‘Extreme’ US anti-abortion group ramps up lobbying in Westminster

The UK branch of the Alliance Defending Freedom has increased its spending and is forging ties with key MPs

Shanti Das, Home affairs correspondent
Sat 6 Apr 2024

A rightwing Christian lobby group that wants abortion to be banned has forged ties with an adviser to the prime minister and is drawing up policy briefings for politicians.

The UK branch of the US-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has more than doubled its spending since 2020 and been appointed a stakeholder in a parliamentary group on religious freedoms in a role that grants it direct access to MPs.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/06/extreme-us-anti-abortion-group-ramps-up-lobbying-in-westminster

As France makes abortion a constitutional right, UK women see sharp rise in abortion convictions

A law dating from 1861 is being used to prosecute women in England and Wales, in at least one case leading to incarceration.

March 4, 2024
By: Lara BULLENS

France has become the only country in the world to protect the right to terminate a pregnancy in its constitution after abortion access was officially added to the freedoms guaranteed in the French constitution on Monday. The move was a direct reaction to the rollback of abortion rights in the United States and elsewhere.

But across the English Channel, women are still at risk of prosecution for having the procedure because abortion in the UK has not been decriminalised. Britain is facing a sharp rise in abortion convictions, with a law dating from 1861 being used to prosecute women and in at least one case leading to incarceration.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240304-france-abortion-constitution-right-uk-woman-sharp-rise-abortion-convictions-england

UK – Health chiefs voice fears over MP’s move to cut abortion limit

Exclusive: President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said they are against any reduction in abortion time limits

Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
March 3, 2024

Fears have been raised that proposals to reduce the abortion deadline by two weeks could inflict cruelty on vulnerable women and actually increase the number of pregnancy terminations.

The warnings come after Tory MP Caroline Ansell proposed an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to decrease the legal limit to have an abortion from the current deadline of 24 weeks to 22 weeks – with MPs set to vote on the proposals in due course.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/abortion-laws-cut-limit-24-weeks-b2504825.html

UK – Abortion prosecutions are never in the public interest, says royal college

New guidance to say health staff should not report women suspected of illegally ending pregnancies to police

Harriet Sherwood
Mon 22 Jan 2024

Doctors and other healthcare staff should not report suspected illegal abortions to the police as prosecutions are never in the public interest, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has said.

In an intervention on Monday that will trigger further debate on the decriminalisation of abortion, Dr Ranee Thakar, the president of the professional body, said “outdated and antiquated” abortion laws meant women were left vulnerable to criminal investigation.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/22/illegal-abortions-prosecutions-uk-police-royal-college

22.01.2024

News

Bethany Cox

British Society of Abortion Care Providers

Carla Foster

Dr Jonathan Lord

Dr Ranee Thakar

Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Society for the Protection of Unborn Children

UK – Telling health staff not to report women for suspected illegal abortions has firm legal basis

There is no general obligation to contact police about a crime and the royal college is within its rights to tell its members not to do so

Haroon Siddique, Legal affairs correspondent
Mon 22 Jan 2024

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ call for abortion to be decriminalised – and announcement that it will tell its members not to report women to police if they believe they may have illegally ended their pregnancies – is a significant intervention in the debate.

Concerns about the existing laws in England and Wales came to the fore last year when a woman was sentenced to more than two years in prison for procuring drugs to induce an abortion after the legal limit, which is generally 24 weeks.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/22/proposed-guidance-to-health-staff-not-to-report-suspected-pregnancy-termination-to-police-may-be-lawful

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

British police testing women for abortion drugs

Forensic reports seen by Tortoise show police requesting tests for mifepristone and misoprostol

Monday 30 October 2023
Phoebe Davis, Tortoise Media

British police are testing women for abortion drugs and requesting data from menstrual tracking apps after unexplained pregnancy losses.

Tortoise has seen forensic reports in which police have requested a mass spectrometry test, which can detect the presence of the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol in the urine, blood and placenta of women under investigation.

Other reports include requests for “data related to menstruation tracking applications” as part of the police’s investigations.

Continued: https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2023/10/30/british-police-testing-women-for-abortion-drugs/

UK – Posters censored at abortion care conference, doctors claim

Doctors for Choice UK say they were asked to cover word ‘abortion’ at Royal Society of Medicine event

Nicola Davis
Fri 7 Oct 2022

Doctors and academics have claimed they were asked by the Royal Society of Medicine to obscure the word “abortion” on signs and posters at a conference centred on the topic.

The campaign group Doctors for Choice UK obscured the line “Clinicians for abortion rights” on their poster with three yellow Post-it notes which bore the word “censored”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/07/posters-censored-at-abortion-care-conference-doctors-campaign-group-says

07.10.2022

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News

British Society of Abortion Care Providers

Doctors for Choice UK

Dr Jane Dickson

Royal Society of Medicine

Europe

United Kingdom

Ireland – Medical staff given outside help to prepare for legalised abortion

Medical staff given outside help to prepare for legalised abortion

Ellen Coyne, Senior Ireland Reporter
December 3 2018

The World Health Organisation is to teach Irish doctors and examine their beliefs about abortion.

The initiative, to help prepare them for providing legal terminations from next month, comes as the Department of Health asked the HSE to make sure abortion services would be available in all 19 maternity hospitals from January.

Continued: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/medical-staff-given-outside-help-to-prepare-for-legalised-abortion-m8nm0kwg9

UK – Allowing women to take the abortion pill at home would be a great first step for Matt Hancock – and for the NHS

Allowing women to take the abortion pill at home would be a great first step for Matt Hancock – and for the NHS
Women, after taking the pill in a clinic, have to race home before their miscarriage starts. They often suffer heavy bleeding and cramping before they get there

Rachael Revesz
July 22, 2018

Let’s get straight to the point. Women need the new health secretary, Matt Hancock, to act now.

If he wants to reverse the damage caused by his predecessor to women’s health and to the NHS in general, he needs to move quickly. Another cabinet reshuffle is only around the corner.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/matt-hancock-health-secretary-abortion-pills-at-home-legal-law-nhs-a8458511.html