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Religious Consultation|
BBC News, February 24, 2005 The world of Vera Drake By Anna Browning Mike Leigh's Oscar-nominated film about a backstreet
abortionist called Vera Drake has opened the
eyes of a modern audience to the dilemmas facing
pregnant women before abortion became legal
in 1967. Some of those women talk about what
it was like. But it cost between £100 and £150, so Barbara used money she borrowed from a friend. This was more traumatic than her later two "home-made" abortions, she says, partly due to the disdain of doctors which left her a mental wreck. The only advice she says she was given was to stop having sex because "no respectable girl does". I knew it was dangerous and I knew it was illegal,
but I had no alternative Although the sexual revolution of the 1960s was
in full swing, family planners insisted you
wore a wedding ring to receive contraception,
and took a dim view of sex outside marriage.
When she became pregnant for the second time she felt she could not go back, so with her friend's help she crudely aborted, despite the fatal risks. The third she did herself. "I knew it was dangerous and I knew it was illegal, but I had no alternative," she said. Her main fear was being discovered. "We were very young and I suppose foolhardy." Psychiatric assessment Legal abortions were introduced after the acquittal in 1938 of Dr Alex Bourne, who performed one on a suicidal 14-year-old gang rape victim and argued in court her mental health was at risk. The case paved the way for abortion in these circumstances but required the permission of two psychiatrists and was invariably carried out at a Harley Street Clinic. The cost ruled out most women, but not Deborah,
who is now 62. She had a legal abortion just
before the act came into force in 1967. "I had a good relationship with my parents, so when I became pregnant they were the first people I told. "I had a medical mother and they were very practical people, and we had the resources, so an abortion seemed the obvious thing to do." Prison The procedure cost £150, which was allowed to go ahead after Deborah convinced the two psychiatrists she was "upset enough". She stayed overnight at a north London clinic and had the abortion eight weeks into the pregnancy. At that time, self-aborting and aborting were crimes which carried life sentences. But mothers who aborted were not usually prosecuted and abortionists were more likely to face prison sentences of five to 10 years, depending on the charge and if the pregnant girls or women died. Through word-of-mouth and subterfuge, and partly driven by inadequate contraception, abortion was widespread. Newspapers advertised cures for "menstrual blockages", which were often lead-based and poisonous - some reportedly killing and blinding women. Many women were left with not only feelings
of loss but guilt Some of the backstreet abortionists were unqualified,
some were midwives and some were struck-off
or foreign doctors. Many women who did abort were traumatised in later life, says Margaret Cuthill, national co-ordinator for the pro-life group British Victims of Abortion. "Once the pressure was gone to get rid of the problem, many women were left with not only feelings of loss but guilt - and that's what makes it so traumatic," she says. On the other hand, they were so distressed at the prospect of having a baby, they were prepared to put their lives at risk, says Anne Quesney, director of Abortion Rights. Weeks after Deborah aborted, the law changed and 164 years after it was banned, abortion became legal in England, Wales and Scotland, due to a Private Member's Bill by David Steel, then a 28-year-old MP. Today it is estimated 10,000 women come to Britain every year from countries where abortion is not as available, including the Irish Republic, Portugal and Northern Ireland. But illegal abortions still account for 80,000 deaths worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organisation.
I had an abortion in 1960...two Harley St psychiatrists,
a doctor in a seedy surgery in Half Moon Street
then the abortion in Ealing. Parents in 1960
were not willing to discuss such 'disgusting
happenings'. I was on my own, you were made
to feel dirty by the doctors etc, my father
would not speak to me for 5-6 months, and I
was forever made to feel unclean. How everything
has improved. I would never wish this to happen
to anyone. Legalising abortion isn't about empowering women,
giving women more rights etc. Its about taking
away the rights of the unborn child -helpless,
but never the less a human being. And it strikes
me that this helplessness is the very reason
that the unborn child needs the protection
of the law. With accounts like this, I think it is despicable
that the US Government are trying to outlaw
abortions on the basis of a supposed moral
or religious high ground. Have they learnt
nothing from history? Before 1967 thousands of women suffered horribly
after back-street abortions. Since then, millions
have suffered the psychological and physical
consequences of abortion carried out by a health
service that offers no moral support whatsoever
to women who are often under pressure from
doctors, partner, family etc. to have an abortion.
I had a "backstreet abortion" back
in 1965 and it wasn't a very pleasant experience.
However, I think there's a lot of myth about
what backstreet abortions actually are. They
were not performed down some dark alleyway
but by professional doctors. Also, from my
experience at least, the associated deaths
and complications weren't from the abortion
being carried out unprofessionally but by poor
medical equipment. In Portugal all women still live with guilt,
shame, sense of loss and the burden of a trials
and maybe prison... Above all they still face
tremendous health problems due to illegal abortions,
almost forty years after it became legal in
Britain. It is for this and many other reasons
that I deeply sorry to say that we are still
in the very far end of Europe It's also important to note that pregnancy out
of marriage carried much more stigma than today,
even in the so-called "Swinging 60s."
Women who had babies outside of marriage were
subject to dismissal from their jobs and thus,
their livelihoods. Many who were pregnant and
abandoned by the father had difficulty finding
jobs and supporting themselves. I am now 50 years old and have never been in
the position of having to make the choice of
abortion or not. When I was a child I lived
in a village and my mother told me of a woman
in our village who went to a back street abortionist
to get rid of the baby, her 4th in four years
to her husband. He came home from work that
afternoon to find she had bled to death in
the house after the "procedure".
That would have been in the late 1950's. I
got pregnant at 17 while still at school and
unmarried, my mother was there for me every
step of the way, my son is 32. The discussion around the Vera Drake film is
not just about abortion - it is also about
social inequality, and the fact that working
class women were prosecuted for illegal abortions
while rich girls had them dealt with privately
and securely. Whatever your perspective on
pro-life/pro-choice, this injustice stinks!
Whatever the rights and wrongs of illegal/legal
abortions, just imagine if life does begin
at conception: the countless millions of humans
beings that we have killed. I wouldn't want
to be one of the people who made abortions
legal... Why do they always assume that, because I am
female, I must want children? I had a termination
at 17 as I knew I couldn't deal with having
a baby to look after. I have never had maternal
feelings for a baby then and still don't at
40. Some of us are just not cut out for it.
My girlfriend and I are in a very committed relationship,
with marriage on the horizon once it is financially
viable. Last year she fell pregnant and at
the time we were students. We decided to have
an abortion, which was not an easy decision.
My girlfriend still suffers from feelings of
grief, loss, shame and guilt. I did everything
I could for her, but ultimately she had to
actually abort the baby herself, and I doubt
it is something she will ever forgive herself
for. I live in N Ireland where abortion is unavailable
to most women. I had a child when I was 18
and with family help I`ve raised a very happy
, healthy young boy who is now 12. In the meantime
I`ve also travelled to England and had two
abortions as I understand the implications
and hardship of bringing two more children
into the world that I would`ve struggled to
cope with. I have never felt any pangs of remorse
or guilt for what I have done, but believe
that under the circumstances, for me, abortion
was my only option.
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