Date: 1 May 2012
Source: Catholics for Choice
Catholics for Choice and Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health organised a discussion on later abortion on 2010. This has now led to a statement signed by many US organisations.
Key issues from the statement are below.
- We believe in bodily autonomy and a woman's right to choose whether and when to have a child.
- We also believe in the right to receive safe medical care.
- We stand with women who need abortions later in pregnancy and with the providers who care for them.
- We recognise the need for policies that address the full range of a woman's reproductive needs.
- Women deserve to have all the time they need in order to make the best pregnancy decision for themselves and for their families, even if this means needing a later abortion.
- We believe that the provision of an abortion procedure requested by a woman in the second or third trimester is preferable to its denial.
- We defend later abortions because we understand that women need them.
The full statement is published in the recent issue of Conscience magazine, alongside a statement from an obstetrician who provides later abortion and a report on which US women have second-trimester abortions.
