In the current debate on abortion in Malta, it might pay to reflect on what happens in one of the capitals of abortion, the UK. The words that follow are not mine, but extracted from a national newspaper there, a few years back:
“Like many in her situation, a 16-year-old has looked on the internet to find out exactly what the operation involves. ‘It doesn’t look very nice, but it’s what has to be done,’ she says, ‘so I’m not really that bothered about it’.
“If she’d asked the surgeon, he would have given her his standard, brief answer: ‘The terminology I’d use would be that the foetus is removed and that the foetus dies as a result of that process,’ says Dr John Spencer, who is the senior clinical director for Marie Stopes and one of only a handful of doctors in the UK who perform abortions right up to the legal limit of 24 weeks. ‘Women hardly ever ask for any more details’.
“But Dr Spencer is about to break a huge medical taboo and spell out on TV exactly what happens. What viewers will see and hear may very well shock them, but it is a vital contribution to the whole debate.
“In the first 12 weeks or so of pregnancy, doctors can use a simple suction procedure. After that, the surgery becomes more complicated. Dr Spencer opens a fresh pack of shiny instruments. He’s an extremely calm, softly spoken man, which somehow makes his words all the more devastating: ‘The foetus can’t come out in one go. We haven’t dilated sufficiently for that. The foetal parts are soft enough to break apart as they are being removed.’
“In other words, he has to dismember the foetus inside the uterus and pull it out, bit by bit. He uses an ultrasound scan to guide him. Even then, some body parts are too large to come out intact. To illustrate what happens, Dr Spencer grips his thumb between the surgical forceps and squeezes gently. ‘Those parts are the skull and then the spine and pelvis, and in fact they are crushed.’
“The operation on the 16-year-old is over in 12 minutes. The bowl with what they call ‘the products of conception’ is quickly wheeled out of the theatre, covered in yellow plastic.”
Those who can, weep. At the last count there were over 180,000 abortions in the UK, mostly under 12 weeks, equivalent to over 40 per cent of the entire population of Malta. Many doctors overseas are increasingly turning away from the procedure. ‘Pro-choice’ or ‘Pro-life’? I am just glad I am not a doctor.