I came across a couple a few articles today as the mainstream media seeks to score points derailing Donald Trumps campaign.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11614961

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/31/donald-trump-abortion-remarks-biggest-campaign-crisis

I'm not bringing this up to defend Donald Trump;
I'm not even bringing this up as a means of debate for or against abortion;

But rather to ask the question "Does the Mainstream Media Openly Support Illegal Abortion"?

My point is this if it is in fact illegal to abort a 8mth old fetus, then shouldn't there be some kind of penalty to put in place to prevent abortionists and their clients from doing what is illegal?

Would this not force women to make decisions about terminating a pregnancy earlier when the child is less developed?

And what happens if some caring guy was looking after her for 8mths with the impression she was going to have his child and then she changes her mind and the man has no say after he'd been giving himself financially and emotionally during her pregnancy?
Is this not a side issue to take into account?

In any case it seems to me the media is openly supporting illegal practices.

This is an Australian example of informative and fair reporting, wouldn't you say?

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/i-felt-i-had-been-abandoned-inconsistency-and-fear-surrounds-lateterm-abortion-20141121-11r83k.html

Just to comment on the linked article not that it is necessary, my wife and I would definitely have sought a termination in that circumstance and for many obvious reasons.

Where I believe the media could be conducting investigative reporting but doesn't, is into the reasons behind the unexpected, inordinate number of terminations forced upon young working couples in their twenties who want children but cannot afford to have them and are delaying their children and often too late. The flow-on effects of over-enthusiastic immigration policies by successive federal governments are already known to be a prime contributor to this sorry state of affairs.

Perhaps the mainstream media, citizens, and anybody capable of getting on with life can recognise that there are many instances where abortions should not be illegal, and that the insistence on "punishment" and it's unavoidable consequences just makes the "illegality" more ludicrous.

If "legality" is the issue, better get those laws fair and just and constitutional before harping on.

Rusty

'Mainstream Media' doesn't have to report on Trump to try to derail his campaign, he is doing that perfectly well for his mad self. And I rejoice at every stumble he makes.

Mainstream Media usually reports what it thinks the majority of people will agree is necessary to be kept informed. I very much doubt mainstream media would ever 'support' abortions being done at 8 months gestation because that would be very rare news indeed, but is known to be falsely reported about by lying anti-choice advocates.

AC,

This is a silly question. If the abortion is illegal then there is a penalty.

In the US a foetus over 6 months is recognised as a person, so abortion is illegal except in a medical emergency.

Similarly, abortion on demand is available only up to 20 weeks, after which only a medical problem with the foetus such down's syndrome or mother will allow a late term abortion.

However, as 95% of all on demand abortions occur within 12 weeks and so are not only perfectly legal, but with little to no risk to the mother.

Hey onthebeach,
I most definitely do think that there should be exemptions for when the unborn child has physical or mental disabilities.
I think the parents should be given more discretion in these situations, mainly because they are the one who must care for them.

I sometimes think its unfair that taxpayers must pay for these kids, for their welfare and for people to look after them.
But I wouldn't take the choice away from parents who wanted to keep them, if they did want to.

I do think its pretty sad that the 8mth old unborn was aborted, that he/she never got a chance at life because of the cleft hand but I do understand the reason why they made that decision, that he/she would be discriminated against and not have an easy life.

But women who do wish to have an abortion should be encouraged to make their minds up early, and the laws should be clearer.

I cant help thinking that the Prince Albert made a heap $ out of that abortion, after the US stories about Planned Parenthood and the body parts and sales controversy, though I didn't start this thread to shed light on that.

My reason for posting this article was more the shock of seeing articles where the media seemed to indicate they supported illegal practices whilst holding a popular women's position whilst attempting to score points against Trump.

I'm not necessarily against abortion, I know there's circumstances such as rape where its certainly reasonable and others, where its just plain preferable, these are facts of life, but I won't revel in the practice or assume that it should be used as a simple form of birth control.
I think taking the life of an unborn child is still a pretty sad thing and the should be taken at least somewhat seriously.

Suseonline,
I read an interesting story a few days back that made me question Trump, and I did have a moment of doubt.
It was from one of his campaign staff that had recently left his campaign.
http://occupydemocrats.com/2016/03/28/trumps-top-strategist-just-quit-wrote-brutal-open-letter-trump-voters/

I read another article which shed more light on this.
http://www.snopes.com/stephanie-cegielski-letter-trump/

I've also heard it mentioned a few times that this woman was a Ted Cruz mole working inside the Trump camp.

- In any case it did lead me to have doubts about Trump.

I still like the guy and would be willing to go along with him (if I was a US citizen) simply because I cant stand the idea of what might happen in the world if one of the other bought-and-paid-for candidates gets in.
It's like I know there's going to be trouble if one of the others get in, where as with Trump, I'm still at least a little bit optimistic that things wont be as bad.
I do think though that there will be forces trying to play dirty with his Presidency (assuming he gets in) just in the same way they are playing dirty with his campaign now.

Shadow Minister,
I honestly don't know but are there any stats of women or abortionists being prosecuted for breaking the rules, whatever they are.
It would be interesting to know.

I don't want to punish any woman for having to make a difficult decision to end the life of an unborn child, I just don't want to make it easy for them to use abortion as a form of birth control on late term pregnancies.

And if laws or penalties aren't in place to prevent the behavior then one can only assume the practice would continue.

Armchair Critic I think the main point to remember is that back when it was illegal to have or perform an abortion, they still happened frequently....except they were done unsafely and caused many maternal deaths as well.

Doctors, midwives and women who had abortions were prosecuted back in the good old days, but still the abortions kept happening.

Maybe we could look at the situation in a different way today to see if we get any better results. With these days of good DNA testing results we could find out who the fathers were of these unwanted pregnancies and prosecute them for having had unprotected sex?

AC

With abortion being legal and accessible, I can't find any cases of illegal abortions.

As I mentioned previously 95% of terminations occur in the first 12 weeks, and small handful after that. The terminations that occur after 20 weeks would appear to be from those that wanted to have the baby but have found compelling medical reasons not to.

Hey Suseonline,
I don't see why not.
I don't think it's a taxpayers duty to raise all these kids if there are fathers who can be found and who should be contributing but aren't.

One thing I will say about your mention of 'fathers of unwanted pregnancies' is that blokes maybe do get the rough end of the stick in one area, but this just par for the course, so don't think I'm necessarily complaining about it.

A man does not have any say whether or not a woman wants to keep the baby, and it does take two to tango.
If its the womans unwanted pregnancy expect an abortion whether the man wants it or not.
If its a mans unwanted pregnancy, he may still have to expect child support, again whether he likes it or not.
But blokes can protect themselves against the latter by wearing condoms and avoiding that situation if they choose to.

Shadow Minister,
I don't know whether there isn't any stats because it doesn't happen or because no one is prosecuted for it.
But I think the 95% statistic of women who do the right thing is pleasing, and we should be glad that the vast majority of them are already acting responsibly. Maybe a good deal of them shouldn't be getting pregnant in the first place, but men are just as much to blame for this as well.

Society's and Media's obsession with casual sex is to blame for the surgical abortion industry in Western society. With 500,000 + abortions in Australia in the last 40 years we have destroyed a whole nation for selfish pleasure. Very few would have been deformed and in such cases would have naturally aborted.

"In 2005 an estimated 83,210 induced abortions were performed, with women aged 0-19 years representing 13 855 (16.5%) of this total number [3]. The abortion rate in Australia is about 19.7 per 1000 women aged 15-44,4 which is relatively high when compared with other countries where abortion is easier to access"

The media and women in Parliament support abortion as a pregnancy control method. However it damages the woman's self image and engenders guilt. We in Australia have available several very effective methods of avoiding a pregnancy. The use of taxpayer funding for the procedure should not be available for those over 18 years

I said, "With 500,000 + abortions in Australia in the last 40 years we have destroyed a whole nation for selfish pleasure". this figure should read 3,000,000+ potential persons of Australian society have been destroyed.