People

Please share your opinions on L.N and D.K.'s thoughts.

No Name
I Think Abortions Need To Be Stopped It Is Wrong To Hurt An Innocent Child. That Child Did Not Ask To Be Brought Into This World.You Knew The Consequences Of A Child When You Laid Down In Opened Your Legs. Abortions Need To Stop.

C, Douglas
Abortion should be made available to those women that need it on the Isle of Man. This current archaic law needs some serious updating. Better sex education and good access to all forms of contraception for youngsters would also hopefully help reduce the teenage pregnancy rate, which is shockingly high. On a personal note, as a 36 year old woman, it's nigh on impossible for me to get a sterilisation through the NHS here because I don't have and don't want kids. Although the NHS will throw money at IVF treatment, I bet they won't pay for my passage to the UK should I ever be unlucky enough to need an abortion, despite me being absolutely rigorous with my contraception. Maybe if women's reproductive health was looked at from a woman's point of view then all women might get better treatment on the Isle of Man, and you never know, the rate of unwanted pregancies (and therefore abortions) might just reduce.

JR
The choice to an abortion should be avaiable to everyone. It is our right to choose what we want and the fact that it is not available here on the island is pre-historic and an infringement of free choice. I do not see abortion as a waste of life but children who are born and have no quality of life....that is a waste.

R.C , ramsey.
How lucky you are to have the support of a loving family,but not everybody has that luxery,also whats right for you isnt necessary right for the next person,freedom of choice hey!Respect other people's decisions.One day you may well need to make a different decision yourself.

chloe
I think abortions should be stopped all over apart from if you are raped.

Nic
I personally would not have an abortion but think it should be made avaliable for those who feel having a baby would be a bad idea for them - there are far to many kids in this world who don't get the love and support they need without adding more to the equation. It should be the womans choice - prehaps introduce some counselling sessions before hand so all of the options can assesed before the final decision is made.

Tam
Why bring another life into this world when you can't take care of it. There's thousands of kids in our country who are suffring because they weren't aborted. People would rather help kids in other countries than help those in their own.

E.C,
Abortion is an option that needs to be avaialable over here. However this option would be needed much less if sex education was done properly at school, as many parents aren't doing it. Ignorance is never better and leaves women and girls vulnerable to lies and the many playground myths that still persist.

AngryReptileKeeper
Nobody uses abortion as birth control. It is quite simply too expensive, and often very painful.

tina
I am 50 and had an abortion at 19. I will never get over it. I made a huge mistake which I have never been able to get over. It is very sad so I agree, it should not have been available to me, then I would not have been forced into making such a terrible mistake and having to live with the concequences which has been far harder and more difficult than any child could be

Sarah C.
This seems very Victorian. I am horrified to think that if my grand daughter were ever assaulted and became pregnant then she would have to travel to England to have an abortion as though she had done done something wrong. This is a disgrace.

E.C., Isle of Man
Nobody like abortion, but surely it's wrong that those who feel they need one are forced to travel abroad, especially as that means that it is only accessible to those who can afford private medical treatment. Why not allow the prescription of the abortion pill instead? Also, I found it truly shocking that a rape victim's word that they have been assaulted isn't enough to be able to abort any resulting pregnancy, but that they would have to undergo an exmaination by a police surgeon - which may not show much several weeks after an attack and would potentially be very distressing - and would have to await the conclusion of a police investigation first! Is this really the view everybody on the IoM has of women who say they have been raped?

Phenan, Ramsey
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out that if the Isle of Man has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe, it could be attributed to the fact that abortions are not available to young girls. Is it not completely hypercritical to keep archaic laws in place because you think young girls will be discouraged from having sex at a younger age if abortions are difficult and expensive. Well it doesn't seem to be working Isle of Man. Maybe some members of the Manx Government need to think again. Get out of your little farm mentality and use your intellect to work out these problems. The days of asking god for guidance are over. Get real and get with it.

Simon B., North London
I don't like the concept of abortion but I still think women should be able to access safe abortions in their home area.

Gary
If people don't want abortions happening on the island then so be it.

Jonsey
If only it was so simple. Yes, abortion is not a good thing but you have to put yourself in the shoes of someone who really doesn't want to have a baby and whose life could be ruined by having one. How can you deny a woman the right to choose how she leads her life? Abortion has been going on since the beginning of time. Atleast these days in the UK, we can be sure that there is no reason for a woman to go to a backstreet abortion clinic and possibly DIE from having an illegal abortion. This still happens all over the world. In the other article, I was shocked to read that a young woman was trying to self abort/have a miscarriage!!!!!!! I cannot belive that this is happening in the isle of man. It makes it sound like some country with a really restrictive regime in the middle east or something. Come on, this is the isle of man we're talking about. Sort out these laws before someone injures themselves.

Michael Lindsay
What is all the fuss about? I don't see why it's a problem that abortions don't happen on the isle of man. The mainland is not far away and women can always travel there if they so wish.

Tracey Peters,UK
Oh it's a hard one. I don't agree with abortion but until society changes, how can we encourage young mothers to have their babies? If no one over on the Isle of Man is talking about abortion (and it looks like nobody would give their names for these articles) then there's a MASSIVE taboo going on. That needs breaking first.

M. G.
If people are silly enough to get themselves pregnant then they should have to have the baby and live with the consequences.

Sarah, Ramsey
I don't agree with abortion but I wouldn't like to have my university and career taken away from me because I was forced to have a baby in my eearly teens because I couldn't access an abortion. easily. I think there has to be provision for abortion.

C.N.
Everyone has a right to choice, i had an abortion at 24 & am now happily married with 2 beautiful daughters.My decision was mine to make, i made it & it was right for me. I have no regrets & yes my family inc. my husband & daughters know & respect my decision & support/supported me. All i ask is don't judge me without knowing me or my reasons. which i will not discuss in public.

Paul, London
This is all very well if you want to have a baby but what if having one is going to keep you under the poverty level and stop you accessing opportunities to get yourself out of that situation? Abortion should definitely be available to all women in the Isle of Man.