This was a very hard-hitting show but one that I wanted to watch because I have a personal connection to abortion too.

Three Families follows three women’s stories about abortion in Northern Ireland and how, because of the legality of the situation there, they were unable to get abortions legally despite the complications that their pregnancies held.

One girl was underage and accidentally became pregnant and her mother bought her pills through the internet to abort the foetus, this woman was caught doing this and could’ve faced up to 5 years in jail if she was prosecuted, for merely helping her daughter out of a life changing situation that she did not want to be a part of.

The second woman was a lady who was married with a house and had tried for a baby with her husband and fell pregnant but the baby unfortunately would not have survived beyond the womb. She was not able to have the abortion despite all the doctors knowing that this baby would die and instead she had to carry it to full-term and give birth naturally to it, just to bury it. I can’t imagine what pain she must’ve gone through dealing with that.

And the final story was a woman who was 40 who didn’t expect to have a baby but was very excited. However this baby also had complications and despite the woman’s mental health worries she was not able to terminate the pregnancy and the baby died whilst still in the womb and she had to deliver her daughter. Again a horrifying tale and something that this woman shouldn’t have had to go through because, not only will this put stress on her own body, but the mental implications of knowing that you’re carrying a baby that is no longer alive is just heartbreaking.

I said I have my own connection to abortion and that’s because I have arthritis. With the medication that I’m on due to this arthritis I cannot get pregnant without planning it, if I were to become pregnant unexpectedly I would have to terminate the pregnancy due to the fact that the complications from my medicine would be so dire to the baby that it would either die in the womb or die shortly after birth. If I wish to get pregnant I have to speak to my doctor about my medicine and change it just so the baby has a chance to survive. So if I lived in Northern Ireland and I got pregnant it would be absolutely detrimental to both myself and the baby, because there would be nothing I could do.

Thankfully now the law has changed in Northern Ireland and women are able to get abortions there up to 12 weeks, however a lot of backlash has happened due to this ruling and it seems women still have a very hard time getting an abortion in that area. It’s absolutely disgusting that women don’t have the right to their own bodies, especially in circumstances where the pregnancy isn’t even a good option for the baby, and you’re just making the baby suffer longer too.

To me this whole conversation about pro-life versus pro-choice is not about the baby at all but about controlling people. If pro-life really cared about the foetuses they wanted to save they would offer themselves up to be adopters that will give children who were unwanted or neglected homes, they wouldn’t just care about the foetus, they would care about the baby that it becomes and they would care about that baby in its own life. Why should they only care about what’s in someone else’s womb? Why would they not care about the actual fully formed baby in the real world? It’s absolutely shocking that they think they have this power over another person’s body when really what that person does with their body has nothing to do with them.

And the same can be said for what happened in the show. A lot of these people were anti-abortion until it came to the point where they had to be able to have this choice because it was best for them and the foetus. These women most of the time didn’t want to have an abortion, they didn’t choose to have this happen to them, but taking away their chance to save not only their physical health but their mental health too by terminating any pain that they might go through means that they have to suffer and surely if you’re pro-life you don’t want anyone to suffer? So why would you allow these women who have these medical issues that cause this foetus to not be fully formed to have to go through that?

I find it absolutely shocking that people campaign for things like this. You have no right in what anyone else does with their bodies. You have no say in anything that involves something that doesn’t involve you. Why do you think you have power over these women? Why do you think you can say whether people can make a free choice or not? You’re not God. You’re not the person in charge. You’re not the one going through this pain and suffering and until you do you will never understand it. It makes me so angry that people think they have the right to say this stuff and to make these laws when it does nothing but hurt people. If you don’t want an abortion, don’t get an abortion, but that doesn’t mean you have the right to take away other people’s choice.

This was a brilliant show to really open your eyes to what these women go through because I really do believe that no woman gets pregnant to get an abortion. No woman wants to get an abortion but sometimes you end up in a situation where you have to, and do you not think they’re going through enough without you jumping on them too and making them feel worse? At the end of the day it’s not your body, if you want to have an abortion get an abortion, if you don’t, don’t. Just don’t make other people suffer because of your bigoted views.

What do you think about the abortion law change in Northern Ireland?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding