Scotland – Doctors warn about social media link to abortion rise

Sept 5, 2023
By Katie McEvinney, BBC Scotland news

Misinformation about contraception on social media may be contributing to Scotland's record high abortion figures, doctors have told the BBC.

The number of terminations carried out in Scotland rose by almost a fifth between 2021 and 2022. For the first time in 14 years, the number of 16 to 19-year-olds accessing abortion services also increased.

There are concerns this is being driven in part by false and misleading information on apps such as TikTok.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-66671765

05.09.2023

News

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Dr Sinead Cook

increase in abortion rates

UK – Is scandal-hit anti-abortion charity operating in secret under new name?

NHS websites are still signposting pregnant people to ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ despite warnings from campaigners

Nandini Archer
1 August 2023

An anti-abortion charity that claimed to have shut down following a scandal nine years ago may have resurfaced as a directory of so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ (CPCs), an openDemocracy investigation has discovered.

And at least half a dozen government websites are still signposting people to the controversial centres, despite accusations that workers at some CPCs try to talk vulnerable people out of having abortions.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/government-nhs-crisis-pregnancy-anti-abortion/

‘I had to go to England for my abortion because Scotland told me no’

Since 2019, almost 300 women have travelled to England to receive healthcare they were unable to access in Scotland.

Hannah Brown
July 21, 2023

The number of women travelling from Scotland to England to receive later abortion care has increased by 55% in the past year, new figures show.

In 2021, the number of women travelling to England was 42 but in 2022, new figures from the British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS), seen exclusively by STV News, show this increased to 65.

Since 2019, 282 women have travelled from Scotland to England to attain the service.

Continued: https://news.stv.tv/scotland/hundreds-of-women-forced-to-travel-from-scotland-to-england-for-abortion-care

Can I Get an Abortion While Traveling Abroad?

From Canada to Australia, here are the countries that assist foreign visitors with unwanted pregnancies.

By Olivia Young
Published on 7/20/2023

When I was 25 and traveling in New Zealand, another American confided in me that she might be pregnant and didn't want to be. New Zealand's abortion laws were restrictive at that time, especially for a tourist with no local medical network. She would’ve had to fly 7,000-plus miles back to the states to terminate the pregnancy in her home country had the test come back positive. It didn't.

Seven years on, with abortion now criminalized in 14 states, discovering an unwanted pregnancy while abroad could be the best-case scenario for an American. While Roe v. Wade's polarizing demise made the Land Of The Free one of the least abortion-friendly countries in the Global North, the general shift to telehealth amid COVID made abortions easier than ever to get outside the US. Since 2020, New Zealand has deemed it legal to prescribe abortion pills over the phone.

Continued: https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/abortion-while-traveling-abroad

UK – Judge’s reduction of sentence for abortion shows how law must change, say campaigners

Legislation that led to Carla Foster being jailed after procuring pills for a termination said to be ‘antiquated’

Alexandra Topping
Tue 18 Jul 2023

Prosecutors have been urged to heed a judge’s call for “compassion, not punishment” after the court of appeal halved a woman’s sentence for terminating her pregnancy beyond the legal time limit.

Carla Foster, 45, was sentenced to more than two years in prison after she admitted illegally procuring her own abortion when she was between seven and eight months pregnant.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/18/judges-reduction-of-sentence-for-abortion-shows-how-law-must-change-say-campaigners

UK – Woman jailed for illegally obtaining tablets to end her pregnancy set to be released

The 45-year-old U.K. mother of three was handed a 28-month sentence after she admitted to obtaining abortion pills to induce a miscarriage when she was 32 to 34 weeks pregnant

The Associated Press, Sylvia Hui
Jul 18, 2023

A woman who was jailed for illegally obtaining abortion tablets to end her advanced pregnancy will be released from prison after Britain’s Court of Appeal reduced her sentence Tuesday.

Carla Foster, a 45-year-old mother of three, was handed a 28-month sentence last month after she admitted to obtaining abortion pills to induce a miscarriage when she was 32 to 34 weeks pregnant in 2020.

Continued: https://calgaryherald.com/news/a-uk-woman-jailed-for-obtaining-tablets-to-end-her-pregnancy-is-to-be-released-after-appeal

18.07.2023

News

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Carla Foster

Clare Murphy

Judge Victoria Sharp

prosecuting women for abortion

Why UK campaigners fear drive to decriminalise abortion may stall

Carla Foster’s release welcomed but case has done little to settle debate about abortions carried after 24-week limit

Alexandra Topping
Tue 18 Jul 2023

On Tuesday, Carla Foster, who was jailed for terminating her pregnancy after the legal time limit last month, was told by the court of appeal that she would be released from prison after her 28-month sentence was halved and suspended.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) says there are three more women accused of illegally ending their own pregnancies awaiting trial, adding that in the last three years there has been an increase in the number of women and girls facing police investigations and threatened with up to life imprisonment.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/18/why-uk-campaigners-fear-drive-to-decriminalisation-abortion-may-stalln

5 reasons why abortion must be decriminalised in Britain

July 13, 2023
Ren Aldridge and Janey Starling

Last month, Carla Foster, a mum of three, was sentenced to prison for self-administering an abortion. Her case has brought Great Britain’s arcane abortion laws into public view – along with calls from MPs, health experts and women’s charities to decriminalise abortion.

Decriminalising abortion simply means treating it as the healthcare procedure it is and never as a criminal offence. Here are five reasons why that needs to happen…

Continued: https://www.kerrang.com/5-reasons-why-abortion-must-be-decriminalised-in-britain

13.07.2023

Commentary

1861 Offences against the Person Act

abortion law reform

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Carla Foster

decriminalization of abortion

prosecuting women for abortion

public support for abortion

Royal College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians

Royal College of Midwives

UK – The fight to repeal one of the most outdated abortion laws in the world

By Sana Noor Haq and Niamh Kennedy, CNN

Fri June 23, 2023

Hundreds of protesters lined the street outside the UK’s High Court on Saturday holding picket signs that read “Our bodies, Our right to decide,” before marching through the streets of central London demanding reformed abortion laws for women in England and Wales.

Earlier this month, a British woman who used medication to terminate a pregnancy after the UK’s legally allowed limit was sentenced to 28 months in prison under Victorian-era legislation, in a case that has sparked calls for an overhaul of reproductive justice laws in the country. The woman, who has three children, will serve 14 months in custody and the remainder on license after her release.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/23/uk/abortion-decriminalization-reproductive-justice-protests-intl-gbr/index.html

UK – Thousands march to decriminalise abortion after woman jailed for ending pregnancy after legal limit

Campaigners stress ‘abortion is healthcare, not a crime - we should not be policing people’s bodies’

Tara Cobham
June 17, 2023

Thousands of protesters calling for the decriminalisation of abortion have marched in central London following outrage at the conviction of a woman for ending her pregnancy beyond the legal cut-off of 24 weeks.

Campaigners stressed that “abortion is healthcare, not a crime”, after Carla Foster, 44, was this week sentenced to 28 months in jail, having obtained drugs to end her pregnancy at 32 to 34 weeks during lockdown.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/abortion-rights-march-london-woman-jailed-b2359503.html

17.06.2023