Sorry just to add.I am in agrrement with abortion many people have many reasons.If my daughter had brain damage,deaf,dumb etc even though i would still love her society is cruel.I watch people stare at her daily due to her oxygen.I think people should still have the right to decide to end pregnancy!

Ami Melfi, Brighton, UK

sorry, leib, but the phrase "a woman's right to choose" should be banned. or at least ridiculed. if I choose to punch you repeatedly in the face, I'm guessing my right to choose would be quite low on your list of priorities. and rightly so. you need a better argument than being selfish.

jem, london, uk

giving a child rights from the moment of conception based purely on religious dogma is no way to frame the law either, incidentally. your imaginary friend should be given about the same credibility as an utterly reckless and selfish woman. ie - not much. common sense is a better measure.

jem, london, uk

I work in the field of neonatology and have experienced the best and worst it has to offer; the wonderful miracles, the catastrophic tragedies.
I have learned 'Life' is not sacred above all else. Quality of life far outweighs the issue of life itself.
We cannot choose viability.

KJ, Qld, Australia

This just shows independent viability should not be used as a tool for either side of the argument.

zl, London,

A person is a person no matter how small. This is the only consistent approach to respecting the sacredness of human life. I cannot understand why so many people will say it is terrible to kill a 3 month old child yet think it is a right to kill a child still in his/her mother's womb.

C Gill, Frederick, USA

At conception there is the joining of 2 genetically incomplete cells. These then go on to form a group of cells. This situation of miosis continues until a shape forms.

Past a certain point it's alive,before then it's potentially a growth..or would be considered that, without emotional attachment

Kathryn, Preston, UK

No one accepts EVERY choice. Our choices are curtailed when they infringe the rights of others. In western democracies, we do not recognize a right not to be offended, so freedom of expression is rarely curtailed. But abortion is not opposed because it offends us, but because it kills young humans.

Jimmy, Philadelphia, USA

All the children are a gift from God! It is written....
"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Psalm 127:3
God said to Jeremiah, "BEFORE I FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB I KNEW YOU; Jeremiah 1:5
If God knew about us before we were even formed,then Y kil

Myra, London, U.K.

Being pro-choice does not mean a person is pro-abortion. Sometimes we may have to defend a right that makes us uncomfortable. Freedom of speech allows the existence of the BNP and extremist groups. I don't like it but I have to accept it.
A choice means just that.

Samantha, Glasgow,

Deliberately induced abortion has a much shorter name--murder. How can anyone speak of a mother's 'right to choose' whether or not to murder her child?. The child is a human being from the moment of conception, and has all the rights of any human being.
Abortion is evil and must be abolished.

Dave Butcher, Luton, UK

what does this have to do with abortion? a 20-week foetus that isn't aborted won't be born immediately, it will be carried to term. why is independent viability relevant? what do medical advances have to do with what is right? when is the foetus conscious/ does it feel pain/does it have a soul?

jem, london, uk

Babes are a gift from God and no-one should have the right to Kill an unborn child. Even if is is disabled. You should not be allowed to throw children away just because it is not PERFECT!!!

Antionette, London, England

"Random capitilisation and exclamation marks don't necessarily add to any argument about a woman's right to choose."

Nor do they necessarily subtract from it.

Sean, London,

If a baby, because that is what it is, as it could be born and survive after 24 weeks, is aborted, Is that not just basically killing something that given the correct care could otherwise of lived. Is this also a 'womens right' .. at what point does the childs right apply?

Sarah, Rochester, Kent

What does this have to do with abortion? A 20-week foetus that isn't aborted won't be born immediately, it will be carried to term. Why is independent viability relevant? What do medical advances have to do with what is right? When is the foetus conscious/ does it feel pain/does it have a soul?

jem, london, uk

Yes, can't help but notice, Alan, that naming conventions would lead me to believe that you are, in fact, a man. Random capitilisation and exclamation marks don't necessarily add to any argument about a woman's right to choose.

Leib, Belfast,

The MPs quoted seem to react almost with glee to (a) the fact that survival rates for premature babies haven't improved and (b) this therefore doesn't provide an argument against killing the baby in the womb. A very odd attitude to human life - and a distinctly worrying one amongst our leaders!

Revd John Richardson, Elsenham, UK

I don't see what the viability limit has got to do with the question of when it would be ok to terminate a baby which shows no signs of being born prematurely. As a measure of how sophisticated or "human" the foetus is, it seems quite arbitrary, and 24 weeks is surely way too long.

Dom, London,

If the limit is reduced it will end up being an attack on effective pre natal screening. Some screens cannot be done
until late in the pregnancy. Those seeking to lower the limit
are seeking to condemn someone else to a lifetime of caring for a severely disabled child .

Sam, Maidstone, UK

Simple take the time a baby can survive and then half it for the abortion limit. This will get over this disgraceful discussion on when to KILL a baby!

By the way 12 weeks is the abortion limit in other European countries. Liberals have liberal ideas in name but not in nature!

Alan, Luton,

I hope all MPs consider this sound evidence before they take part in the parliamentary debate. Abortion is indeed an emotive issue; but the scientific evidence should be trumped by irrational prejudice.

Des, Edinburgh,

The fact that the unborn child is not independent should be irrelevant in deciding abortion. A child once born may be a greater burden and equally dependent on its mother than when it was in the womb. Using survival rates in this way is just an attempt to find an ex poste justification for abortion

Chris Dela, Cambridge,