‘This Victorian-era law isn’t fit for purpose’: Is abortion finally going to be decriminalised?

People who get an abortion beyond legal time limits can face criminal prosecution in England and Wales. Labour MPs are out to change that

CHARLOTTE ELTON
2 Dec 2023

Abortion could soon be decriminalised in England and Wales, as MPs consider overhauling a “cruel” 162-year-old law.

People who get an abortion beyond legal time limits can face criminal prosecution in England and Wales.

Five women have faced this charge in English courts over the past year – up from four in total over the previous 55 years.

Continued: https://www.bigissue.com/life/health/abortion-law-decriminalised-england-wales/

UK – ‘Deeply sinister’: Police testing women who have miscarriages for abortion drugs

Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
Nov 2, 2023

Police are testing “distressed” women who have suffered miscarriages for abortion drugs, healthcare providers have warned. Medical professionals argue it is “deeply sinister” to test women who have endured a miscarriage who are suspected of illegal abortions for the drugs – arguing it adds to the guilt and stigma women routinely experience after pregnancy loss.

In one document, seen by The Independent, a bodily fluid sample was sent to a forensics lab to be analysed for a range of drugs – including the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. Another reveals a woman who agreed to allow police to have access to samples of her bodily fluids taken by NHS staff.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-testing-abortion-drugs-miscarriage-b2439733.html

UK – Fury at year-long Home Office delay over protest buffer zones at UK abortion clinics

Suella Braverman accused by MP Stella Creasy of denying will of parliament in passing safe access law

Sian Norris
Sat 21 Oct 2023

Pro-choice MPs and activists have expressed their frustration at the government’s failure to implement a law on buffer zones around abortion clinics one year after 297 MPs voted in favour of the zones and as women face a new wave of protests when accessing reproductive care.

A Home Office spokesperson told the Observer that timelines would be confirmed “in due course” but refused to explain why the law was not yet in force and failed to confirm if a consultation on safe-access zones legislation had been launched.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/21/fury-at-year-long-home-office-delay-over-protest-buffer-zones-at-uk-abortion-clinics

UK – Women still being harassed at abortion clinics despite buffer zone law

'Safe access zones’ entered law in England and Wales in May but Home Office has delayed implementing them

Denis Campbell
Wed 18 Oct 2023

Women using abortion clinics are still being harassed despite MPs voting a year ago to create buffer zones to stop protesters intimidating them, medical and abortion groups say.

Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has failed to “commence” the legislation to introduce buffer zones in England and Wales, even though parliament approved the move on 18 October last year.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/18/women-harassed-abortion-clinics-england-wales-buffer-zone-law

Scotland – Doctors warn about social media link to abortion rise

Sept 5, 2023
By Katie McEvinney, BBC Scotland news

Misinformation about contraception on social media may be contributing to Scotland's record high abortion figures, doctors have told the BBC.

The number of terminations carried out in Scotland rose by almost a fifth between 2021 and 2022. For the first time in 14 years, the number of 16 to 19-year-olds accessing abortion services also increased.

There are concerns this is being driven in part by false and misleading information on apps such as TikTok.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-66671765

05.09.2023

News

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Dr Sinead Cook

increase in abortion rates

UK – Is scandal-hit anti-abortion charity operating in secret under new name?

NHS websites are still signposting pregnant people to ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ despite warnings from campaigners

Nandini Archer
1 August 2023

An anti-abortion charity that claimed to have shut down following a scandal nine years ago may have resurfaced as a directory of so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ (CPCs), an openDemocracy investigation has discovered.

And at least half a dozen government websites are still signposting people to the controversial centres, despite accusations that workers at some CPCs try to talk vulnerable people out of having abortions.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/government-nhs-crisis-pregnancy-anti-abortion/

‘I had to go to England for my abortion because Scotland told me no’

Since 2019, almost 300 women have travelled to England to receive healthcare they were unable to access in Scotland.

Hannah Brown
July 21, 2023

The number of women travelling from Scotland to England to receive later abortion care has increased by 55% in the past year, new figures show.

In 2021, the number of women travelling to England was 42 but in 2022, new figures from the British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS), seen exclusively by STV News, show this increased to 65.

Since 2019, 282 women have travelled from Scotland to England to attain the service.

Continued: https://news.stv.tv/scotland/hundreds-of-women-forced-to-travel-from-scotland-to-england-for-abortion-care

Can I Get an Abortion While Traveling Abroad?

From Canada to Australia, here are the countries that assist foreign visitors with unwanted pregnancies.

By Olivia Young
Published on 7/20/2023

When I was 25 and traveling in New Zealand, another American confided in me that she might be pregnant and didn't want to be. New Zealand's abortion laws were restrictive at that time, especially for a tourist with no local medical network. She would’ve had to fly 7,000-plus miles back to the states to terminate the pregnancy in her home country had the test come back positive. It didn't.

Seven years on, with abortion now criminalized in 14 states, discovering an unwanted pregnancy while abroad could be the best-case scenario for an American. While Roe v. Wade's polarizing demise made the Land Of The Free one of the least abortion-friendly countries in the Global North, the general shift to telehealth amid COVID made abortions easier than ever to get outside the US. Since 2020, New Zealand has deemed it legal to prescribe abortion pills over the phone.

Continued: https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/abortion-while-traveling-abroad

UK – Judge’s reduction of sentence for abortion shows how law must change, say campaigners

Legislation that led to Carla Foster being jailed after procuring pills for a termination said to be ‘antiquated’

Alexandra Topping
Tue 18 Jul 2023

Prosecutors have been urged to heed a judge’s call for “compassion, not punishment” after the court of appeal halved a woman’s sentence for terminating her pregnancy beyond the legal time limit.

Carla Foster, 45, was sentenced to more than two years in prison after she admitted illegally procuring her own abortion when she was between seven and eight months pregnant.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/18/judges-reduction-of-sentence-for-abortion-shows-how-law-must-change-say-campaigners

UK – Woman jailed for illegally obtaining tablets to end her pregnancy set to be released

The 45-year-old U.K. mother of three was handed a 28-month sentence after she admitted to obtaining abortion pills to induce a miscarriage when she was 32 to 34 weeks pregnant

The Associated Press, Sylvia Hui
Jul 18, 2023

A woman who was jailed for illegally obtaining abortion tablets to end her advanced pregnancy will be released from prison after Britain’s Court of Appeal reduced her sentence Tuesday.

Carla Foster, a 45-year-old mother of three, was handed a 28-month sentence last month after she admitted to obtaining abortion pills to induce a miscarriage when she was 32 to 34 weeks pregnant in 2020.

Continued: https://calgaryherald.com/news/a-uk-woman-jailed-for-obtaining-tablets-to-end-her-pregnancy-is-to-be-released-after-appeal

18.07.2023