs) claim to offer just that.
However shocking discoveries by undercover reporters have revealed that women are being fed false information in order to persuade them to take a pro-life stance. One woman was even warned that having an abortion would increase her propensity to sexually abuse children, as well as increase her chance of developing breast cancer and other serious health conditions. Counsellors claimed that sterility was ‘quite common’ after abortions, falsely stating that a termination would decrease the chance of future pregnancy by 25 per cent.
However these are not isolated incidents. Reports have revealed that at least thirty-eight abortion clinics across Britain have misled or tried to emotionally manipulate vulnerable women. This appalling discovery has brought the controversial topic of abortion back into the political spotlight. But whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, surely everyone should be pro-honesty? CPCs offer ‘trained advisers’ and claim to provide independent advice, implying that they deliver impartial, honest and genuine advice. But when these organisations are deliberately providing vulnerable women with false information in attempt to scare them into a decision, we have to draw a line. Because these clinics are privately run, they are under no legal obligation to give women medically accurate information. Whilst I would never argue that private organisations are not allowed to take a pro-choice or pro-life stance, I think it’s unacceptable that a pro-life organisation is allowed to distribute false information under the guise of impartiality. These clinics should be regulated and should be under just as much legal obligation to give medically correct information as doctors or nurses. If a woman wants opinion, she’ll ask for opinion. If she goes to an independent clinic, she wants facts.
Furthermore, there seems to be no reason that these ‘independent’ clinics can’t work with the NHS to provide women with factually correct information. Whilst the NHS clearly operates a pro-choice policy, pro-choice does not necessarily mean pro-abortion. Pro-choice simply means being given access to all the facts in order to make a well-informed decision. NHS workers should not have a vested interest in whether a woman choses to abort or carry – they are neither selling a service nor their personal beliefs – and they would be subject to disciplinary action should they be found to be breaching impartiality practices. Thus working within the NHS would appear to offer the most secure guarantee of impartiality and honesty.
When it comes to pregnancy, there is no right or wrong decision. As a society, it is our duty to ensure that women are given access to all the available, factual information in order to make the best decision for them. Whether it is through the regulation of ‘independent’ clinics or through the nationalisation of these clinics into a subsector of the NHS, something must be done to safeguard the rights of women not to be scare-mongered into making a rash or ill-informed decision on such an important subject.
“>In this video, a woman is told that abortions increase your chance of getting cancer.
Photocredits: mumsnet.com