The Right to Abortion
Moral Maze
BBC
4.5 • 609 Ratings
🗓️ 14 July 2022
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Right to Abortion
This weekend thousands of people marched on the White House in support of a woman’s right to choose an abortion. That constitutional principle, established nearly 50 years ago in the case of “Roe v Wade” has just been overturned by the US Supreme Court and already many Republican states have banned abortions. As President Biden moves to try to protect abortion rights, campaigners in the UK have been stirred to action. There have been ‘Pro Life’ demonstrations outside clinics in Northern Ireland and ‘Pro Choice’ protests outside the US Embassy in London.
The number of abortions in England and Wales last year, more than 214,000, was the highest recorded since 1967, when a new law allowed, in most cases, terminations up to the 24th week of pregnancy. This also applied to Scotland but was only extended to Northern Ireland two years ago. Public opinion is clear: 85% of people in Britain think women should have the right to abortion. But should rights also be afforded to the unborn, and if so, at what stage of pregnancy? Has anyone the moral right to dictate whether a woman can have an abortion? For many women, “my body – my choice” is a fundamental principle. With Madeline Page, Professor Ellie Lee, Professor John Milbank and Kerry Abel.
Producers: Jonathan Hallewell and Peter Everett Presenter: Michael Buerk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | Good evening. A court decision, half a world away in America, |
| 0:08.4 | has stirred up that most difficult and impassioned of moral debates about abortion on this side of the Atlantic. |
| 0:14.4 | We live in a very different country, politically, legally and religiously. |
| 0:18.4 | The principle of a right to abortion has broad public backing here. |
| 0:22.8 | But demonstrators on both side of the argument have been out on the streets and in between the |
| 0:27.9 | polarities against a background of a record number of abortions being performed. |
| 0:32.8 | The struggle over whether the rules should be tightened or relaxed has been given new impetus. Abortion, |
| 0:39.0 | unqualified abortion, is not actually a right here. In fact, it's a criminal offence, |
| 0:43.3 | risking life imprisonment, if not authorised by two doctors, according to a strict sounding set of |
| 0:48.7 | criteria. However, these are liberally interpreted and abortion is, for the most part, effectively |
| 0:53.8 | on demand. 214,000 last year. |
| 0:57.5 | What gives the debate its power and its moral depth is that it goes to the heart of what it is to be human. |
| 1:03.2 | More specifically, at what point in its journey from conception to birth does the fetus change from a collection of cells with potential to a human being |
| 1:11.6 | with moral status and rights to be balanced with those of the mother? |
| 1:15.6 | Implicit in this main argument is the other big question, who decides? |
| 1:19.6 | Those behind the slogan a woman's right to choose insist she should have autonomy over her own body. |
| 1:25.6 | Others say the as yet unborn is more than just a part of the woman. |
| 1:30.5 | It's a discreet life, and society as a whole should have a say in what happens to it. |
| 1:36.1 | Abortion, that's a moral maze tonight. |
| 1:37.9 | The panel, Melanie Phillips, social commentator at the Times, |
| 1:40.8 | the academic and broadcaster Professor Mona Siddiqui, |
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