Life Links 1/6/11

I just around to reading Ann Furendi's "A moral defence of late abortion" at Spiked Online. The essay was written in response to Frances Kissling's belief that maybe the pro-choice movement should be willing to discuss a rollback in when abortion is allowed. The end of Furendi's essay includes an appendix which lists the ages, gestational ages and reasons for abortion for 32 women who came to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service seeking abortions after 22 weeks gestation during month in 2008. Furendi thinks believes "that these 32 cases provide compelling evidence for why the time limit on abortion should not be reduced – even by as a little as two weeks." I think just the opposite. Tell me if you think this is "compelling evidence" for allowing the killing of unborn children mere weeks from becoming viable.

One women who was 23 weeks pregnant.

Has two children already and feels she just can't cope with a third. Delayed because she found the decision ‘really hard to make'.

A women who was 25 weeks pregnant (over the time limit in Great Britain) and was referred back to her doctor.

Knew she had not had period ‘for months' but ‘stuck [her] head in the sand' for some time before going to GP. Was not aware that there was a legal time limit on abortion so didn't feel the need to act although she knew she could not cope with a new baby and keep up the payments on her house.

There's been a mass long-term contraceptive failure in Great Britain. Implanon, a rod which is implanted in the arm and releases hormones and is supposed to work for 3 years, is coming under fire after hundreds of women have reported the contraceptive failed.

A lawyer revealed that many of the women affected had suffered ‘psychological difficulties', had miscarriages or decided to undergo abortions after the implants went wrong.

One woman who became pregnant and underwent an abortion said the trauma had led to her marriage ending.

The fiasco involving the implant, called Implanon, is one of the worst mass contraceptive failures to hit the NHS in living memory.

A total of 584 women who had the hormone-filled rod inserted in their arms have reported unwanted pregnancies to the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency – the Government's drugs and medical devices watchdog.

But the total could be far higher, as many women may not have complained after becoming pregnant and either undergoing abortions or giving birth.

At ProWomanProLife, Jennifer Derwey questions the contraception industry.

The pipeline looks something like this: A projection of $14.5 billion in contraceptive revenue is made, companies push to produce, approve and market the next big drug, Bayer sends out a "Youth Truck" to assess the prospective customers and get Ugandan children familiar with the idea of prescription birth control (while women in the west see more and more ads), and Planned Parenthood and Marie Stopes have their clinics, those philanthropic beacons of family planning, write the prescriptions. At what point are we going to realize that women's health may not be at the forefront of their priorities?

Authorities in Zambia have captured a man allegedly responsible for a botched abortion which led to the death a 19-year-old woman.

Mr Lungu said police investigations have so far revealed that Mututwa Mututwa allegedly tried to induce an abortion on the named girl of Meheba High School in the doctor's rest room at Solwezi General Hospital after normal working hours.