UK – Coronavirus: Abortion law changes ruled out by health secretary Matt Hancock

Coronavirus: Abortion law changes ruled out by health secretary Matt Hancock

George Martin, Yahoo News UK
Mar. 24, 2020

Abortion rules will not be changed as part of the response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the health secretary has announced, after the government published and then deleted changes to the law.

Matt Hancock was pressed by MPs after the Department of Health said it would allow women and girls to take abortion pills at home, without the need to attend a clinic or hospital, and for doctors to prescribe from their own homes.

Continued: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-abortion-rules-lockdown-covid-143825696.html

24.03.2020

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UK – Ministers approve home use of both stages of abortion pill due to Covid-19

Ministers approve home use of both stages of abortion pill due to Covid-19

23 March, 2020
By Steve Ford

The government has given temporary approval of the home as a class of place where both abortion pills can be taken for early medical abortion, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It has also approved the home of a registered doctor as a class of place where both abortion pills – mifepristone and misoprostol – can be prescribed for the treatment of early medical abortion.

Continued: https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/policies-and-guidance/ministers-approve-home-use-of-both-stages-of-abortion-pill-due-to-covid-19-23-03-2020/

23.03.2020

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UK – Abortion should be a medical matter, not a criminal one. The law needs to change

Abortion should be a medical matter, not a criminal one. The law needs to change
Manifesto promises by Labour and the Liberal Democrats to decriminalise abortion are welcome news for women

Hilary Freeman
Sun 1 Dec 2019

There has been a predictably overwrought response to the election manifesto promises of both Labour and the Liberal Democrats to decriminalise abortion. Rightwing and Catholic commentators alike imagined hordes of heavily pregnant women at abortion clinics, demanding their fully formed foetuses be evacuated from their uteruses. Just because the law said that they now could.

I, unfortunately, know far more than I want to about what utter nonsense this emotive, anti-abortion rhetoric is. On 26 September 2012 I ended the life of my much-wanted daughter, Elodie, at 24 weeks’ gestation. It’s the hardest and most painful thing I’ve ever done. One thing I now know, with certainty, following this traumatic experience, is that no woman would choose to terminate a pregnancy that late on unless she felt there wasn’t any other option. And no doctor would countenance it, whatever the law said.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/01/uk-abortion-criminal-offence-24-week-time-limit

UK – Three cheers for Labour’s plan for abortion reform

Three cheers for Labour’s plan for abortion reform
Decriminalising abortion is essential for women’s freedom.

Ella Whelan, Columnist
29th November 2019

General Elections should be exciting. Political parties get to try out new policies, push their voters and attempt to gain a mandate for real change. And while it’s true that the key issue of our winter election is Brexit, from spending promises to immigration, there are many other issues at stake.

The Labour Party might be terrible when it comes to Brexit, but one policy in its manifesto is truly radical. In just nine words, Labour promises to change women’s lives dramatically: ‘We will uphold women’s reproductive rights and decriminalise abortions.’

Continued: https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/11/29/three-cheers-for-labours-plan-for-abortion-reform/

Lifesaving treatment for babies born at 22 weeks doesn’t mean abortion law should change

Lifesaving treatment for babies born at 22 weeks doesn’t mean abortion law should change

October 25, 2019
Dominic Wilkinson, Consultant Neonatologist and Professor of Ethics, University of Oxford

When new guidance relating to the outcome and medical care of babies born extremely prematurely was recently released, it led some to call for UK abortion law to be revised.

This was because one of the new recommendations from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine is that it is sometimes appropriate to provide resuscitation and active medical treatment for babies born at 22 weeks gestation (four and a half months before their due date). This is a week earlier than was recommended in the last version of the framework, published in 2008.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/lifesaving-treatment-for-babies-born-at-22-weeks-doesnt-mean-abortion-law-should-change-125845

Abortion: What does the change in the law mean for NI women?

Abortion: What does the change in the law mean for NI women?

By Hannah Gay, BBC News NI
Oct 22, 2019

A new chapter has been written in the political and social history of Northern Ireland, centred on one of the most sensitive issues and one which continues to divide opinion.

As the clock passed midnight and Monday became Tuesday, abortion was decriminalised in line with Westminster legislation, which said the law would change unless Northern Ireland's devolved government was restored by 21 October.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-50129880

Abortion is legal in Ireland—but the fight isn’t over

Abortion is legal in Ireland—but the fight isn’t over
Groups like ours helped fight for inclusive, accessible healthcare. Together, we achieved a culture change. But there's a phenomenal amount still to do

by Anna Carnegie
January 10, 2019

Last year, on May 25th 2018, the Irish public voted emphatically to repeal the country’s constitutional ban on abortion and enable the passage of legislation to provide abortion on request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, and in limited circumstances thereafter.

The months since the referendum were a whirlwind of court challenges, parliamentary debates, marches, and media coverage. Finally, on the 13th December, the Irish senate passed the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018, paving the way for a new law and signifying a much welcome, and long overdue, step forward. On the 20th, President Michael D Higgins signed the bill into law.

Continued: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/other/abortion-is-legal-in-ireland-but-the-fight-isnt-over

Expert group denounces the refusal to treat under ‘conscientious objection’

Expert group denounces the refusal to treat under 'conscientious objection'

Joyce Arthur
July 5, 2018

For the first time ever, an expert group has arrived at a majority consensus that the practice of so-called "conscientious objection" by health-care professionals should not be allowed. The experts agreed that the practice of refusing to provide legal and essential health care due to a doctor's personal or religious beliefs is a violation of medical ethics and of patients' right to health care. Abortion and other reproductive health care are the most commonly refused services.

Unconscionable: When Providers Deny Abortion Care is the title of the expert group's just-released report with recommendations. It is a product of the first global meeting on the topic of "conscientious objection," which took place in Montevideo, Uruguay in August 2017 because the refusal to treat is a major barrier to abortion access in many Latin American countries.

Continued: http://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/07/expert-group-denounces-refusal-treat-under-conscientious-objection

What can Ireland learn from the UK on abortion?

What can Ireland learn from the UK on abortion?
Of Irish women who receive abortion care in UK, 70 per cent are married or with a partner

May 23, 2018
Dr Patricia Lohr

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has been providing abortion care to women from Ireland since 1968.

There is little difference between the reasons women from Ireland present and the reasons women from the UK present; they are diverse and multifaceted.

They may involve financial hardship, knowing one’s family is complete, inadequate partner or family support, domestic violence or simply a woman feeling she is not in a position to care for a baby at that point in her life.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/what-can-ireland-learn-from-the-uk-on-abortion-1.3504229

UK – RCN survey ‘signals support’ for decriminalisation of abortion

RCN survey 'signals support' for decriminalisation of abortion

2 May, 2018
By Steve Ford, News Editor

Members of the Royal College of Nursing have “signalled support” for removing criminal sanctions from termination of pregnancy legislation, said the body in the wake of a consultation.

It revealed today that the results of a UK-wide poll of RCN members showed 73.7% of respondents had voted in favour of removing criminal sanctions from legislation relating to abortion.

Continued: https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/policies-and-guidance/rcn-survey-signals-support-for-decriminalisation-of-abortion/7024312.article

02.05.2018