Poppy Ajudha’s Song about Abortion Laws

Asked about her song ‘Playgod’ Poppy Ajudha explains: “Abortion is still illegal in many countries around the world and is shamed in even more. I wrote this song when a group of men tried to pass an anti abortion bill in the state of Alabama, America. I was angry at how in every corner of culture and society across every inch of the earth, men try to play God, again and again. But I am amazed at how humans are built with so much resistance and resilience for good when we know something is wrong and will always fight against it. This song is an act of resistance to those who try to control that which is not theirs to be in control of…”

The lyrics are really interesting with how the word God is used. The song explains how people are acting like God in an omnipotent, powerful way deciding on whether there is life or not:

[Verse 1]
Sister stand up for what you believe
I hear anarchy in the way you speak
Teach her not to give up, only how to seek
Ain’t no anarchy in the way they cheat

[Verse 2]
Sister stand up for what you believe
Fight the power or die at their feet
I know they don’t see what you see
But don’t fight the people for being sheep

[Chorus]
He plays God
He plays God
God are the men who make you pay
God are the men who force your way
Play God is the image that he made

What is anarchy? In a negative sense it is a state of disorder due to absence of authority or other controlling systems, whereas in a positive sense it is the absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual.

What is abortion? An abortion is the medical process of ending a pregnancy so it doesn’t result in the birth of a baby. There are different laws about abortion around the world. In England the Abortion Act of 1967 allows termination of a pregnancy by a registered medical practitioner. The woman is usually less than 24 weeks pregnant, and the abortion would be taking place to prevent serious damage to the woman’s physical or mental health, or any of her existing children. Abortion can also be legal, even after 24 weeks, if there is a serious threat to the woman’s health or life, or there is substantial risk that the child will be born with physical or mental abnormalities and be seriously disabled. In GCSE Religious Studies some schools learn about abortion, the alternatives and what religions think about abortion.

Abortion in the news

At school we learn about abortion for the GCSE Religious Studies. We wait until we are 14-16 years old to learn about it as it is generally something which concerns older teenagers and adults but not young children. Learning about what abortion is and the arguments for and against it, usually coincides with learning about sexual relationships, contraception and parenting.

Abortion is when a pregnancy is ended so that it doesn’t result in the birth of a child. Sometimes it is called ‘termination of pregnancy’.

It has been in the news a lot over the last few weeks because about 16 US states are planning to change their laws on when abortions are allowed to happen and why. Here are some of the things happening around the USA:

• Iowa approved one of the most restrictive laws, banning abortions at point the foetus has a heartbeat (around six weeks)
• In March, Mississippi passed a law banning abortions after 15 weeks, with no exceptions for rape and incest. Only one abortion clinic remains in the state
• Missouri‘s state legislature has passed a controversial bill that would outlaw nearly all abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy. If approved, abortions past eight weeks would be banned in most cases, including rape or incest.
• In 2019 governors of four states – Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio – signed bills banning abortion if an embryonic heartbeat can be detected. This pretty much amounts to a ban on abortion because cardiac activity in an embryo can be detected as early as the sixth week, before a woman may be aware that she is pregnant. Women are often aware they are pregnant when they miss a period/ menstruation which can be 4-6 weeks apart.

Even President Donald Trump has now commented on these changes to abortion laws. He said, “I am very strongly pro-life, with the three exceptions – rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother – the same position taken by Ronald Reagan.”

In the UK there is something called the Abortion Act.  This law when tied in with another law called Offences Against the Person Act shows that something which is illegal (it is a crime for a woman to ‘create or get a miscarriage’, or for another person to help her do so) can become legal under particular circumstances. These circumstances are that it is performed by a registered medical practitioner (a doctor), and that it is authorised by two doctors when one (or more) of the following grounds is met:

(a) that the pregnancy has not exceeded its twenty-fourth week and that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family; or

(b) that the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman; or

(c) that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated; or

(d) that there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.

For our GCSE Religious Studies we need to know about what Christianity thinks about abortion and what Islam teaches.

The Miraculous Journey

‘The Miraculous Journey’ (2005 – 2013) consists of fourteen large-scale bronze sculptures that chart the gestation of a foetus from conception to birth. This impressive art work is by controversial British artist Damien Hirst. It can be found outside the new Sidra Medical and Research Centre in Doha, Qatar.

‘The Miraculous Journey‘ begins with the fertilization of an egg and ends with a fully formed baby. The huge bronze figures range from 5 to 11 metres in height and the whole structure weighs 216 metric tonnes. They were individually cast in over 500 panels at Pangolin Foundry in the UK before being transported to Qatar.

Hirst explains that the work came from, “a desire to create something monumental, whilst essentially human.” He states: “Ultimately, the journey a baby goes through before birth is bigger than anything it will experience in its human life. I hope the sculpture will instill in the viewer a sense of awe and wonder at this extraordinary human process, which will soon be occurring in the Sidra Medical Center, as well as every second all across the globe.”

Sheikha al Mayassa Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, chairwoman of the Qatar Museums Authority who commissioned the work, made the point to the New York Times: “To have something like this is less daring than having a lot of nudity. There is a verse in the Qur’an about the miracle of birth. It is not against our culture or our religion.” In the Qur’an it says, [We] then formed the drop into a clot and formed the clot into a lump and formed the lump into bones and clothed the bones in flesh; and then brought him into being as another creature. Blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators! (Qur’an, 23:14).

This really interesting artwork which teaches people about the incredible nature of human development from conception, embryo, foetus and birth  links to what we learn in PSHCE about pregnancy and also what we study in RS classes about  Islam and abortion.  The main fact to remember is that it is rarely permitted after 120 days. Muslims regard abortion as wrong and haram (forbidden), but many accept that it may be permitted in certain cases.

As with most moral debates, a religion like Islam will have a variety of viewpoints. All schools of Muslim law accept that abortion is permitted if continuing the pregnancy would put the mother’s life in real danger. This is the only reason accepted for abortion after 120 days of the pregnancy.  Different schools of Muslim law hold different views on whether any other reasons for abortion are permitted, and at what stage of pregnancy if so. Some schools of Muslim law permit abortion in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy, while others only permit it in the first 7 weeks. However, even those scholars who would permit early abortion in certain cases still regard abortion as wrong, but do not regard it as a punishable wrong.

The Qur’an does not explicitly refer to abortion but offers guidance on related matters.

66.4% to 33.6% vote in favour of overturning the abortion ban in Ireland

Watching how people debated the change in abortion law in Ireland showed the age old arguments about freedom for the woman against the right to life of an unborn child. 66.4% of voters wanted to repeal a part of the Irish constitution called the Eighth Amendment, which says an unborn child has the same right to life as a pregnant woman which effectively bans terminations.

The vote will possibly affect those north of the border too, as Northern Ireland has the strictest abortion laws in the UK. In Northern Ireland even in cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality these would not be grounds for a legal termination.

In England there is talk to amend the law on abortion even further so that women could take the abortion pill at home rather than having to administer it at a clinic, which is very demeaning if you have to travel on public transport straight afterwards.  Christian and Muslim arguments about abortion are interestingly varied and sometimes not what you’d expect.

Save the five year old child or the thousand viable embryos

The Independent has a really interesting article about a man destroying pro-life arguments with a clever scenario. It involves a fire in a fertility centre (don’t question why you’re there) and whether you’d save the five year old child or the thousand viable embryos. It is quite a useful argument you could use in a question 5,   statement response style question, for either the pro-choice argument or to criticise the pro-life argument.

Watch some TV to help you understand about a GCSE Component 2 topic

It’s no secret that watching TV or films can be a more entertaining way to learn and revise than reading textbooks or going on to school websites. So here is a good tip for our GCSE Religious Studies students: Cold Feet, currently available on the ITV Hub, has an Episode showing the arguments for Pro-Life and Pro-Choice, and how a young teenage couple choose to have an abortion. It is Episode 3, and you’ve got 15 days left to watch it!

This TV series is described as being a comedy drama which follows the lives and loves of a group of individuals. It is Series 7 of the drama and has been hugely successful over the last twenty years. In Episode 3 it shows how an unplanned pregnancy sparks a feud which puts a strain on old friendships. The show has been highly praised for how it covers this sensitive storyline: the Huffingtonpost describes how fans have lauded its sensitivity; and the Radio Times said the episode showed the series at its “unflinching best”.

Thank you to Heather in Year 11 for recommending this TV show!

This NHS page tells you all the medical facts about abortion in the UK, whereas the BBC has a great page which explains all the ethical arguments surrounding abortion.

There are 12 different videos about the history of abortion, pro-choice Vs pro-life, and religious arguments on the TrueTube channel.

Finally, if you still want to fin out more, this interesting Independent article shows how around the world women’s rights to abortion vary tremendously.

Is the 1967 Abortion Act about to get an overhaul?

In our GCSE Religious Studies classes we learn that in England and Wales women have to prove to a doctor that carrying on with the pregnancy is likely to cause harm to health or wellbeing to get permission for a termination. Without this permission, abortion is a criminal offence. There might be changes coming the way of the Abortion law because doctors at the British Medical Association’s annual conference have just voted to scrap that rule.

At the doctor’s annual conference in Bournemouth they decided to stick with the 24 week limit on abortion, but thought the law making abortion illegal should be changed: the majority of doctors were clear that abortion should be treated as a medical issue rather than a criminal one. It will be interesting in the coming years whether the doctors are able to influence the politicians into the same mindset. Resisting such thinking is Dr Peter Saunders, chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, who said “This decision defies common sense and will dismay thousands of ordinary doctors and nurses with their unprecedented decision.”

Abortion Law debated in Parliament

I was reluctant to report on this in case it confused students doing GCSE Religious Studies, but I think I can keep this simple enough.

In class we learn about the 1967 Abortion Act:

This law basically says that abortion is illegal unless it meets the specific criteria.

Well what we sometimes skip on mentioning in class (sorry guys but time is of the essence) is that another law can affect women’s rights to have an abortion. The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 makes it an offence, with the punishment a possible life sentence, if you terminate your own pregnancy. This sentence would also go to a doctor who helped you terminate your own pregnancy. A group of MPs have today won the right to introduce a bill to Parliament to change this law because they say that in today’s age when women can buy abortion pills online and get them delivered in the post they should be able to terminate their own pregnancies in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.

Numerous news outlets are reporting the story, such as the Catholic Herald,  and this all comes less than a week since Tory peer Lord Shinkwin failed in his efforts at making all abortions illegal in the UK.

Why are people protesting against abortion in the UK?

Notice: Graphic abortion images ahead. That is what the notice might say just before you walk past a Pro-Life protest outside places like the Department of Health’s headquarters. The protestors are expressing their strong beliefs that abortion is wrong and that the 1967 Abortion Act should be overturned to make abortion completely illegal again in the UK.

A number of pro-life protestors have spoken to a Guardian journalist to explain why they feel the need to protest.

“It was never a choice that I turned from [pro-choice] to [anti-abortion]. I’m a Christian and God got me involved.”

“I found out that we were losing 800 human lives per working day in this country to abortion,” she recalls. “It galvanised me to try to help as many more women as I could, and try to save as many more little lives as I could.”

…”being engaged in Christian ministry, having met a number of folks who’ve experienced the trauma of abortion, I believe abortion is far more traumatic than [going through with an unplanned pregnancy] to a woman later in life reflecting back on the choice she’s made.”

Pope Francis “Abortion is a Grave Sin”

For most of 2016 the Vatican has had a Jubilee year which has been known as the Holy Year of Mercy. Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic Church, has done lots of different things to spread forgiveness. One big events has been that he’s allowed all priests to forgive women for having abortions. Well today in an apostolic letter he extended this ability to forgive.

The 79-year-old Argentine said he wanted to “restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life”, but “there is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with [God]”.

In our GCSE classes we’ve learnt about repentance – when you fully ask for forgiveness and promise to do everything in your power to not make the same mistake again.

Abortion to be completely banned in Poland

In the Religious Studies GCSE students are able to study whether having an abortion should be a choice open to all women who have an unwanted pregnancy; only available to those whose lives would be at risk if the pregnancy continued; or not available to anyone as abortion is equated to killing a human life. This is a bit simplistic, there are plenty more variations on this theme, but it generally is an argument of allowing a lot of freedom, allowing abortion under very restricted circumstances and not allowing it at all.

In Poland abortion laws were already stricter than in Britain. In Poland abortions are only legally permitted when the life of the foetus is under threat, when there is a grave threat to the health of the mother (the Double Effect), and in the instance that the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. These reasons mostly tie in with Catholic opinions on abortion, though some Catholics say that all abortion is equivalent to murder and is against the Decalogue (10 Commandments).

Well now the law on abortion is about to get even stricter in Poland and some women are so annoyed about the loss of choice that they are saying they’ll go on strike to show their disagreement. Abortion is basically going to be completed banned with all terminations becoming a criminal act, with women punishable with up to five years in prison. Doctors found to have assisted with a termination would also be liable for prosecution and a prison term. There has obviously been some support for this in Poland too, parts of the Catholic church, a left wing political party and an organisation keen to stop all abortions.

According to a poll for Newsweek Polska, 74% of Poles support the retention of the existing legislation, while research by polling company Ipsos indicates 50% of Poles support the strike, with 15% saying they would like to take part. A further 15% expressed opposition.

“My mother is very Catholic, goes to church every Sunday, and is against abortion just because you might not want the child,” says Małgorzata Łodyga, a junior doctor who supports the strike. “But she is against this law, because if a woman is raped, she will be treated worse than the man who raped her.”

In England abortion is legal up to 24 weeks under the Abortion Act 1967. However, if there is a substantial risk to the woman’s life or foetal abnormalities, there is no time limit. There is also no age limit for treatment but it strongly advise that under 16s have counselling before they make any decision to go ahead with treatment.  It is required under law that when someone requests an abortion you will be asked  for your reasons. This is because before an abortion can proceed, two doctors must ensure that the requirements of the Abortion Act are fulfilled, and they must both sign the relevant certificate.