N.U.S. : NATIONAL UNION OF SQUANDERERS
Earlier this month, President George W. Bush signed a bill banning the medical procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion. In response, the National Union of Students' Women's Campaign held a candle-lit picket outside the American Embassy in London in order to protest what they called "an attack on women's reproductive choices". Student LifeNet is mystified as to how this widely-supported piece of American legislation affects U.K. students and would like to politely suggest that the NUS use the money it receives from student unions for the purpose it is intended.
Partial-birth abortion is carried out in the third trimester of pregnancy. At this stage of development, the nervous system of the foetus is advanced enough that it feels pain. The foetus is partially delivered feet-first and an incision is made in the base of the skull with a sharp instrument. A tube is inserted and the brain is removed by suction, which causes the skull to collapse. The now-dead baby is then delivered fully.
Supporters of partial-birth abortion usually cite as their defence that it is only used as a last resort to protect the health of the mother. However, this myth was exposed when Ron Fitzsimmons, director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, told the New York Times, "In the vast majority of cases, the procedure is performed on a healthy mother with a healthy foetus that is 20 weeks or more along." He estimated that there were between 3,000 and 5,000 partial-birth abortions performed in America each year.
Many physicians have dismissed any suggestion that partial birth abortion is ever in the best interests of the mother. In September 1996, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, supported by other medical professionals, said, "Partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary to protect a mother's health or her future fertility. On the contrary, this procedure can pose a significant threat to both."
In this light, the position of NUS Women's Campaign is clearly seen to be ridiculous. Even from a pro-choice perspective, partial-birth abortion is detrimental to women's health rather than protecting it and is a particularly cruel method of ending unborn life. It is also practically non-existent in the U.K. since doctors prefer to use other methods of ending a late-term pregnancy. However, it is not clear whether the Women's Campaign is indeed acting out of genuine concern for women or merely jumping on the anti-Bush bandwagon. What is more, by protesting outside the American Embassy, they show a startling lack of diplomacy that could easily be interpreted as offensive by Americans studying in Britain.
Students everywhere, whatever their stance on abortion, should be disgusted with the behaviour of the NUS. It has taken the money that student unions provide in good faith on students' behalf and wasted it on something that is both pointless and irrelevant to U.K. students. Furthermore, its extreme pro-abortion policies are alienating it from the very people whose views it claims to represent.
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