FROM IRISH TIMES ON BEING PRO-CHOICE
http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/emer-o-toole-science-and-sociology-are-on-the-side-of-pro-choice-1.2294754
Emer O’Toole: Science and sociology are on the side of pro-choice
That Ireland considers a blastocyst to have moral equivalency with a woman is
evidence of deeply rooted sexism that ignores inconvenient truths
I’m 14. I’m in religion class. We are having a “debate” about abortion, but
there is no pro-choice side. Instead, each group takes its turn to give reasons
as to why abortion is always wrong. Pre-internet, our information comes from
propaganda we’ve been handed by anti-abortion fanatics at a stall in Galway
city. At one point, a girl reads a poem from one of the leaflets, in which a
foetus speaks to the “mammy” who is aborting it. One verse goes something like
this:
“Help me, Mammy,
They’re tearing me apart,
Gaye Edwards at the launch of the Amnesty International Ireland report ‘She Is
Not a Criminal’, in Dublin. Photograph: Eric Luke / The Irish TimesEamonn
McCann: Are there signs of a ‘pro-life’ group influence in HSE document?
Pro-choice ... members of the Bolivian feminist group ‘Mujeres Creando’ (‘Women
Creating’) dressed as nuns protest outside the Cathedral of La Paz ahead of the
recent visit of Pope Francis. Photograph: EPA/ABI Handout Why the reluctance to
prosecute self-declared procurers of abortion?
Anti-abortion campaigners protesting in Dublin. Photograph: Nick BradshawOrgan
harvest trade underlines inhuman violence of abortion
My little hands, my little feet,
My baby face, my baby heart”
Roughly one in 12 Irish women of reproductive age have had an abortion. That
day, however, I had no concern for women. I went home and explained to my mother
that abortion is murder because the foetus is a person too.
Many Irish people I discuss abortion with believe aborted embryos and foetuses
to be sensate and sentient. They believe that the foetus can feel pain and can
think. This misconception is unsurprising: with religious control of much our
education system we are propagandised at school; further, pro-choice activists
don’t take sufficient time to explain the science around embryonic and foetal
development.
The overwhelming consensus in the scientific community is that foetal pain is
very unlikely until the third trimester of pregnancy. A comprehensive 2005
meta-study by the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded this. It
is the official position of the American Congress of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, which in 2013 urged legislators to remember that “sound health
policy is best based on scientific fact and evidence-based medicine”. A 2010
report from the UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists concludes
that “the lack of cortical connections before 24 weeks, therefore, implies that
pain is not possible until after 24 weeks . . . Furthermore, there is good
evidence that the foetus is sedated by the physical environment of the womb and
usually does not awaken before birth.”
A more accessible 2007 report from the UK House of Commons science and
technology committee (described by Ben Goldacre as a “masterclass in spotting
fallacious science”) says the same.
Abortion thresholds
There are a handful of reputable scientists, such as Dr Kanwaljeet Anand, who
believe that foetal pain may develop from 18 weeks. His research is often quoted
by American conservatives who want to lower abortion thresholds.
However, in Anand’s own words, the “issue of foetal pain does not have much
relevance for abortion, since most abortions are performed before the foetus is
capable of experiencing pain”.
Those of us who recognise the urgency of repealing the Eighth Amendment need to
dispel the myth of the sensate and sentient foetus from the Irish abortion
debate. Articles such as Colm O’Gorman’s excellent piece in the Irish
Independent do the important work of explaining that our abortion law violates
women’s human rights. But if people believe that the procedure involves the
painful death of a frightened little human, then this is difficult to
understand. We must explain that the best scientific evidence tells us that the
foetus does not suffer.
The right decision
The anti-abortion lobby uses individual anecdotes to argue that women regret
their abortions, while rigorous studies say that more than 95 per cent feel it
was the right decision. Further, emotional harm after an abortion is strongly
correlated with social stigma and lack of support: prejudice that harms women
who have had abortions. Four thousand Irish women choose to terminate
pregnancies every year. I believe they know what’s best for them. Demonstrably,
the anti-abortion lobby does not respect or care about women.
And so they shift attention to the embryo or foetus, ascribing it sentience, the
capacity for pain, and ultimately, human rights on par with the woman carrying
it. When they do this, I’ve often heard pro-choice activists reply that “the
foetus isn’t a person”. But that’s not enough. We have to take the time to
explain why ascribing the foetus equivalence with the thinking, feeling human
carrying it is a fallacy.
Some people believe that life begins at conception, that God plants a soul in
every zygote the moment two gametes meet. This makes the morning-after pill
murder; it makes stem-cell research murder; it means that God wastes a lot of
souls, seeing as about 30 per cent of zygotes don’t implant and a further 30 per
cent are lost before the pregnancy is discovered. People are entitled to their
beliefs, but they’re not entitled to dictate women’s rights based on them. Our
current legislation, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, protects the
life of the unborn from implantation. That Ireland considers a blastocyst to
have moral equivalency with a woman or girl is evidence of deeply rooted sexism.
In the wake of last month’s damning Amnesty International report, last year’s UN
Human Right’s Committee Report, as well as the catastrophic failure of this
Government’s 2013 legislation, under which, already, a suicidal teenage rape
victim was forced to carry to term, it is hard to believe anyone could fail to
recognise the need to repeal the Eighth Amendment. Yet, this month, 8,000 people
attended an anti-abortion lobby in Dublin. As activists for women’s rights,
we’re operating in a climate of historically inscribed prejudice and political
cowardice. We need to be ready to engage at every level of the debate. The
scientific and sociological evidence is on our side. Learn it. Use it. Free
Ireland of this national shame.