4thought.tv

This makes me feel happy and humbled. It reinforced what I already believed.

It helped me understand the speaker's point of view.

Making abortion illegal won't stop people doing it. It will just force it underground, putting more than one life at risk. The law of the land recognises that some people may want to abort their child, and allows that to happen in a safe environment. Is anyone really suggesting the Government should take away such a personal choice from individuals? No one says you MUST have an abortion - if you are against it then fine, have your baby, but don't tell others that they MUST have their baby when they don't want to, for whatever reason.

Thank God someone finally repeats the undeniable truth! NO RESPECTFUL DOCTOR WILL EVER DENY THAT THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION IS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW LIFE! Abortion IS killing; otherwise, why would it leave this unfillable void in the woman's heart and mind... Where is the logic in the Government's decision that its the 24th or 50th week that someone becomes a human being? Or is it the argument of self-sufficiency to live outside the womb?(what about the heavily disabled who cannot live by themselves - dont they fall under the same category?)Where will juggling with the human life lead us if we accept killing for these superficial, ignorant... ANY reason at all...?!

My best friend was supposed to be 'aborted' (killed) by injecting the salt into her mum's womb but it didnt work...

Make research before repeating any slogans.

I agree. Hadn't noticed the parallel with the slave trade before, but that's a good way of looking at it. I hope you are right.

It reinforced what I already believed.

This makes me feel angry. I don't understand the speaker's point of view at all.

This makes me feel angry.

I find it hard to believe that airtime is given to someone who supports the view that denying the option of abortion to a raped woman is a good thing. This, to me, is an obscene view, and should not be allowed to be screened, certainly not before the 9pm watershed.

This makes me feel angry. I don't understand the speaker's point of view at all.

This makes me feel happy. It reinforced what I already believed.

I totally agree with John it is killing and should not be aloud, a heart beat after 21 days how can u say it's not killing?

It reinforced what I already believed.

Well done John Smeaton. Abortion is unjustly killing a human person. It is a violation of basic and fundemental human rights. Thoughout history groups of people have been picked on, dominated, dehumanised, used and disgarded. Bringing an end to abortion and addressing the root causes of abortion, is the civil rights movement of out times.

Forcing YOUR thoughts and YOUR opions on young people is shocking. Is this balanced with someone who loves abortions tomorrow? And using rape as a tool for your argument, poor.

I've had an abortion and it was the best decision I ever made. It is a personal choice for a woman. Their body, their life, their choice. Who is anyone to judge another persons personal actions. Mistakes happen and so does crime. As a form of birth control then no it shouldnt be allowed but that's only because of costs to the NHS!! Im afraid listening to Mr Smeaton who will never be that position is just the usual judgemental opinions you expect from narrow minded people.

This makes me feel glad and welldone channel 4 enabling the truth to be broadcast. It reinforced what I already believed.

It reinforced what I already believed.

Accept for extreme cases where the mother is in serious risk,abortion is a disgrace .All we hear these days is Human Rights ect,ect,but where are the human rights for the poor unborn child.I read in a news paper about 2 yrs ago how endless legal efforts are made for some terrorist bomber or suspect with endless appeals etc....but who appeals for the child? It is a shame that this is allowed in civilised society>

Completely agree with John Smeaton. In fact this is one of those rare occasions when I feel I can't add anything to what he said.

Do a few cells have more rights than I do? No they do not.

I think its significant and fantastic to hear a voice finally representing human life at its early and vulnerable stages.

This makes me feel angry and disgusted.

You will never 'defeat' abortion, just like the slave trade will never be 'defeated'. Yes the majority of slavery has gone, but there are still slaves in the form of 'house keepers' 'cooks' and so on, even in the UK, who are ill treated and kept almost like pets. If abortion is made illegal, illegal abortions will then take place, which are even more dangerous, usually resulting in the death of the woman and the foetus. No one uses rape to justify it, they use it as an example on when it is sometimes necessary to use it. If I had been raped and I had conceived I would not want to have to look at a child who would not have been there if I had not undergone such a horrible ordeal. Yes, we need to stop unnecessary abortions, but it should never be made illegal to women.

This makes me feel glad. It reinforced what I already believed.

Well said, John Smeaton. Abortion is killing the unborn, the most defenceless of human beings, and is an evil bludgeoning the conscience of modern society.

This helped me understand how abortion is today's equivalent to slavery at the time of Wilberforce. I am sure that at the time people told him that making slavery illegal would not end slavery, and no doubt they were right: you only have to look around the world today. But is that a valid argument for legalising it? Of course not. Did Wilberforce fail because slavery still exists, albeit now illegally? Of course not. I'm loking forward to the day when abortion is considered with the same horror by the majority of thinking people as slavery is.

I learned something from it.

I was impressed that John Smeaton managed to get across the fundamental idea that the unborn child is a human being and therefore entitled to the same protection that all other human beings have. How can the concept of Human Rights be promoted while abortion is legal?

This makes me feel glad.

that this subject has been aired. compassion is needed for all women facing this choice and they should be given full information about their unborn child's development as well as possible side effects of abortion on them.

pro choice is pro life

This makes me feel happy.

Choose Life

This makes me feel i am grateful for the gift of life and don't believe anyone ever ever had the right to deprive me of it. nor do i or anyone else have the right to deprive anyone else of it.. It reinforced what I already believed.

This makes me feel glad. It reinforced what I already believed.

All scientific progress reinforces our knowledge that an unborn child is a human being, cannot be anything else and develops from conception along one path.Why do X ray departments want to protect a woman's unborn child while termination discussions can't get round the word but use "the pregnancy" as a euphemism? Like the slave the unborn child needs recognition as a person, i.e. emancipation.

The Pro Life movement exists to educate that Life begins at conception.My journey started at conception and so did yours.At no time in your life does more growth and change occur than in the first nine months before birth.A 10 week old babies feet are about 1cm - fully formed.My mother had me at 40yrs old ( I am 63 )I am so thankful she gave me Life even though life was tough.The helpless unborn child has no other voice but ours to speak up for it.So please soften your hearts find out more information about life before birth and speak out and protect that PRECIOUS CHILD.

It reinforced what I already believed.

This makes me feel glad.

Abortion kills a living human being, this is the sad and often secret reality. As Mr Smeaton says, abortion thrives on denying the humanity of the child before birth, just as the slave trade relied on the denial of the humanity of the slave. I am encouraged to hear him say that someday just as slavery ended so will abortion. I would add that just as society was improved by the abolition of the grave injustice, slavery so will we be better off when we help mothers and welcome their babies instead of aborting them.

Well spoken argument - would like to hear more from this man.

Using "rape" as a reason to justify legalising abortion the pro-abortion industry know it's like putting a small hole in a dam; it's not too long before the dam is of no use and can no longer hold back the flood. Thanks John for this and thanks to all pro-lifers who work so hard to keep the truth out there. - Blessings - Rene

I am in total agreement with John Smeaton and would like to see our politicians and people of significant influence and views making their voice heard in support of these innocent/defenceless human beings.We are continually being reminded & rightly so,about the holocaust and the tragic collosal loss of life & yet a similar thing is going on today.Will we ever learn?

John Smeaton is 100% correct. We've used euphemisms to disguise the injustice we inflict on others since time began. Abortion is killing. It's time we opened our eyes and stepped up to protect life. I'd like to see RTE do this but I won't hold my breath. Niamh

This makes me feel glad. I learned something from it.

Well done to John Smeaton for defending the most defenceless people in our society.

This makes me feel delighted. It reinforced what I already believed.

Well done, a brave and articulate man, who is completely correct and truthful.

How brave to put forward a pro life in this intolerant society. How disturbing that in the past 40 years it has become a matter for little comment or concern that people kill others without due process of law. In my opinion we rightly abolished the death penalty, but 3 short years later, we legitimised death for the innocent, who commit no crime, who have no means to defend themselves and have no voice. Like the slave owners, it is simply that people follow those conventions of their age that makes their own lives easier and more prosperous, that gives them a total solution out of difficulties that has the approval of those who choose between one life and another. It is NOT a choice between one person and another; we have forgotten how to extend the hand of true charity to women in need. In English Law, it is NO DEFENCE to murder to claim that the killing was necessary, and yet we allow abortions on a version of this, claiming medical or social necessity justifies killing unborn babies. Shame on our society!!

I am so pleased to hear the reality of abortion spoken about in such a clear and informative way! Thank you John Smeaton!

I absolutely share John Smeatons view .Invariably when annalised truthfully abortions take place for convenience , financial, emotional,responsibility, not prepared to sacrifice ones time for upbringing , not prepared to accept something less than perfect etc. Here is a common classical decision often taken in life, when one makes a choice at someone else,s expense.If one was to ask a child the product of a terrible rape as sad as it is, whether it valued its life the answer is obvious as to what it would answer. Abortion in the world must stop.Not a religious issue but a moral one.

It reinforced what I already believed.

I thought the Wendy Savage piece was very well done. Shame that it was deemed necessary to give a disclaimer/warning to those who are likely to get needlessly hysterical on this subject, before each of these films were aired this week.

This makes me feel happy.

Happy to see wonderful people like John Smeaton doing wonderful work protecting life from conception.

This makes me feel glad and happy. It reinforced what I already believed.

Well done, John, I cannot believe how a civilised country can legally allow people to kill others

This makes me feel angry, disgusted and sad. I don't understand the speaker's point of view at all.

Abortion stops a "potential" human being from forming. While it is still called a blastocyst, embryo or foetus, the sentient being's, e.g. the woman's, rights must be honoured.

To use rape in his little tirade against women's rights over their own bodies was shameful to say the least. Mr Smeaton should keep his ill informed opinions to himself.

It reinforced what I already believed.

Abortion ends the life of over 500 tiny human beings every day in England & Wales all of whom have "great potential". Congratulations John for speaking the truth so eloquently.

Bless channel 4 for having the guts to put these short clips out there. I fail to see why you would want to prevent a womens right to have an abortion. Withdrawing a humans right to make a choice which will determine they're future is enslavement to you're ideals, that is true barbarity.

This makes me feel confused. It helped me understand the speaker's point of view.

I believe that it could be in certain situations, just as using the electric chair, and vasectomy can be justified to stop life, or take life.

It just depends on the reasons and circumstances.
Personally I am not a fan of abortion as I think that prevention is better, however there may be people that have been sexual abused, or the unborn child could be severely incapable of having a decent standard of living.

Some people use any excuse to "Justify" though, so it is always a difficult thing to deal with.

What one person finds acceptable, another may not, and vice versa !

So my answer, is yes, but conditionally.

This makes me feel disgusted.

I don't have an issue with the speaker's anti-abortion position, but to argue that a woman who has been raped shouldn't have the choice to have an abortion is religious zealotry at its worst - it reminds me of the ideology of 'rape as a tool of war' that was inflicted upon the women of Bosnia. Also to claim life starts at conception as a 'scientific fact' is just absurd. It is a Catholic Church position but certainly not a scientific one.

This makes me feel delighted. It reinforced what I already believed.

This makes me feel happy.

John Smeaton is a Saint! Whether a child is conceived by such a tragic event as rape, it is not the fault of the mother nor the child, therefore and unborn baby no matter what stage in pregnancy should be given a death sentence before they are even born. Womans rights to choose is misguided, the baby has every right to life and cant choose. Typical of certain people to throw the religious card all the time. For all those who believe in abortion why don't you google pics of abortions, that will really open your eyes.

I agree with what John says but the law will not change until hearts change and hearts will not change until the Lord Jesus is accepted as the personal Saviour of each one of us. The killing of children by abortion violates the sixth commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' so for any Christian who thinks they are keeping all commandments but see the killing of babies by abortion as acceptable in cases of rape or incest, or 'their particular circumstance' then the denial that is taking place across the world will continue and children will carry on being killed at the rate of approximately 500 per day in the UK and 3,000 per day in the USA. Sadly the UK is still helping promote this killing throughout the world.

It reinforced what I already believed.

This makes me feel disgusted. I don't understand the speaker's point of view at all.

So, if a woman is raped, you shouldn't their suffering at the ordeal of actually being raped, but you're also going to make her give birth to and raise a baby she never wanted at any point.

And as far as the slave trade argument goes, the major difference between slaves and a fetus, is consciousness. Slaves were fully aware grown humans. Fetuses haven't a clue what's going on.

We should be asking these questions the other way around: If you are even contemplating having an abortion, you are not ready to be a mother. What we should have two signatures for is the choice to keep a baby - too many people are inapt to be parents, but the women given the hardest time are those who dare to ask themselves "am I really ready to be the best possible mother to this child, this time around?"

An abortion is not easy. It can sometimes be as painful as giving birth - and women know this. If she is prepared to go through an abortion, with all the physical and psychological risks attached, she is not taking the 'easy way out'.