Amended Abortion Bill

How is it not many people know about being able to terminate up to 20 weeks? Just curious!! even the midwives in this town all say it has to be before 13 weeks and they should know!
Is it also open to people who just simply do not want the baby or is from 12-20 weeks for medical reasons?

Edited by Kazper

The procedure for terminating after 1st trimester is different, it requires being induced. This is also why an anatomy scan is done at 20 weeks, as this is currently the cut off for termination.

That must have changed, as I was under general for mine at 10 weeks. But that was in the UK and 11 years ago, they may have a different system to NZ.

Terminations don't really have anything to do with mid wives, I organised mine through my GP and local hospital.

Yes I do agree what Stacey went through is disgusting. As if that wouldn't have been hard enough.

I guess it is hard to understand why if a woman is going to feel really guilty or hard to live life wondering, then why make that decision. I have always been told that if you have to think twice, do not do it!!
In saying that I do see where you are coming from. My own sister debated me over this today and said herself that she knows a few young girls that had no support and were pressured into having abortions and that it has haunted them and deeply regretted it. She raised the point that there is no support for these young girls and that in fact even medical professionals say it would be in their best interests to abort which is sad.

My intention is not to make those who have chosen or needed to abort feel guilty. I guess I would just like to see more support given to women in these situations not to just use abortion as an option.

Edited by Kazper

didn't make sense... my brain is mush as the mo

Edited by freckle

Kazper, once again, if you read the OP it stated please don't come in here for an abortion debate, this is about how the abortion bill should be amended, not whether abortion is right or wrong IYKWIM. You're not going to get much sympathy in here by posting things like you just did.

I had a friend at primary school (yes, PRIMARY school) who got pregnant at 12. I didn't even know until I was 14, because it just wasn't something that even entered my head, I mean I was just starting to think about kissing boys lol.

Anyway - she had an abortion, then another at 14. Her mother had her at 15, and her grandmother had her first baby at 15 too. What I'm getting at is with young people, it is actually about education to make good choices in the first place so the cycle doesn't continue. That is a seperate issue.

In Caliandjack and other people's case, hey mistakes happen! Cut them some slack. My Dh and I are doing everything possible to never conceive again before he eventually gets the snip (not old enough), but we have both talked about the fact that if it did unfortunately happen, we would terminate. We have our reasons which I don't need to say as they are personal, but other than my mental health, there is no other issues other than not wanting another baby. We are lucky to live in a society where we have that option, as our lives would be affected dramatically by another addition.

In other cases, for medical reasons, this is where I think the bill's amended should make things a bit easier (or at least I hope so). I don't believe in having a late abortion for reasons other than medical (most people will know before 20 weeks) but I do believe that termination on medical grounds needs to be a properly managed area of medical care for women. Regarding Stacey's journey (sorry Stacey, but I followed yours a lot and it really touched me about how much heartache you were put through), if there is any way that her and her DH's pain could have been eased by having a simpler and quicker process, I'd be all for it.

This is not a debate on whether abortion is right or wrong, it's a discussion on how the medical system can help women who, for whatever reason, are unable to continue a pregnancy and what steps need to be put in place to make the process as seamless as possible.

granted Kazper


I still would be in favour of needing 'sign off' to prevent the situation identifying those using it as a form of contraception - although as others have said - Id imagine thats a minority, but also to identify those who may otherwise not seek counselling when they dont recognise that they may need it

Sadly i knew someone who did use abortion as a form of contraception she was up to her third when we lost contact, used to work at he supermarket together... long a go. I was awful and there are not many woman who do this.

My concern was back then and still is it was too easy for her to get an abortion.

Is there a cut off to how many one woman can have? It saddens me to think she has had more. But that was 12 years ago.



It affected me so much and still haunts me today, she nearly kept the third baby but had a late abortino because her boyfriend made her

Edited by yummymummy2

Well, when I was a dental assistant , a girl I worked with asked why I had Caitlyn and I told her it was pretty much cos I'd had one abortion and I could never have another (unless for medical reasons )
and her response was "so , i've had 6 and I would do it again "
course I don't know if she was telling the truth ...she did talk a lot of BS , but still !

If gender selection can become a reason for late abortion you could always make it a law not to tell the sex of the baby at the 20 week scan but introduce another scan in the third trimester where the sex of the baby can be found out.


As for counselling it should not be compulsory as i personally find it insulting. I am an intelligent women and i don't need someone else to question my choice. There is nothing easy about abortion in my books and I don't need the hassle of having to convince someone else of the state of my mental health. Make it optional. Especially when you already had to see two other doctors to sign off. It would be better to see just your normal GP or in later pregnancy another specialist? ( Mind you though, their waiting lists are too long!)

Why is it when we speak about abortion it is always the woman who gets the flak? Where is the man in this debate? Are they not responsible for the pregnancy to happen as well? Why do they get no consequences to deal with? It isn't just the woman's fault.