Last night, I attended a lobby of Parliament followed by a rally for Abortion Rights. Many excellent speakers were in attendance, including Zoe Williams, Diane Abbott and Evan Harris, all of whom seemed as exasperated as the attendees were at the fact that every scientific argument for the retention of the current abortion time limit is met by a barrage of contrary lies from Nadine Dorries and her ilk. Her latest blog entry is particularly demonstrative of this fact. She laments that the BMA’s latest research shows: “that there has been no improvement in neo-natal survival rates for 12 years.”
How does Dorries react to this, since it proves her persistent claims that foetuses born at 20-24 weeks are bouncing all around the place? With scientific evidence of her own? By criticising the methodology of the research? Oh no, that’s far too professional and liable to undermine her argument. Dorries says:
I think this report insults the intelligence of the public and MPs alike.
No improvement in neo-natal care in twelve years? Really? So where has all the money that has been pumped into neo-natal services gone then?
A baby born at 23 weeks today stands no better a chance of living than it did in 1996?
Ah, that’s right. Just claim it’s crap. No need for evidence, the Daily Mail can’t be arsed with that bureaucratic nonsense. I’ll tell you where the money for neonatal care has gone, Dorries. Into neonatal care. We don’t give money to neonatal units so that doctors can magically bestow upon a child the higher brain function and lung capacity that only comes with spending 26 weeks in the womb, we spend it on premature infants who have a chance of survival.
What sickens me most about Dorries’ persistent lying, with absolutely no basis, that we can keep most foetuses under 24 weeks alive, is the fact that parents who go into premature labour below 24 weeks are being fed lies by the anti-choice lobby that their child will be fine. No one deserves to go through that heartbreak so that Dorries can play politics. It’s despicable.
If you haven’t already, please write to your MP and ask them to vote on the day to keep 24 weeks. Of course, if they’re pro-life, perhaps suggest they might be better placed in Crewe and Nantwich on the day.
