A four month pregnant 17 year old girl, living under the supervision of
the Health Board went to court today to fight for her right to go to the
UK for an abortion after the doctor told her that the baby had no chance
to live longer then 2-3 days after birth as parts of the brains are
missing. The Health Board claimed, because the girl is not suicidal and
there are no health risk for herself, she had no right to terminate the
pregnancy and called the police to stop her from leaving Ireland.

How is that striking you?

it is not a very good story for advocating this is a norm when it comes
to abortions. (well at least in the states)

i would say in my opinion that the 'board' was a bunch of lunatics. if
the child is dead it is dead, it is sad for the mother(if she wanted the
child). if she didnt then well ... you know.



doc

Good morning

Curly one..and difficult to be objectionable..


My personal belief is such that I could not advocate for the young woman
to have an abortion..my beliefs.

However, as my position of employment, I have been faced with this
situation, or similar often, and have to set aside my own opinions,
beliefs, and look at the young person who is in my charge...

I could and would be expected to support her, and her decisions, without
bias and pressure from me. I do have the option within my position to
hand on casework, (poeple) whose situations are too difficult for me, on
a personal level.

If looking for a solution, however, between the rights of the young
woman, the father of the child, and the State, my thoughts would lie
towards adoption, of the baby at birth, even if adopted by the State.

Horrendous moral dilemma, and a difficult one for all.

Medical costs ahead of the unborn baby, emotional cost to the mother and
father of the baby, legal issues....sheesh.

Jess, this baby wouldn't live long enough to be adopted.
I am as much against abortion as you are, but to let that girl going
through nine month of pregnancy knowing the baby isn't going to live, I
find that a bit harsh.
I have to add, until the doctor told her about it, there was no talk
about abortion, on the contrary, the girl was determined to raise the
child.

If the child has abosolutely no chance of living then yes there is no
reason not to abort, but if there is the slightest reason to believe it
can live then i say no, why put the girl through it?

What if one of these children being aborted has the genes or blood
chemistry to cure Aids, or cancer??????????
Thats all, and more than I will usually say about abortion....

Fanta, I pointed out that this baby has no chance to live after birth,
vital parts of the brains are missing.

She might not be suicidal NOW. What about at the end of pregnancy? When
post-partum depression sets in.
She is going to feel that baby move inside of her for the next 5 months.
It will be hard to not form an emotional attachment. Then after birth,
she will see the baby alive. Then have to watch it die. Yeah I don't
agree

Invisible...personally? My personal opinion?

I don't want to touch this discussion, because I am not the young woman,
and it is her baby, and a father's, (somewhere out in the ether, as he
has not been mentioned)..


And I do agree it is harsh for her own decisions to be removed by the
State...she is the one carrying this child, not me, and she is the one
who will have to deliver this child, knowing it's chances of survival
are slim..not me.

It is too easy for me to sit in my sunshine filled home, and cast a
black, or white opinion on three lives...(wherever the father
is)..doesn't he have any rights?

I stand there too jess
I have heard of children that doctors say have a heart defect or
something and have recommended abortion
then when the baby is born with no problems they claim its a miracle. I
have read where they say that when the diagnoses was made the baby was
not fully developed. Between the diagnoses and birth the baby had
developed fully and the problem was fixed by the continueing development
of the fetus. Just thoughts!! No more I usually wont comment on these
subjects because its not my baby or my body, and Im not God..

Invisible...you got me...


I am uncomfortable here...because I am fighting an internal
struggle...who do I place above the other?

The mother? The baby? Arguably, the baby is not born, medical science
has indicated very strongly, this baby will not survive.

If she was my daughter?

I would support her decision to abort.

I may not feel within my own beliefs it is right, but it is her
decision, I wasn't there at the act, to conceive this baby, it is her
body, her decision, and the impact of what she has already suffered is
huge.

I was looking at it from so many angles, and yet it is simple, if she
was my daughter I would support her decision to abort.