I have relatives who are foster carers. They’ve been doing it for around fifteen years. They could tell you stories about what happens to unwanted children in this country that would turn your hair white. God knows the stories make me want to take a horsewhip to some of the social workers involved. We can’t or won’t properly look after many of the vulnerable children we have in this country today.

And so we’re back to abortion this week. Those with a view want the upper limit for an abortion reduced from 24 to 20 weeks. Most people say this is down to advances in medical science which mean foetuses can survive from 24 weeks (although the debate tends to shy away from discussions of the quality of life these children have). In my view, it’s a dishonest approach to which no one will say what they mean, which is they’re trying to abolish abortion by degrees. They know they can’t get rid of it in one fell swoop so they’ll settle for a piece at a time.

There also doesn’t seem to be much discussion about how these unwanted children are to be supported (see above). Forgive me, but I won’t take any lectures on child welfare from the likes of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. Or, frankly, right-wing libertarians. Where’s the extra money going to come from to look after these children many if not most of who are going to require long-term medical care?

These self-styled ‘pro-lifers’ (hands up anyone who’s anti-life) should be campaigning for tax rises to fund child welfare in tandem with stricter abortion legislation if they’re going to be consistent. I don’t see the moral consistency in a standpoint that calls abortion murder but is willing to see children a) born into underfunded hospitals lacking the necessary facilities, b) born into poverty-stricken families or c) put in the hands of seemingly uncaring, definitely underfunded, social services.

The medical technology required for a foetus to survive at 24 weeks is nowhere near universal, so where are the calls for further investment for specialist baby units across the country? Where’s the lobbying to spare parents of premature babies the pain of waiting long months for an uncertain outcome? And if we want the foetuses that escape abortion to have good lives, where are the calls for a hypothecated tax or similar for child welfare? That’s a no-no when you see where some of these ‘pro-lifers’ are coming from politically, isn’t it? They want the state to control a woman’s body but they’re damned if they’re going to tell the state to give that woman welfare. I see a trap closing around these women.

(That said, I’m not naive enough to fail see that fiscal considerations and the need for massive investment in order for a reduction from 24 to 20 weeks to be viable must have been a factor in the government’s refusal to consider the idea. Money is refusing to talk on both sides of this argument.)

Nobody likes the idea of abortion. I have known several women who’ve had one and not one of them ever said, ‘you know, abortions are brilliant’. You want to reduce the number of abortions in this country? The way to do it is cheap, easy and mature, and doesn’t rely on inflammatory arguments using dog-whistle and politically-loaded phrases like ‘the abortion industry‘, ‘licensed murder’, ‘pro-life’, ‘pro-choice’ and other examples unspeak.

Here’s what we do. We, as a country, ditch the hot-faced neo-Victorian prudishness (that prevents us talking about our bodies in a mature fashion) that’s been paradoxically spliced to a whinnying schoolyard prurience (as embodied by the likes of Nuts magazine). We teach proper and compulsory sexual health education in our schools - contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, how to be in control of your own body and a proper exploration of the giddying emotions involved in sexual relations; the full nine yards. Conservative and/or religious interests are going to have to accept a trade off between abortion and contraception - you can’t have it both ways in a modern society and is ludicrous to try. And we stop blaming ‘a “celebrity culture” that condoned alcohol abuse, drug addiction and promiscuity’. Let’s try teaching a little personal responsibility shall we? It’s a radical suggestion, I grant you.

Let’s all go away, grow up a bit, lobby our representatives and come back when we’re ready. Let’s have a maturer attitude towards sex and relationships, universal specialist medical care for premature babies, proper and comprehensive welfare arrangements, a massive improvement in the funding and practice of social services and child protection agencies and support for foster carers. And then let’s talk about the number of abortions in the UK.