NEW ABORTION LAW: Victoria De Oliveira hopes the abortion boards will be removed, and the limit for self-determined abortion will be expanded. Photo: Janne Møller-Hansen / VG
On Thursday, there will be a proposal for a completely new abortion law. Victoria De Oliveira hopes for big changes.
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- On Thursday, the Abortion Board will present its proposals for what a completely new abortion law might look like. The abortion law has not been changed for 50 years, except when self-determined abortion was legislated in 1978.
- Among other things, the committee has been given the task of looking at the law in its entirety, coming up with alternatives to abortion boards, looking at how women who have had an abortion are followed up and the rules around reducing the number of fetuses.
- Victoria De Oliveira chose to have a late term abortion. She hopes for the removal of the tribunals and the extension of the limit for self-determined abortion.
- The Amathea Foundation believes that the follow-up of women who undergo an abortion is too poor and hopes that a significant boost is proposed.
Sea view
The year is 2018 and she is looking forward to becoming a mother. On Christmas Eve, they tell the family that they are going to be parents for the first time.
– We were really looking forward to telling you, says Victoria De Oliveira (32).
In the new year they have their first ultrasound. They were to find out if it was a boy or a girl.
Victoria notices that the doctor is watching the fetus very carefully. And that she checks the same areas several times.
Photo: Janne Møller-Hansen / VG
The mood in the room changes and Victoria becomes uneasy.
– Then she says she has to get another doctor. I thought now there is bad news and I got a bad feeling.
The doctors had found a fetal abnormality and referred her on to Rikshospitalet.
There they were told that the boy they were waiting for was not well.
Proposes brand new abortion law
On Thursday, the abortion committee will present its proposal for a completely new abortion law.
The committee has been tasked with looking at the following:
- Go through the abortion law as it stands today.
- Assess alternatives to the current abortion boards: An alternative for the board at the current limit of twelve weeks, and one option where the limit is extended.
- Look at counseling and guidance for women who are considering an abortion, and follow-up of women who have gone through an abortion.
- Consider the rules around reducing the number of fetuses.
Norway’s abortion law has not been changed in 50 years, except when self-determined abortion was legislated in 1978.
Among other things, VG has been informed that the limit for self-determined abortion is recommended to be extended, and that medical abortion should be able to be given outside hospital.
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The abortion committee: Will legislate the right to follow-up
The Abortion Committee will legislate the right to follow-up for women who have an abortion, VG has been informed.
Had to make a choice
At Rikshospitalet, the doctors said that the little boy had spina bifida.
– Already in the first few days, thoughts of a late miscarriage started buzzing in my head.
When she learned that her son was ill, she was 19 weeks pregnant.
– I just cried and thought about how unfair the world can be. And I had to make a choice, about how my whole life will be and what my child’s life will look like.
Photo: Janne Møller-Hansen / VG
They spent the next few weeks getting as much information as possible about the disease, and what quality of life the child would have.
At the start of week 21, she had made up her mind.
– It is the most difficult choice I have made in my entire life. I wouldn’t wish my worst enemy to have to make such a choice.
Experienced the abortion board as burdensome
Victoria had decided to have a late term abortion. But she couldn’t decide that alone.
First, she had to apply to the Abortion Board, and attend an interview.
– I enter the room and there are two doctors sitting there. There is an envelope on the table.
The doctors in the tribunal say that in the envelope are the papers that they approve the application for a late abortion.
– But they wanted to ask me some questions anyway. Then I immediately thought: Why am I here, why do I have to go through this.
Photo: Janne Møller-Hansen / VG
Victoria experienced the abortion board as yet another burden.
– You feel you are being pushed to the wall and you get a fear that someone will check what you have decided on.
After the appointment at the abortion board, the abortion was started.
A late abortion starts with a tablet, which causes the fetus to die in the womb. Then the birth is started a few days later.
On February 8, Victoria’s little boy was born, and she got to see him for the first and last time.
Fighting for change
The time after the late abortion was very difficult. Victoria says that she did not get any psychological follow-up, even though she badly needed it.
For her, it has been a great help to be open about the late-term abortion. It has been like a kind of therapy.
She is also active in local politics for the Labor Party, and has lectured for the Abortion Committee.
Photo: Janne Møller-Hansen / VG
– It is important that we speak loudly about it, those of us who can bear it. Perhaps it can contribute to change.
And she is clear about what she wants to change.
– I hope the tribunals are removed completely and that the limit for self-determined abortion is extended. And not least that the follow-up of women who have had an abortion will be much better.
– The follow-up is too poor
The Amathea foundation has long fought for women who have abortions to get enough help both before and after.
In a survey carried out by the foundation, only 1 in 6 women answered that they were followed up after an abortion.
– Today, the follow-up is too poor. The need is greater than what is provided by offers, says general manager Andrea Skaarer Kreutz in Amathea.
THE AMATHEA FOUNDATION: Managing Director Andrea Skaarer Kreutz. Photo: Private
Amathea hopes that the Abortion Committee proposes that follow-up after self-determined abortion is equated with the right to follow-up after spontaneous abortion.
According to information that VG has receivedthe abortion committee is going to propose exactly this.
Today, it is a legal right for women who undergo a miscarriage to be followed up.
– And there should be a free follow-up offer, which ensures women have equal access to follow-up throughout the country, says Andrea Skaarer Kreutz in Amathea.
The grief will never go away
Victoria has always had a strong desire to become a mother.
Four months after losing her son, she became pregnant again. And the happiness was great when she found out that they were expecting twins.
She had to go far into her pregnancy before she was able to relax. The fear that something would go wrong was deep seated, but the twins were perfectly healthy.
– Finally, I felt that life was completely back.
Photo: Janne Møller-Hansen / VG
At home, she talks to the children about the brother they never got to meet.
Knøttet has got his own Christmas bauble on the Christmas tree. On the wall hang prints of small feet and hands, for all three.
– He will always be a part of me. The grief becomes easier to live with, but it never goes away, says Victoria.
Published:
Published: 13.12.23 at 22:07
2023-12-13 21:07:08
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