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If they'd used my aborted foetus, fine

Liz Peterson
Thursday 30 June 1994 23:02 BST
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Liz Peterson is an unattached 30-year-old publishing editor who recently underwent an abortion.

I HAVE an organ donor card, which makes it clear, if I am killed, that my organs can be used. I would feel the same way if a doctor had asked to make use of the foetus. If it could be used, it should be used.

I should not be made to feel guilty about having an abortion. I was absolutely not in a position to bring up a child. I don't even have a permanent place to live at the moment. I wouldn't have got maternity leave, and would probably have got the sack. I got pregnant accidentally, not long after I split up with my long-standing partner.

It was a mistake; the condom came off. The potential father and I had nothing in common.

But I do know about the misery of women who want children and can't have them, because someone in my family is in that position. If someone has a partner and a home and really wants a baby, they deserve to have one.

Having an abortion is a bit traumatic. I might have thought about the question a bit more if it had been put to me at the time. But now I don't have any emotional reaction at all.

I don't see any conflict in my position - that even though I felt I had to end a life, I would be happy to see another develop from it. I cannot make any distinction between donating eggs or ovaries from a foetus and someone having my corneas or kidneys.

It would have been brilliant if someone who was infertile could have had a child as a result of my abortion.

I really object to someone like Dame Jill Knight telling me how I would feel about having a genetic grandchild.

Suggesting that a future child would be traumatised by discovering its origins is a mystical argument. They will only have a problem if you make it one.

Liz Peterson is a pseudonym.

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