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Wednesday 25 May 2011

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I feel a bit sick today.
It's the usual problem of reading about something else that the coalition are doing that results in my stomach hitting the spin cycle, and it happens at least three times a week.
Maybe the solution to my little tummy upset is to join the sheep and tuck my head in the sand.
I could just ignore what is going on and hope that given time this ill wind will pass through our country and allow rationality and compassion to return to our shores.
Then again when did ignoring anything work out positively?
This time I'm upset about the abortion issue.
Personally I'm not pro or anti abortion. I'm simply pro choice.
Circumstances are everything when it comes to a termination.
There are health needs of the mother and child to be considered. Then there is the horrible issues that surround rape and incest that need to be addressed.
Life is difficult and for every reason put forward from the pro life groups there are just as many relevant points raised by the pro choice side.
To help people who have a very difficult choice to make it would seem to me that clear and calm heads are required.
Rational and unbiased assistance should be provided to allow an individual to reach an informed decision.
That may be a termination, or it may be an adoption, or the person could have a change of heart and decide that they wanted to have the child, but the bottom line must be that the individual should have the options to choose, and be provided with all the information they require to make that choice.
So why has a group who are self proclaimed anti abortionists and pro abstinence supporters just been given a role as government advisers regarding sexual health matters?
They even take the stance that there is never a need for abortion.
NEVER?
While they may claim, quite rightly, that an incestuous rape of a twelve year old that leads to a pregnancy is an extreme, the fact of the matter is that it does happen.
Yet these people are unwilling to bend their self imposed views to accommodate the needs of a child who finds themselves in such a horrific situation.
I don't know what the figures are, but how many women are raped and end up with an unwanted pregnancy?
They have the mental scars to carry with them, but that's not enough, they should carry the child of their abuser to?
How bloody ridiculous is that?
Yet here we have these people acting as advisers on our behalf.
They're called the Life Organisation if anyone wants to check them out, and they have replaced the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV.
A group whose independence was exactly what was required.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service were originally invited along to be part of the steering group, but they've had the invite retracted for some reason that I can't fathom.
They've provided advice for the last forty years to the women of this country, but that's not an attractive enough track record it would seem in comparison to a bunch of fundamentalists with a very firm agenda to push.
Some people will comment that this Life Organization are just one voice amongst a forum that will be advising the government and while they are indeed right I would still consider that anyone providing this advise should hold a position of neutrality on the subject.
For me their involvement is just wrong.
This sort of thing is nothing new though.
'In Richmond, south-west London, the Catholic Children's Society has taken over the £89,000 contract to provide advice to schoolchildren on matters including contraception and pregnancies. Another Christian-run charity, Care Confidential, is involved in providing crisis pregnancy advice under the auspices of Newham PCT in east London.
Care's education arm, Evaluate, was one of the founding members, alongside Life, of the Sex and Relationships Council.'
In this country we have separated church and state and this, in my opinion, is how it should be. Yet here we have certain ideals, often religious, easing in through the back door.
I know I'm not the only one concerned about this, but seriously this government has a Victorian era template that they wish to impose on us.
The gap between the rich and poor is widening, education and health are under the shadow of privatization.
What's next?
Back street abortions, unlicensed drugs being sold for ailments and classed as free enterprise. Working for the company store, workhouses?
No wonder my stomach is churning. When is this madness going to stop.

2 comments:

  1. i really hate to say this but i don"t think it will , years ago there was this sort of thing with the miners and the unions in general , the government then are no different to any other since , just give the proles enough to keep them quiet god forbid that their glass houses get a good stoning !

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  2. The only thinbg that will stop the clock being turned back is if people exercise their right to say no. It's a small word that carries a great deal of weight, but it isn't getting used often enough.
    I fear for our future.

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