News from the New Party

Abortion: rights and responsibilities

It has recently been reported that increasing numbers of doctors are refusing on grounds of conscience to participate in abortions.  This increasing abstention, if continued, will lead to a situation in which availability of abortion may be curtailed.  It is widely accepted in this country that an abortion is a woman's right: as such, "a woman's right to choose" has been set against an unborn child's "right to life" in a debate which for many people epitomises modern liberalism pitted against an arrogant, oppressive conservatism.  So what has gone wrong?

In the first place, the modern practice of abortion has little to do with the spirit of the 1967 Abortion Act.  The purpose of this act was to provide a safe option for women who would otherwise seek a dangerous and illegal backstreet abortion.  In order to obtain an abortion a woman was, and still is, obliged to obtain the signatures of two doctors who are prepared to affirm, effectively, that an abortion is in the best interests of the health and welfare of the woman concerned.  In practice this is now no hurdle at all, and we effectively have what feminists have long demanded: abortion on demand.

However, 2007 is not 1967 and doctors have noticed.  There are many more birth control options available to women these days, and improvements in medical care mean also that a foetus might have a reasonable chance of survival much earlier than was the case forty years ago.  The implication of recent findings is that while nearly all doctors are prepared to accept that abortion is a necessary procedure in certain circumstances, many do not consider themselves obliged to involve themselves in a distressing and ethically dubious operation for the convenience of a woman who has simply failed to take responsibility for her own actions.  Moreover, although participation in abortions is optional for doctors, to the extent that provision is made for conscientious objection, a doctor who does not conscientiously object is not entitled to choose which abortions are ethically acceptable to them, and which are not.  Hence, many are opting out altogether.

At the root of this problem is the relationship between rights and responsibilities.  At the same time as we have become conditioned to the view that abortion is a right, awareness of the corresponding responsibility has dimmed.  It is reasonable to expect women to appreciate and exercise the responsibility that accompanies the right to choose an abortion.  Unnecessary abortions are a drain on NHS resources, which cause delays leading to later (and still more distressing) abortions for those who genuinely have no alternative.  Taking responsibility for one's life includes taking responsibility for one's mistakes, as well as for circumstances which are simply chance occurrences or bad luck.  This is the difference between the modern libertinism which poses as libertarianism, as set against a genuine liberal attitude.