CRITICAL COMMENTARY OF "MY FOETUS"
By Monica Macauley and Patrick Leahy, Student LifeNet
Last Tuesday, Channel 4 screened one of the most controversial programmes ever broadcast in Britain. Entitled "My Foetus", the documentary film-maker, Julia Black, promised to take a fresh look at the abortion debate from both sides of the fence. Miss Black believes that society "continues to shy away from the reality of the procedure" and that this reality should be communicated to the public.
The title appears rather odd - after all, who refers to their “wanted” baby as "my foetus"? This peculiarity was reinforced throughout the film by numerous self-indulgent close-up shots of Black's pregnant bump. The overemphasis on her pregnancy served to show that it is her baby, and that her rights are paramount.
The documentary included the much anticipated pictures of aborted foetuses at 10, 11 and 21 weeks. Bizarrely, Black said that the use of the 21 week image makes her angry, because it "dehumanises" the foetus. And abortion doesn't? Despite her best attempts to appear reasonable, it’s hard to see the logic in that remark. The picture was harrowing and disturbing precisely because it showed the mangled remains of what was clearly a human baby - the dehumanisation comes from the fact that the baby was aborted.
Dr. John Parsons, a consultant gynaecologist, described to Black his feelings about performing late term abortions. With frankness, he recounted how he pulls apart the limbs of the foetus and flings them into a bucket. This, according to Dr. Parsons, is "not very nice . . . not nice at all". Outrageously, he attempted to justify these procedures under the grounds that it is "for the best for mother and baby". How on earth can he claim that killing the baby is for its own good? It raises an interesting question: if abortion doctors justify late abortion in such a simplistic way then can we really trust their excuses about early abortions?
The most controversial aspect of the programme was the showing of an early abortion procedure. A woman was shown having a vacuum pump abortion at 4 weeks gestation and the parts of the aborted embryo were placed on a petri dish and shown to viewers. However, abortions at this early state of pregnancy are extremely rare in Britain - most women are not even aware that they are pregnant at this early stage. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends against abortion at under 7 weeks gestation. Therefore, the portrayal of such an early abortion failed to present a balanced debate. It would have been fairer to show an abortion at 9-12 weeks: when most abortions in this country occur. Hypocritically, when a picture of a 21 week aborted foetus was shown, Black was careful to stress that such late abortions were rare, yet nothing was made of the fact that the broadcast abortion was exceptionally early and accounts for a similar percentage of abortions as the late term one.
Throughout the programme attempts were made to justify abortion regardless of the foetus’ humanity. Yet, by showing an early abortion when the mangled remains of the tiny embryo don’t resemble a human being, Miss Black was attempting to show that abortion is acceptable because the embryo didn’t look human. Hypocrisy once more.
One of the most insightful comments from the post-mortem analysis (no pun intended) was from Julia Millington of the ProLife Party. In her own words: “the Channel Four documentary was nothing short of a blatant advert for an early, quick abortion courtesy of Marie Stopes.” This certainly rings true when you consider how much emphasis was put on the ease and quickness of the filmed abortion. The ‘Marie Stopes’ name was possibly mentioned more times than we saw shots of Julia Black’s bump – although, to be fair, that’s too close to call.
Overall, "My Foetus" had the welcome effect of giving publicity to the debate over abortion. However, it treated foetal humanity almost as if it was accidental: an unfortunate fact that should not affect our attitudes towards abortion. It attempted no discussion of any moral right to life the foetus might possess - instead, the emphasis was on how long we can get away with abortion before the foetus looks too human to be comfortable. Most viewers we’ve spoken to were left indifferent to the programme; many now feeling uneasy about abortions post 12-weeks. It’s therefore hard to know what Julia Black achieved both generally and for the pro-choice side. Her hypocrisy and failure to present the pro-life side of the argument fairly, meant this was anything but a fresh look at the abortion debate from both sides of the fence.
