Tuesday, 28 March 2017

ABORTION IS A HEALTH ISSUE, NOT A CRIME (Letter to Dom Post, March 29)


I agree with Terry Bellamak (March 29): Abortion is a health issue, not a crime. That’s because apart from botched ops resulting in infertility, abortion creates mental health problems for women and concomitant health issues for surviving children suffering from the mother’s alcohol and/or drug abuse and suicidal behaviours.
So yes, the grounds are ridiculous. And getting an abortion is not just time-consuming, it’s time-wasting.
I agree that abortion is not a crime for the mother, only for certifying consultants who break the law. Which means because the mother’s mental health is ill served by abortion, morally all certifying consultants are criminals. 
I agree that abortion wastes money. Let’s consider not only the $4m those consultants cost the taxpayer. Let’s think about economic activity lost through abortion. One US study shows more than $6000 of economic activity is generated in the first year of a baby’s life. Which means 100,000 abortions annually (in 2013 there were nearly 700,000) would cost the US economy $6 billion annually and over their lifetimes, $9 trillion.
So in the end I have to disagree with Terry Bellamak. ‘Abortion care’ is an oxymoron. ‘Abortion care’ is not ‘health care’; it’s illhealth and it’s uncaring.

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