Abortion : what we need to know.

This documentary questions the current laws regarding late-term abortions. It does so on a number of grounds. Firstly there is growing concern that at 20 weeks gestation there is evidence that the fetal brain is developed enough for it to suffer pain during the abortion process. Secondly the survival rate for pre-term babies is so much greater now that babies born at less than 25 weeks have a 30% chance of living. As 24 weeks is now the viable survival rate for a premature baby, the fact that this is also the legal upper limit for abortions in the UK seems untenable. Thirdly there are fewer and fewer doctors willing to perform late-term abortions. And finally, the ground-breaking ultra-sound scanning techniques of Stuart Campbell have raised emotions about late term abortion by revealing in 3-D just how appealing the 24-week-old fetus is. The programme contains much footage which is hard to watch including a late-term abortion on a teenage girl, images of aborted fetal body parts and footage of an aborted fetus at 24 weeks old.