Controversial documentary shows reality of abortion

IRISH viewers got a stark insight into how an abortion is performed when Channel 4 screened its controversial documentary My Foetus last night.

The programme a first for a British broadcaster showed an abortion performed by vacuum pump at a Marie Stopes clinic on a woman four weeks pregnant.

Viewers also saw pictures of foetuses aborted at 10 weeks and 21 weeks, when limbs and a face can clearly be seen.

Julia Black, the independent film-maker behind the programme, said she decided to include the images because "however shocking, repulsive and confrontational they are, they represent the reality".

"Aborted foetuses from 10 weeks on look like tiny babies. Rationally, we know abortion ends the life of a potential human being, but why, when we see what they look like, are we so shocked?"

Ms Black, who herself had an abortion at 21, is the daughter of the founder of the Marie Stopes Clinic, one of the leading pro-choice advice centres in Britain and Ireland. She said she wanted to challenge her own instinctive pro-choice view on abortion.

Ms Black now has a nine-month-old child born when she was 34. "After giving birth to my daughter I knew why it was important to make this film," she said. "I wanted to kick-start the debate and make society re-examine its views on abortion."

Speaking on the Marian Finucane radio programme on RTÉ yesterday, Ms Black said she had her abortion for 'social reasons' but no longer supported late-stage abortions for reason other than medical necessity. "I would not be comfortable with that now in the later stage of pregnancy," she said. Ms Black added that there should be more discussion on avoiding pregnancy rather than terminating it.

The programme has been criticised by some pro-life campaigners who say it is an advert for early abortion and presents the operation as an easy procedure, ignoring its psychological effects.

However, pro-abortionists have claimed the graphic images could strengthen the pro-life lobby and discourage women from having safe abortions.

Almost one in four (23%) of all pregnancies in Britain now ends in abortion. About 6,000 Irish women travel to Britain each year for abortions, according to the Irish Family Planning Clinic.