Ms Liz McDermott:

I think it is cruel to put pressure in any shape or form from whatever direction on a woman to abandon her baby. Babies are there and we are carriers of them. It is in our nature as women and we need to come back to that. I felt, as perhaps did others, that when your baby looks different to everybody else's baby or has lots of things wrong with him or her, you feel a bit judged and that you are somehow the parents of a child who is not ideal. That in itself puts pressure on parents. As for women who are on their own or who are older, I have heard older mothers say they felt like they were the grandmother in the antenatal class. There are all sorts of subtle pressures that women must endure during pregnancy. I do not like to talk about it in terms of it being cruel to force, and I do not even like the word "force", women to continue a pregnancy. When you are pregnant, you are pregnant and there is a baby there. As for the idea of forcing that to continue to its natural process, it is not a forcing question. It is about supporting the woman who has found out something new or has particular challenges to deal with. It is not about forcing or locking them up and telling them "you are not allowed to leave this room". It is about being compassionate and humane to both parties - both patients - and encouraging the woman to bond and believe in herself. Sometimes women say that they just need someone to tell them they can do this. Lots of people have abortions because nobody really said they would be there for them if they had the child. Lots of people told them that if they had the abortion, they would be there for them but they did not say that if they had the child, they would be there for them so there is a big burden on women to opt for abortion that is just subliminally in the air we breathe because it is a case of "well, why wouldn't you?". I am trying to change that perspective, attitude and approach to pregnancy and unborn babies. I do not think it is cruel. I do not see it in that paradigm but I think we need to support women.