UK: abortion pill progress for English women whilst Northern Irish women ‘further isolated’

UK: abortion pill progress for English women whilst Northern Irish women 'further isolated'

25 Aug 2018

Responding to news of new government plans to allow women in England to take an early abortion pill at home, Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International UK’s Northern Ireland campaigns manager, said:

“Whilst the UK Government is making progress for women in England, it’s further isolating women in Northern Ireland who are again being left behind - still subjected to archaic and discriminatory abortion laws.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-abortion-pill-progress-english-women-whilst-northern-irish-women-further-isolated


Allowing English women to take the abortion pill at home is good news – and now we’re coming for you, Northern Ireland

Allowing English women to take the abortion pill at home is good news – and now we're coming for you, Northern Ireland

Harriet Marsden
25 August 2018

As landmark women’s health text Our Bodies, Ourselves put it in 1970, abortion is “our right ... as women to control our own bodies. The existence of any abortion laws (however ‘liberal’) denies this right.”

Those rights are advancing in some parts of the UK, and stalling in others. The latest development is that women in England will soon be able to take an abortion pill at home: a small but significant step forward that many welcome. Yet in Northern Ireland, women still face draconian laws and life in prison for daring to access their reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/abortion-pill-at-home-northern-ireland-pregnancy-a8507811.html


Rise in women travelling from Northern Ireland to England for abortions

Rise in women travelling from Northern Ireland to England for abortions
Campaigners say having different abortion laws on either side of Irish border breaches Good Friday agreement

James Tapper
Sat 21 Jul 2018

The number of women travelling from Northern Ireland to have an abortion in England has jumped dramatically since the government set up a special hotline in March.

A total of 342 women and girls – including at least one 12-year-old – went to England for a termination through the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) in the three months since March: a significant increase on the 190 women who travelled to use the same service in the previous nine months.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/21/women-travelling-from-northern-ireland-to-england-for-abortions


Prime Minister & Trump urged to discuss sexual healthcare by RCOG & FSRH

Prime Minister & Trump urged to discuss sexual healthcare by RCOG & FSRH

By Hannah Alderton
July 13, 2018

Presidents of key organisations supporting the rights of women and girls across the world are calling on Theresa May to raise the crucial issue of sexual and reproductive health with the US President Donald Trump during their bilateral talks.

In a joint letter, Professor Lesley Regan, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), and Dr Asha Kasliwal, President of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), write:

Continued: https://www.pharmafield.co.uk/pharma_news/rcog-fsrh-prime-minister-sexual-healthcare-trump/


Trump visit to the UK: How about working together on women’s rights?

Trump visit to the UK: How about working together on women’s rights?
by Katherine Nightingale
12th Jul 2018

When Theresa May welcomes Trump this week it seems like she won’t be short of conversation: there’s the World Cup, Brexit, and NATO before we even start. But with hundreds of thousands of people from all over the UK coming to join the Women’s March this Friday, a clear message is that women’s rights should be on the agenda.

Chances are, time will be short. So if that means there is only one issue Theresa May can champion with Donald Trump, we think it should be to look together at how the UK and US governments could support sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for women and families worldwide, especially in emergencies. So whilst some might think there is no common ground, here is my take on the key messages:

Continued: https://insights.careinternational.org.uk/development-blog/trump-visit-to-the-uk-how-about-working-together-on-women-s-rights


Criminalised abortion in UK obstructs reflective choice and best care

Criminalised abortion in UK obstructs reflective choice and best care

BMJ 2018; 362 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k2928
Published 09 July 2018
Sandy Goldbeck-Wood, Abigail Aiken, David Horwell, Oskari Heikinheimo, Ganesh Acharya, editorial board of BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health

Theresa May could seize this opportunity for evidence based reform

The recent decisions to liberalise abortion laws in the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man1 have put pressure on the British prime minister, Theresa May, to consider decriminalising abortion in the UK. Although she believes “that a woman should be able to access safe, legal abortion,”2 she has not yet acted to initiate amendment of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act—perhaps in fear of Northern Ireland's anti-abortion Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), on which her minority government depends.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k2928


The Anti-Abortion Lobby In The UK Has More Power Than You Realise

The Anti-Abortion Lobby In The UK Has More Power Than You Realise
Jeremy Hunt's refusal to extend at-home abortions to women in England has nothing to do with women's welfare, and everything to do with politics

by Vicky Spratt
July 4, 2018

Donald Trump really has a way with words doesn’t he? As the news that Supreme Court judge Anthony Kennedy was retiring, women’s hearts raced. This is the Hand Maid’s Tale-esque moment American women had feared since the news broke that Trump had beaten Hillary: it is the right’s chance to undo Roe versus Wade: the landmark ruling that legalised abortion in America.

What has Trump said about it? Simply, when it comes to replacing Kennedy he plans to pick ‘a great one’ who, presumably, will be about as great as America is right now under his watch. Perhaps ‘great’ for Trump is a bit like ‘Brexit’ for Theresa May – a catch all phrase for something chaotically bad.

Continued: https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/the-anti-abortion-lobby-in-the-uk-has-more-power-than-you-realise/


Northern Ireland one of ‘most restrictive abortion regimes’

Northern Ireland one of 'most restrictive abortion regimes'
Ban, including in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality, sees women travel to England for procedure.

Alasdair Soussiby Alasdair Soussi
3 Jul 2018

Ashleigh Topley, from Portadown, Northern Ireland, recalled a harrowing stage in her own pregnancy when she was "willing her [child's] heart to stop" so she could begin the grieving process.

At her 20-week scan in 2013, Topley was told that her baby had a fatal foetal abnormality and would not survive outside the womb.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/northern-ireland-europe-restrictive-abortion-regimes-180702204715776.html


How Brexit Stopped Abortion Being Decriminalised In England And Wales

How Brexit Stopped Abortion Being Decriminalised In England And Wales

Brexit has caused countless issues like reproductive rights to be placed on the back burner as the government focuses on making sure we don’t fall off the economic cliff when we leave the EU

Liam Arnull
June 24, 2018

In England and Wales, along with the other nations of the UK, abortion remains a criminalised offence. Having evolved from Victorian laws, strict clauses are now in place to allow some abortion services (Northern Ireland is not covered by this law). But, if broken, life imprisonment can still be applied to people who have accessed/ helped facilitate an abortion outside the letter of the law. An offence still present to this very day.

This archaic setup has long been protested out of the right for people with child bearing ability to choose the destiny of their body. In 2017 this protest met part fruition for those living in England and Wales with the introduction of the Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill to the Commons. The Bill set to remove the life imprisonment sentence for those that might have got caught up by the current system. Labour MP Diana Johnson commented that the current legislation holds “the harshest criminal penalty of any country in Europe, underpinned by a Victorian criminal law passed before women even had the right to vote, let alone sit in this place [The House of Commons]”.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/abortion-rights_uk_5b29355fe4b061fc68707f87


Northern Ireland – McDonald calls for reality check to overcome abortion objections

McDonald calls for reality check to overcome abortion objections
Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald has said those supporting the ongoing ban on abortion in Northern Ireland need “a reality check”.

On a visit to London for a meeting with Theresa May, Mrs McDonald repeated her call for abortion reform north of the border following Ireland’s historic referendum last month.

Continued: https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/mcdonald-calls-for-reality-check-to-overcome-abortion-objections-850105.html