Scottish Catholic Observer

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has called for women to be shown scans of their unborn child before they are allowed to have an abortion.

Several American states have introduced such measures recently and pro-life campaigners believe showing women an image of their unborn child before they abort it could help reduce the 200,000 abortions that are carried out in Scotland every year.

Information

Cardinal O’Brien said that presenting ‘detailed information such as ultrasound scans and a variety of printed matter’ could make a big difference.

“While viewing or reading this material is not compulsory and a woman may decline to do so, the fact that it is offered shows a commitment to informed consent which is lacking in the NHS,” he said. “A right to know approach empowers women and enables them to make an informed decision. It is unjust and unethical of the NHS to deny crucial medical information to women this way.”

The cardinal also said there was a ‘shocking’ absence of informed consent in dealing with abortion issues in Scotland.

“If a woman has a cataract removed or a hip replaced the potential dangers are described to her in advance,” he said. “If she has an abortion they are not.”

Welcome idea

Sr Roseann Reddy of The Cardinal Winning Pro-life Initiative said she thought such a law would be a ‘fantastic’ idea.

“It’s about informed consent,” she said. “There’s much talk about choice around abortion but you can’t choose what you can’t see. This is not a matter of pro-life propaganda, it is using technology to give women more information.”

Donna Nicholson of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) Scotland said the cardinal’s comments were most ‘welcome’ as this law could make a huge difference in the fight against abortion.

“A lot of pro-life groups in the US are reporting great results in their campaigns to offer women ultrasounds outside of abortion clinics often recording as much as a 70 per cent success rate in the women changing their minds,” she said. “That is because viewing the ultrasound may influence the abortion decision, especially of those who are not totally resolved to their choice, and alter their attitude toward the pregnancy itself in favour of the unborn child.”

Ms Nicholson said that the reason seeing the ultrasound scan could lead to many women deciding not to abort is that ‘it breaks the disconnect between their life situation and the choice they are making.’

Campaign

John Deighan of the Scottish Catholic Parliamentary Office said the Church in Scotland was willing to campaign for this to be made law.

“It is hard to find a rational case against Cardinal O’Brien’s support for giving women more information about their pregnancy,” he said. “The truth is that those who advocate abortion know that ignorance is their ally. It seems widely accepted, even by those who have abortions that a life is being ended by abortion; but a scan will reveal the full humanity of that life. That can only help to awaken society to the awful reality that abortion really is.”

However, a Scottish Government spokesman said they had no plans to address the issue at present.