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Woman ends her life after being forced to have 14 abortions

A woman from India has ended her own life after her partner of eight years forced her to have 14 abortions, according to her suicide note.

Police from Delhi report that the 33-year-old woman left a suicide note detailing the ordeal that she had been put through over the course of the relationship.

The Times of India reports that the woman had started a relationship with the man after he promised to marry her. He never did, and forced her to have 14 abortions by giving her abortion-inducing drugs. A police officer said that a case of abetment of suicide has been registered against the man.

The woman was found dead hanging in a room on 5 July. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Esha Pandey said:

“We have registered a case under sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 376 (rape) and 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent) of the Indian Penal Code and further investigation was taken up”.

The woman has left behind two daughters aged 12 and 14.

A quarter of abortions are coerced by men

Research has found that a quarter of abortions are coerced by men.

Dr Calum Miller, NHS doctor and research associate at the University of Oxford specialising in abortion policy, says that the removal of the requirement for a face-to-face consultation, as happens with ‘DIY’ abortion services, was “brilliant news for abusers, traffickers and abortion providers” because it allows men to force women to have abortions without detection.

“What may have seemed convenient to abortion providers is the devastating loss of a lifeline for victims of abuse and trafficking who desperately need to speak to someone in private. Abortion clinics are one of the most frequently visited public sites for victims of sex trafficking. Sending these women — or their pimps — abortion pills in the mail only keeps this horrific practice in the shadows, away from detection. And it potentially subjects them to forced abortion, an appalling human rights abuse that often leaves life-long trauma”.

Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson, said: “If the facts of this case are as described, it is utterly tragic. This woman was clearly in a highly abusive relationship with a man who forced her to end the lives of 14 of their own children. Cases like this show that for many women, abortion is not their choice to make, but something which they are forced to do”.

Dear reader,

You may be surprised to learn that our 24-week abortion time limit is out of line with the majority of European Union countries, where the most common time limit for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds is 12 weeks gestation.

The latest guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine enables doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks. The latest research indicates that a significant number of babies born at 22 weeks gestation can survive outside the womb, and this number increases with proactive perinatal care.

This leaves a real contradiction in British law. In one room of a hospital, doctors could be working to save a baby born alive at 23 weeks whilst, in another room of that same hospital, a doctor could perform an abortion that would end the life of a baby at the same age.

The majority of the British population support reducing the time limit. Polling has shown that 70% of British women favour a reduction in the time limit from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or below.

Please click the button below to sign the petition to the Prime Minister, asking him to do everything in his power to reduce the abortion time limit.