UK -The two doctors rule for authorising abortion should be scrapped, recommends review

BMJ 2023; 380 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p563
Published 08 March 2023
Matthew Limb

The UK government is facing fresh pressure to overhaul abortion law after new research found strong backing among women and healthcare professionals for change.

The Shaping Abortion for Change (Sacha) study, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), recommended allowing nurses and midwives to authorise an abortion, prescribe abortion drugs, and perform vacuum aspirations as they do in miscarriage care. If adopted, this would mean scrapping the requirement under the Abortion Act 1967 for two doctors to authorise an abortion.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p563

09.03.2023

Commentary

1967 Abortion Act

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Matthew Limb

midwives and abortion

nurses and abortion

Shaping Abortion for Change study

Malta – UK parliamentarians write to Abela over ‘extreme concern’ about abortion laws

Small group of parliamentarians say UK's similar wording led to 'abortion on demand'

November 26, 2022
Times of Malta

Three UK parliamentarians and a number of members of the UK's House of Lords have written an open letter to Prime Minister Robert Abela to express "extreme concern" about proposed changes to Malta's abortion laws.

The letter was sent to Abela after the government unveiled legislative amendments that would allow doctors to terminate a pregnancy when a woman’s life or health is at serious risk.

Continued: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/three-uk-mps-lords-write-abela-extreme-concern-abortion-laws.997614

26.11.2022

UK – Abortion clinic protesters may want to ‘comfort’ people, claims minister

New women’s minister Maria Caulfield defends earlier decision to vote against buffer zones outside clinics

Maria Caulfield, Jamie Grierson
Mon 31 Oct 2022

The new minister for women has defended an earlier decision to vote against buffer zones outside abortion clinics, explaining she is concerned some people accused of harassment may be just trying to “comfort” people using the healthcare services.

Maria Caulfield, who has also supported cutting the abortion time limit, was appointed as minister for women by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/31/abortion-clinic-protesters-may-want-to-comfort-people-claims-minister-maria-caulfield

31.10.2022

UK – Tory MP who backed cutting abortion time limit named minister for women

Labour and women’s rights groups criticise ‘deeply troubling’ appointment of Maria Caulfield

Jessica Murray
Sun 30 Oct 2022

Maria Caulfield, a Tory MP who supported cutting the abortion time limit and voted against buffer zones outside clinics, has been named as minister for women, prompting criticism from charities and women’s rights groups.

Caulfield, the MP for Lewes, was previously an officer of the all-party parliamentary “pro-life” group and voted against legalising abortion in Northern Ireland.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/30/tory-mp-maria-caulfield-minister-for-women-abortion-rights

Think abortion is legal in Great Britain? Ask the two women currently facing life sentences

The overturning of Roe v Wade is horrific, but vulnerable women are being imprisoned for ending pregnancies right now in Britain. It’s time to legalise abortion

Charlotte Proudman
Fri 19 Aug 2022

Like many people in Britain, you probably watched with horror the US supreme court’s reversal of Roe v Wade, thinking, “Thank goodness women could never be prosecuted for having an abortion here.” But let me tell you, it already happens here.

Two women are currently awaiting criminal trial in England for abortion-related offences, both facing charges that carry a maximum sentence of life. At least 17 women have been investigated by police over the past eight years for having had abortions.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/19/abortion-legal-great-britain-women-life-sentences-roe-v-wade

Abortion is safe, supported, and available in the UK. Why is the law so complicated?

In today’s newsletter: After Roe v Wade fell in America, this is the state of reproductive rights in the UK

Archie Bland
Mon 4 Jul 2022

The US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade ten days ago was vastly consequential for the millions of American women who will now be denied the right to an abortion – but it also reverberated around the world.

In the UK, one consequence has been a renewed focus on a legal picture here that is extremely confusing. For most women, most of the time, access to abortion in the UK is unfettered and uncontroversial, with widespread public support. And yet the blunt fact remains that abortion is still, technically, a criminal offence – and persistent exceptions and complications can be a real barrier for the women who need help the most.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/04/first-edition-abortion-rights-uk

04.07.2022

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

National Institute for Health and Care Research

UK – Down’s syndrome campaigner to appeal abortion ruling

Mar 9, 2022

A woman with Down's syndrome fighting against abortion laws says she is ecstatic she has won the right to appeal against a High Court ruling.

Heidi Crowter challenged legislation allowing foetuses with the condition to be aborted up until birth, saying it was unlawfully discriminatory.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-60669603

09.03.2022

UK/Scotland – It shouldn’t take a pandemic to drag abortion rules into the 21st Century

It shouldn’t take a pandemic to drag abortion
rules into the 21st Century

By Rebecca Baird
February 13 2022

If I’m ever going to be cancelled, I know exactly what it’ll be for.

I used to be ‘pro-life’. It gives me the creeps to admit it now, but that’s
what a Catholic miseducation will do to a girl.

Continued: https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/3004650/rebecca-baird-it-shouldnt-take-a-pandemic-to-drag-abortion-rules-into-the-21st-century/

Woman with Down’s loses abortion law fight

Sept 23, 2021
BBC

A woman with Down's syndrome has lost her High Court challenge over a law that allows abortion up to birth for a foetus with the condition.

Heidi Crowter, 26, from Coventry, brought the case against the government in July, saying the legislation did not respect her life.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-58662846

23.09.2021

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1967 Abortion Act

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Texas abortion ban means ‘other US states will follow’, pro-choice campaigners warn

‘Rich women will have abortions, and poor women will die or have babies. That’s what’s going to happen in Texas’

By Jasmine Andersson, iNews UK
September 2, 2021

Texas’s strict new abortion ban puts women’s lives at risk and could cause other US states to follow suit, campaigners have warned.

In a major blow to abortion rights, the US Supreme Court refused to block the law – known as S.B. 8 – which bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

https://inews.co.uk/news/world/texas-abortion-law-ban-us-states-pro-choice-campaigners-1179534