‘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/

UK – Renewed calls for abortion clinic buffer zones to protect women from abuse

29th May
By PA News Agency

Medical leaders have made a renewed call for legislation to protect women from “unacceptable” harassment and intimidation outside abortion clinics.

The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), which represents more than 14,000 UK doctors, has issued a new position statement calling for a nationwide network of buffer zones around abortion clinics.

Continued: https://www.largsandmillportnews.com/news/20174360.renewed-calls-abortion-clinic-buffer-zones-protect-women-abuse/

UK – Tears & Trauma: Even Lockdown Didn’t Stop Anti-Abortion Protesters

Tears & Trauma: Even Lockdown Didn’t Stop
Anti-Abortion Protesters

Vicky Spratt
28 June 2020

It’s 8.30am and it’s already warm and muggy. 25 degrees worth of warm and muggy
to be precise. A man is shouting, his words fill the sticky air. He repeated
“every child deserves a birthday” over and over again.

He is holding a large homemade sign. It reads ‘Abortion Murders Babies’ in
large black and red lettering. He’s joined by two more men, they also have
signs. One says ‘THOU SHALL NOT MURDER’, the other declares ‘Babies are
MURDERED here’ above a pixelated image of body parts. Hours pass, they stand together.
The shouting continues. Women rush past, accompanied by friends and family,
trying to avoid them.

Continued: https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2020/06/9883832/rupa-huq-abortion-buffer-zones

UK – MP seeks to ban demonstrations outside abortion clinics

MP seeks to ban demonstrations outside abortion clinics

Jun 24, 2020

A bill seeking to ban demonstrations outside abortion clinics has been proposed by Labour MP Rupa Huq.

Last year, pro-life protesters lost a legal challenge against the UK's first buffer zone implemented around a clinic in Dr Huq's constituency.

Ealing Council said a 100-metre exclusion zone at the Marie Stopes centre had been put in place after women complained of being intimidated.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-53150759

‘Like Ireland on steroids’: Malta’s abortion taboo leaves women in despair

'Like Ireland on steroids': Malta's abortion taboo leaves women in despair
Border closures have trapped women seeking safe terminations and exposed the plight of those who cannot afford to travel

Megan Clement and Bertrand Borg in Valetta
Thu 11 Jun 2020

The nurse who told Marija she was still pregnant thought she was giving her patient good news. She chided Marija, who was seven weeks along, for not starting her vitamins sooner and sent her home.

But Marija (not her real name) was devastated. Six days earlier, she had tried to terminate the pregnancy with abortion pills she ordered online. But she had experienced terrible morning sickness throughout her pregnancy, and had thrown up after taking the first of the two pills. She was worried the medication had not had time to work before she vomited. After taking the second pill and bleeding for a few days, she went to the hospital to find out if she had miscarried.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/11/like-ireland-on-steroids-maltas-abortion-taboo-leaves-women-in-despair

UK – Caring For The Women Having Abortions During A Pandemic

Caring For The Women Having Abortions During A Pandemic

Alex Nommay
17 May 2020

I’m an abortion care nurse at a Marie Stopes clinic in Manchester. I always feel incredibly passionate about my job but the coronavirus crisis has really brought that home.

I’ll never forget one woman I cared for shortly after lockdown was announced. She was so scared about the virus that she asked me to scan her with my arm outstretched fully so that I wouldn’t be too close to her. She was wearing gloves and a mask. She was completely petrified.

Continued https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2020/05/9805458/abortion-clinic-coronavirus

17.05.2020

Featured

Opinion

Alex Nommay

Covid-19 and abortion

Marie Stopes clinic

telemedicine abortion

The war on African women is supported by foreign activists, with no regard for our lives

The war on African women is supported by foreign activists, with no regard for our lives
I know what life is like when access to sexual and reproductive services is limited. In Nigeria and across the continent, this must end now.

Olutimehin Adegbeye
1 November 2019

In May, police officers raided a Marie Stopes clinic in Lagos, Nigeria’s capital. Witnesses said the officers harassed patients and accused them of illegally accessing confidential documents. It was the latest in a string of attacks against groups that support women’s reproductive rights. Nigerian feminists, women’s rights campaigners and LGBTIQ+ activists came together on social media to ask, “what is going on?”. A consensus was reached: there is a strategic effort to undermine our sexual and reproductive health and rights, with women’s bodies a key battleground.

Nigeria’s patriarchal conservatism is hardly news; women, girls and queer folks in this country are regularly and legally denied autonomy, the rate of sexual violence is high, while sexual and reproductive healthcare is extremely limited. Nigeria accounts for more than 10% of global maternal deaths, despite representing only 2.5% of the global population, and a 2013 study showed that only 16% of Nigerian women of reproductive age (15-49) have access to, and use, contraception.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/war-african-women-supported-foreign-activists-no-regard-our-lives/

‘It is not a crime’: The women behind North’s abortion law change

‘It is not a crime’: The women behind North’s abortion law change
Pro-choice campaigners say there is much yet to do, but for now they are celebrating

Oct 26, 2019
Freya McClements

Two years ago, a Belfast woman told Danielle Roberts what she had told no one else – that she had had an abortion.

“She closed the kitchen door in her own house before she would say to me that she had taken abortion pills,” says Roberts.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/it-is-not-a-crime-the-women-behind-north-s-abortion-law-change-1.4062891

UK – How Our Government Has Betrayed Women Seeking Abortions

How Our Government Has Betrayed Women Seeking Abortions

Vicky Spratt
8 October 2019

All over England and Wales, abortion clinics are being targeted by anti-choice, anti-abortion and, ultimately, anti-women protestors. It often goes unreported and the scenes witnessed by clinic staff, pro-choice activists and service users alike are fraught.

In 2018, Ealing council became the first to implement a no-protest 'buffer zone' around the Marie Stopes West London clinic. That buffer zone prevents anti-abortion protestors from coming within 100 metres of the clinic. The move was hailed as a huge and hopeful step forward for the protection of women seeking abortion services against a backdrop of abuse.

Continued: https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2019/10/8540490/abortion-buffer-zones-uk-review

Ghana – Women urged to visit Marie Stopes for their family planning needs

Women urged to visit Marie Stopes for their family planning needs

Monday, 30 September 2019

Marie Stopes Ghana, has re-launched its centre at Kokomlemle in Accra with a call on women and girls to visit the place for all their family planning needs.

The contraception and family planning centre has been operating in the country since 2006 and provides services and information on sexual reproductive health to assist women during child birth.

Continued: https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/health/Women-urged-to-visit-Marie-Stopes-for-their-family-planning-needs-785066#

30.09.2019