Women sentenced to three months for self-induced abortion in Northern Ireland

Abortion is the wrong approach to social ills.

A woman in Northern Ireland has been convicted of aborting her child, and sentenced to a three-month, suspended jail sentence. The woman left her baby in a trash bag for eight days until police were contacted. The case has sparked renewed debate over abortion in Northern Ireland.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Northern Ireland is politically part of the UK, but while abortion is legal in the UK, it remains illegal in the North. Women who seek or procure and abortion, or self-abort, face criminal penalties which can range as long as life imprisonment.

Anti-life advocates claim that the outlawing of abortion results in many deaths, usually suicides, each year across Ireland and Northern Ireland. The same is said in countries like Poland where abortion is legal, but also heavily restricted.

Northern Ireland allows abortion to preserve the life of the mother. If the mother is distressed to the point of suicide, doctors are also required to intervene.

The reason why women develop psychological distress are many, but they usually are not the fault of the unborn baby. Typically, women fear social stigma, or financial pressures. These are societal problems that must be addressed instead of simply blaming the unborn.

Northern Ireland's court was extremely merciful in granting a suspended sentence to the woman in the case. The woman's own roommates testified that the baby she aborted was fully formed.

In all the discussions about women's rights and what a woman should be allowed to do with her body, nobody seems to mention the body of the unborn. Half of all unborn children are future women. What about there rights? There is no policy that is more responsible for the absolute destruction of women than abortion. After all, a woman cannot vote if she has been aborted. She cannot get an education, earn equal pay, or choose anything at all if she's gone before she draws her first breath.

And across Northern Ireland and the Republic, there remain options for women who do not want their children, such as adoption. Women who keep their children can often seek the support of local services including help from their churches.

A pregnancy isn't a problem, it is a blessing. Society must see all pregnancies as such, even when they are grossly inconvenient. To be killed in the womb is far more inconvenient than pregnancy.

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