The Staggers

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Jeremy Hunt has no evidence for his abortion stance

Health Secretary says 24-week limit should be halved to 12 weeks. But where's his evidence?

By George Eaton Published 06 October 2012 9:32

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said "my own view is that 12 weeks is the right point for it". Photograph: Getty Images.

Jeremy Hunt appears intent on proving as controversial in his new job as he did in his old one. In his first newspaper interview since becoming Health Secretary, Hunt declares his support for halving the legal time limit for women to have abortions, from 24 weeks to 12. He tells the Times (£):

I'm not someone who thinks that abortion should be made illegal. Everyone looks at the evidence and comes to a view about when that moment is and my own view is that 12 weeks is the right point for it.

It’s just my view about that incredibly difficult question about the moment that we should deem life to start. I don’t think the reason I have that view is for religious reasons.

Hunt voted in favour of a 12-week limit in 2008, so this isn't the first time he's expressed his views on the subject, but his promotion to Health Secretary means they have taken on a new significance. Downing Street has emphasised that Hunt was expressing a personal view and that it has no plans to change the current law, something that would require a free vote by MPs. But at the very least, Hunt's status as Health Secretary affords him a powerful platform to argue for a lower limit and, upsetting the Tories' pre-conference preparations, he has chosen to do so.

In response, health professionals have warned that a 12-week limit would effectively end testing for conditions such as Down’s syndrome and force women into having terminations before they are ready. Just eight per cent of abortions currently take place after 12 weeks. Kate Guthrie, spokeswoman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, told the Times:

If everybody had to have abortions by 12 weeks, my worry would be that women would be rushed into making decisions: ‘I have to have an abortion now or I can’t have one.’ That’s an absolute shocker. You will absolutely create mental health problems if you start dragooning women into making decisions before they have to.

The paper's columnist Alice Thomson points out (£):

The vast majority of those whose abortions take place after 12 weeks have a good reason for the delay and are the most complicated cases. It’s the women who have abortions before 12 weeks who tend to be more likely to be using abortion as a lazy contraception. The cases after 12 weeks tend to be young girls who didn’t realise they were pregnant or suspected that they were but were too afraid to discuss it, or women in their late 40s who believed they were menopausal and are worried about the risks of late motherhood.

One searches in vain for any consideration of these points by Hunt or any "evidence" in favour of a 12-week limit. The Health Secretary is entitled to his views - would we rather he concealed them? - but he will be judged accordingly.

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Tags: Jeremy Hunt Abortion Conservatives

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24 comments

Sun, 2012-10-07 17:00 — G. Hancocks (not verified)

Hunt is a *unt.

Sun, 2012-10-07 15:55 — DonB

Hunt is a liability in government, what has he got over Cameron?

Sun, 2012-10-07 04:38 — Posh Tosh (not verified)

Soon there will be backroom abortions and the old workhouses back in force, with an article in the MEN last night that twelve major Greater Manchester Hospitals will close all emergency departments and many more hospitals will close in the area.

Well the ToryLabLib coalition has changed the goalposts and we have so many unemployed that we either have to stop immigration or stop the NHS as we cannot afford to keep up with the grants and care for the people that have never paid a penny in taxes or NHS contribution.

Lovely to see pensioners coming here to claim income support and new housing as they managed to need heath care and could not get it back home, or the free non-paid in pension - or the free house, oh and the two social carers and the interpreters to help wheel them and know what they want whilst they shop.

Ain't Half Cold Mumtaz!..or Warm Ivan!

Sun, 2012-10-07 02:10 — Benjamin Rae (not verified)

What's evidence got to do with an anything? There was no evidence their economic policy would work. There's was no evidence the NHS would be okay in their hands. Evidence is nothing to do with right wing policy formulation. It's about what they think they can get away with.
That's what right wing policy is about. Luckily this lot have been too greedy even for the docile British electorate.

Sat, 2012-10-06 22:27 — Davidaslindsay (not verified)

Like Maria Miller before him, Jeremy Hunt has said nothing more than that he himself would vote for a backbench amendment lowering the abortion time limit, though not under the catch-all "special circumstances" for which Margaret Thatcher legalised it up to birth. There is no story here. Would that there were. But there isn't.

Speaking of Thatcher, the 12-week time limits on abortion elsewhere in Western Europe are due to the consensus between, upon and around Christian Democracy and Social Democracy, once the twin pillars of One Nation Toryism, and now once again, as historically, the twin pillars of One Nation Labour.

Whereas post-Thatcher and post-Blair Britain is like the United States since the dismantlement of the New Deal: dependent on abortion, among other evils, for the maintenance of the underlying and overarching evil that is its economic arrangements.

Listen to the silence from the Shadow Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, practising Catholic, Hero of Hillsborough, working-class boy made good, and Yvette Cooper's potential nemesis in any future Leadership Election that they might still be young enough to contest.

Sat, 2012-10-06 22:04 — Mr Bingham (not verified)

If anything this Tory Led Coalition is a complete and utter abortion and should have been terminated within four weeks once all the lies started to surface.

Sadly we will have to wait until 2015 before when can bring about that termination !

Sat, 2012-10-06 20:27 — Hugh C Markey (not verified)

Surely Jeremy is the best excuse ever for having one. What is it that some harridans say - with relish - "If men became pregnant, a******* would be a sacrament!"
Capital punishment for the CEO of any private clinic practicing this procedure. Hush-hush and strictly on the QT. A killing - profiting from murder - tut, tut.

You'd better believe it.

Blood Rites

Sat, 2012-10-06 17:25 — Michael Dixon (not verified)

It is Hunt's own opinion.

An opinion is there to be judged but it should be freely given, like Murdoch's ex-man, Tom Baldwin, now Miliband's script writer, believing Labour is the party of one nation.

Just like Labour thought G4S were the best security firm to watch over them at their recent Party Conference.

Sat, 2012-10-06 14:03 — Indu Pendent

Go back to basics.

Why are there any restrictions on abortion? Why not allow abortion at 30 or 36 weeks? Thats a question which is hard for the Labour mindset to understand. The Labour elite will need to look at the opnion polls to decide what will give them a majority in marginal seats.

Medicine has moved on -- yes there is loads of evidence to support it -- that 24 week old babies have a good chance of survival and growing to be normal people. On that basis alone I thin 24 weeks is too late.

Labour is the athiest party and puts a political value on life so dont expect the party to have a pro-life approach.

Sat, 2012-10-06 20:44 — Hu Ru (not verified)

.....Labour is the athiest party ........blah blah blah.....
Since when were atheists anti-life?
Trouble with god-botherers, (at least the Abrahamic ones, in my experience) is they think they can define morals because they believe they are so good.
Superstitious cretins, in my opinion.

Sat, 2012-10-06 16:38 — jankaas (not verified)

"yes there is loads of evidence to support it"
and where exactly is all this evidence?

"that 24 week old babies have a good chance of survival and growing to be normal people."

survival yes, becoming "normal people" is just not true. it is most likely that surviving at 24 weeks leads to a life of severe disabilities. this is what we know about health outcomes for preterms 23 - 25 weeks;
chronic lung disease that may or may not resolve by age 2
underdeveloped heart that may require surgery to restore normal function
brain bleeds leading to cerebral palsy, intellectual, visual, hearing impairment
underdeveloped eyes that may need surgery
underdeveloped digestive system that likely needs surgery

i hope you appreciate that surgery on one so tiny is highly risky? let alone a sequence of surgical procedures...

i happen to think that surviving is not enough, and that we are forced to think about the quality of life we foist on other human beings. it is fantasy and irresponsible to suggest that at 24 weeks it is a piece of cake to ensure the survivor will have a "normal" life. maybe one day it could be possible, but as of right now it is just not so.

Sat, 2012-10-06 18:20 — Indu Pendent

So aborting at 24 weeks is wrong: there are healthy babies being killing.

Lets settle at
1) 20 weeks supported by 2 doctors signatures where the current medical evidence is that the survival rate drops off substantially.
2) 24 week with sign off by 2 doctors + a consultant pediatrician to support its in the interests of the child.

The interests of the child come above the interests of the parents even if thats not the One Nation Labour way.

Sat, 2012-10-06 22:45 — jankaas (not verified)

"So aborting at 24 weeks is wrong: there are healthy babies being killing."

nope. the facts conclude the exact opposite; at 24 weeks it almost a guarantee that you can't have what you claim is a "healthy baby". all our best efforts aren't up to the job at this point in time. fact.

so why are you being willfully stupid Indu? i ask because there is no evidence whatsoever to back up your claim to healthy babies being involved at 24weeks. where is your evidence? the paediatric studies that i'm aware of show nothing as you describe it.

Sat, 2012-10-06 13:08 — Simon Balfre (not verified)

Jeremy Hunt, ought to learn about things like this before voicing a personal opinion which as far as I can see fail to take into account the facts.

Sun, 2012-10-07 12:45 — Ellie (not verified)

Er why? It's his personal opinion based on his understanding of whatever evidence he has read. I may or may not share Mr Hunt's opinion but he has every right to say what he thinks; just as you have every right not to agree with him and to say so; but to suggest that he shouldn't voice his opinion because you don't think his opinion is right is ridiculous and smacks of something else entirely.

Sat, 2012-10-06 12:20 — Crayon (not verified)

"People say life begins at conception, I say life began about a billion years ago and it's a continuous process."

George Carlin.

Sat, 2012-10-06 12:12 — matthew fox (not verified)

More Keystone cops from the Tories, a Health Secretary with a personal view about abortion.

Strange how that view has never been forthcoming until now.

Sat, 2012-10-06 12:01 — Sid Cumberland (not verified)

You don't need 'evidence' in order to have an opinion or to take a stance. For example, I think Jeremy Hunt's a prat. Evidence? I don't need any! He says 12 weeks abortion limit is right. Evidence? He doesn't need any either!

Sat, 2012-10-06 12:10 — Herbert (not verified)

Sid, there's plenty of evidence that Hun't a prat.

Sat, 2012-10-06 11:54 — A Realist (not verified)

The mess the tories are making of the nhs was uniting the whole country. Well, that was no good- so tory think tank looked for a new way to get the public to fight and it's working. People all over the internet are in a massive fight - many at opposite ends of the argument, debating this emotional issue.

The tories did not pose this as an issue before the last election. This was because it would stop many voting for them. Especially the middle class labour voter they were after. Now they are losing this squeezed middle vote, they are looking to gain votes elsewhere, perhaps from religious people. What is so bad about all this is Hunt is using this as a device to deflect away from the nhs mess. It will even unite some of the right of the party and stop them talking about europe and joining ukip. For some of them, this is good tory right wing policy and makes them forget about building on the greenbelt and runways in their gardens and gay marriage.

The nhs is about more than abortion and whatever people's views, we should not allow Hunt and the tories to treat us like plebs whilst we fight out issues to divert us from their total sham of a government.

Economic problems? Unemployment? Europe? Train Franchise mess?

Let's talk about Abortion and stop anybody noticing the mess we are making. It's a cynical and nasty tactic, but perfect for an ex murdoch sponsored opportunist such as Hunt.

Sat, 2012-10-06 13:48 — frames (not verified)

Spot on!

Sat, 2012-10-06 11:44 — jankaas (not verified)

just look at those weasel words again from this slippery man;
"It’s just my view about that incredibly difficult question about the moment that we should deem life to start. I don’t think the reason I have that view is for religious reasons."

so he doesn't "think" his POV is based on his religion? so it could just as well be based on his faith but he's a bit uncertain and can't quite tell. yeah, rrright....typical double speak, hence utterly meaningless.

but it is indeed a most tricky thing to conclude when exactly life begins, but prior to that debate i'd like Mr Hunt to define what life is. any-one here up to the task?

Sat, 2012-10-06 11:29 — Zaza (not verified)

Same old Conservatives. They are just trolling to upset liberals and appeal to their core British Tea Partiers now they realise that any sane floating voters have long been repulsed by them. Might as well try to hang onto the loons you have left.

Sat, 2012-10-06 11:08 — mike cobley (not verified)

Important thing to realise is that the antiabortion lobby are fixated on one goal, the abolition of abortion. So any argument they put forward WRT time limits, whether its 24 weeks, 20 weeks, 12 weeks, these are only placeholders, milestone on the road to total abolition. Anti-abortionists are the trolls of modern politics - do not feed.