Siege days are over: how Northern Ireland came to lead the UK on abortion

The chilling atmosphere of pickets and protests at clinics has given way to a new ‘gold standard’ of care

Rory Carroll, Ireland correspondent
Thu 21 Mar 2024

The family planning advisers at Shaftesbury Square still remember the days of siege when anti-abortion protesters staked out the front and rear entrance of their office in central Belfast.

Some pickets would splash holy water on the doors and daub salt crosses on the pavement while others would thrust leaflets with pictures of babies and foetuses at woman entering or leaving the building, and sometimes follow them.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/21/how-northern-ireland-came-to-lead-the-uk-on-abortion

‘If we can do it, you can do it’: US anti-abortion groups ramp up activities in UK

Emboldened by victories at home, some of the most prominent American anti-abortion groups are exporting their tactics overseas

Katherine Stewart
Sun 2 Apr 2023

Anti-abortion groups are stepping up efforts to spread US-style abortion politics to the UK, ramping up spending with the ambition of shaking up political life beyond American borders.

Fresh off their historic victory in bringing about the end of the constitutional right to abortion in the US, these groups are importing familiar tactics, including public protests and demonstrations, anti-abortion counseling centers or so-called “crisis pregnancy centers”, and the cultivation of ties with clerical leaders.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/02/us-anti-abortion-groups-uk-far-right

Scotland – Secular Society urges urgent review of charity status for “crisis” pregnancy centres

20 March 2023
by Robert Armour

Ministers are being urged by campaigners to review the charitable status of ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ giving unethical advice to pregnant woman.

These centres are organisations outside the NHS that offer advice to women with unplanned pregnancies. Many are registered charities.

Continued: https://tfn.scot/news/charity-urges-urgent-review-of-charity-status-for-crisis-pregnancy-centres

20.03.2023

News

anti-choice charity

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revoking charity status

Abortion UK: Women ‘manipulated’ in crisis pregnancy advice centres

Feb 27, 2023
By Eleanor Layhe & Divya Talwar, BBC Panorama

Women are being misled and manipulated about abortion by some crisis pregnancy advice centres in the UK, according to evidence from a Panorama investigation.

The centres operate outside the NHS and tend to be registered charities. Most say they don't refer women for abortions, but offer support and counselling for unplanned pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64751800

Scotland – Catholic church officer on board of anti-abortion charity

Constance Kampfner
Monday November 22 2021

A senior member of the Scottish Catholic church sits on the board of an anti-abortion charity, whose Belfast branch once peddled falsehoods about terminations leading to breast cancer, it can be revealed.

Stanton Healthcare, a group based in the US, is set to open a second UK branch, in Scotland, with the backing of the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh, which has promised to support its “much-needed work”.

Continued: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/catholic-church-officer-on-board-of-anti-abortion-charity-z88np78tm

Anti-abortion clinic in Northern Ireland claims terminations ‘fill breasts with cancer’ and make women infertile

Anti-abortion clinic in Northern Ireland claims terminations ‘fill breasts with cancer’ and make women infertile
A senior gynaecologist has branded the false advice ‘despicable’ bullying of vulnerable women

By Hayley Richardson
2nd June 2018

AN anti-abortion clinic in Northern Ireland has been caught telling women that having a termination will “fill their breasts with cancer” and make them infertile.

An undercover investigation by The Times found a counsellor made the false claims at the Belfast clinic of Stanton Healthcare, which was set up by US anti-abortion activists.

Continued: https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/6435205/anti-abortion-clinic-northern-ireland-false-claims-cancer/

‘Shrouded in shame’: the young women on either side of Ireland’s abortion debate

'Shrouded in shame': the young women on either side of Ireland's abortion debate
Anti-abortion and pro-choice activists are gearing up for a hard-fought referendum in which the youth vote could prove key

Ammar Kalia
Tue 30 Jan 2018

An average of 11 women travel each day from the island of Ireland to have an abortion in England and Wales, according to the most recent Department of Health data. That adds up to more than 200,000 journeys since 1983, when the passing of the Eighth Amendment underlined the ban on abortions in the republic.

In Northern Ireland, the potential punishment for contravening the ban is even more severe. “It’s much more difficult even to have a conversation about abortion in Belfast,” says Jess Brien, a 25-year-old pro-choice campaigner who lives in Northern Ireland’s capital, “because the maximum sentence for having one here is life imprisonment.”

continued: https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/jan/30/ireland-abortion-referendum-debate-young-women