Abortion: the Alton factor
Living MarxismTranscribed by hand from the page images and checked against them, not machine-read: this text can be quoted. Misprints in the original are kept and marked [sic].
Printed page 46
Anne Burton was correct in highlighting the increase in pregnancies, especially amongst the young, due to increased use of the condom ('How safe is safe sex for women?', March). But she has missed an important factor in trying to explain the extraordinary increase in abortions over the first quarter of 1988. Not only was there an increase of 17 per cent as compared with the same quarter in 1987; late abortions (19 weeks and over) rose by a massive 36.5 per cent—admittedly on a very small base (all figures for resident women).
The important factor Anne missed was the Alton campaign. At the time, Fight the Alton Bill (Fab) organised a press conference, at which Diane Munday, from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, foretold that there would be a big increase in abortions, because David Alton was telling women that abortion was available on demand—and they were believing him! Business at BPAS had never been so good. At the same meeting, Wendy Savage said that late abortions, especially on the grounds of disability, were increasing, also due to David Alton, who had inadvertently told women about amniocentesis, the most common test for disability, and women were asking for the tests as a result.
Needless to say, the press mostly ignored this at the time, and similarly ignored the press release NAC put out when the figures were released. Whilst we do not welcome any increase in abortion rates, it does seem to indicate that, contrary to what Anne says, it is not moral pressure which prevents women seeking abortions, but lack of information, or wrong information!
Leonora Lloyd National Abortion Campaign coordinator London WC2