‘This is not the endgame’: abortion clinic buffer zones come into effect in Northern Ireland

‘I’ve been spat on, I’ve been abused,’ says former Green Party leader Clare Bailey, who used to volunteer at a private Belfast clinic

Seanín Graham
Sat Sep 30 2023

On one of Belfast’s busiest streets, Clare Bailey is blinking away tears. Looking up at signage attached to a lamp-post around the corner from an NHS clinic providing abortions, she breaks into a smile. Her daughter, Jude, insists on taking her photograph.

It is seven years since Bailey, a former Northern Ireland Green Party leader and Assembly member, tabled a Private Members’ Bill at Stormont calling for the introduction of so-called buffer zones to prevent anti-abortion protests and harassment outside healthcare facilities offering terminations.

Contiuned: https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2023/09/30/this-is-not-the-endgame-abortion-clinic-buffer-zones-comes-into-effect-in-northern-ireland/


USA – House Passes Defense Spending Bill That Limits Abortion, Halts Diversity Efforts

July 14, 2023
Associated Press

The House passed a sweeping defense bill Friday that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members. But the bill strays from traditional military policy with Republican additions that block abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care that deeply divided the chamber.

Democrats voted against the package, which had sailed out of the House Armed Services Committee on an almost unanimous vote weeks ago before being loaded with the GOP priorities during a heated late-night floor debate this week.

Continued: https://www.voanews.com/a/house-passes-defense-spending-bill-that-limits-abortion-halts-diversity-efforts-/7181554.html


Northern Ireland’s new First Minister vows to block rollout of abortion services

Sam Courtney-Guy
Friday 30 Jul 2021

Northern Ireland’s recently-appointed First Minister has vowed to resist the introduction of abortion services in the six counties.

Laws making abortion a criminal offence in Northern Ireland were abolished in 2019 as a result of a bill passed by MPs in Westminster.

Continued: https://metro.co.uk/2021/07/30/northern-ireland-abortion-paul-givan-vows-to-stop-rollout-of-services-15012513/


Canada – Civil liberties group prepared to sue New Brunswick over access to abortion

Province is asked to repeal law that prevents funding outside hospitals

Mia Urquhart · CBC News  
Posted: Oct 16, 2020

Citizens shouldn't have to sue their own government to ensure the right to health-care services, says the doctor who runs Fredericton's abortion clinic.

"In a perfect world, you don't have to sue your government to either respect the Canada Health Act or simply provide equal access to health care," said Dr. Adrian Edgar.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/ccla-threatens-lawsuit-over-abortion-1.5763355


Northern Ireland drags feet on abortion a year after UK orders roll-out

Northern Ireland drags feet on abortion a year after UK orders roll-out

Amanda Ferguson
June 24, 2020

BELFAST (Reuters) - Almost a year after the British parliament voted to legalise abortion in Northern Ireland, one of the last regions in Western Europe with a ban, women there face gaps in provision due to renewed local political roadblocks.

The region's socially conservative health minister Robin Swann has declined to order the health service to provide abortions, commission information campaigns, and also declined to introduce emergency telemedicine measures offered in the rest of the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/world/northern-ireland-drags-feet-on-abortion-a-year-after-uk-orders-roll-out-465720/


The Inside Story Of How Arkansas Exploited COVID To Stop Abortions

The Inside Story Of How Arkansas Exploited COVID To Stop Abortions
Under pressure by anti-abortion activists ― including a board of health member ― the state health department became a weapon in the war against abortion.

By Melissa Jeltsen, HuffPost US
June 22, 2020

On the first day of April, Marsha Boss, a 68-year-old Catholic pharmacist, uploaded a photo to Facebook. Snapped on a sunny day, it showed the parking lot outside Little Rock Family Planning Services, one of two abortion clinics left in Arkansas. “We watched three cars from Texas come in, three from Tennessee and one from Alabama all coming to our great state to get an abortion,” she wrote in her post. “How sad is that?”

In private, around the same time, Boss was extending her disapproval to state health officials. Over text messages and in phone calls, she complained that the clinic was violating social distancing guidelines, performing “25 to 30” abortions a day, and warned that out-of-town patients ― many of whom were fleeing abortion bans their states put in place after coronavirus hit ― might spread the infectious disease in Arkansas. She also said she saw someone carrying coveted surgical masks into the clinic, as well as beer.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/arkansas-coronavirus-abortion_n_5eeba27ac5b6413b964e4caa?ri18n=true


Doctors accused of blocking abortions in Northern Ireland despite legalisation

Doctors accused of blocking abortions in Northern Ireland despite legalisation
Patients forced to buy pills online or go overseas for terminations

Lucy Mansfield
Published on Sat 13 Jun 2020

Women seeking abortions in Northern Ireland are still struggling to access services. Although abortion was legalised more than two months ago, claims persist that healthcare professionals are refusing to treat patients.

A leading reproductive rights group and a doctors’ organisation say that GPs are refusing to refer pregnant women to hospital services so they can access the tablets needed to undergo a medical abortion. They are also aware of midwives and nurses refusing to care for patients before and after the procedure.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/13/doctors-accused-of-blocking-abortions-in-northern-ireland-despite-legalisation


Abortion decriminalised in NSW after mammoth debate

Abortion decriminalised in NSW after mammoth debate
There were emotional scenes in parliament as abortion was decriminalised in NSW. But the state’s Premier was nowhere to be seen.

Jodie Stephens and Dominica Sanda, AAP
September 26, 2019

NSW parliament has passed laws decriminalising abortion, more than a century after it was included in the state’s criminal code — but the state’s premier was nowhere to be seen in the chamber this morning.

Overnight, the NSW Upper House finally passed the bill and this morning the Lower House approved its amendments.

Continued: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/pregnancy/nsw-abortion-bill-passes-upper-house/news-story/ccbeffca6eb14a027c5ed2321e6a9820


‘This country has spoken on abortion – yet a cohort of our politicians think it’s OK to abuse their power to try to thwart these hard-won reproductive rights’

Martina Devlin: 'This country has spoken on abortion - yet a cohort of our politicians think it's OK to abuse their power to try to thwart these hard-won reproductive rights'

Martina Devlin
November 10 2018

Five-and-a-half months ago, the people voted by two to one in favour of abortion reform - a decisive majority which cannot be misinterpreted. This week, a small group of men and women on the Oireachtas Health Committee appeared to be trying to undermine that result.

Continued: https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/martina-devlin-this-country-has-spoken-on-abortion-yet-a-cohort-of-our-politicians-think-its-ok-to-abuse-their-power-to-try-to-thwart-these-hardwon-reproductive-rights-37513175.html


Ireland – Abortion opponents to fight for burials in bill on terminations

Abortion opponents to fight for burials in bill on terminations

Ellen Coyne, Senior Ireland Reporter
October 3 2018

Anti-abortion campaigners are lobbying to make it mandatory for a burial to be held after a pregnancy is terminated.

Activists have been urged to “visit” TDs and put pressure on them to make abortion law as restrictive as possible, making it mandatory for women to be told about adoption and parenting, and to be offered an ultrasound scan before they can access a termination.

Continued: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pro-life-activists-want-tds-to-place-obstacles-in-abortion-bill-hj9pd2qd8