UK – Rishi Sunak accused of taking ‘anti-abortion stance’ by service providers

Exclusive: Key members of the new cabinet have consistently voted against abortion rights in England

Alexandra Topping
Fri 4 Nov 2022

All four holders of the “Great Offices of State” have failed to support a woman’s right to access safe abortions in England over the past seven years, the Guardian can reveal.

Abortion providers have warned that access to safe abortions is at risk and accused the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, of taking a “anti-abortion stance”, after the minister for women, Maria Caulfield, was given responsibility for abortion services as part of her second role as a health minister.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/04/rishi-sunak-accused-of-taking-anti-abortion-stance-by-service-providers

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

Dangerous so-called abortion reversal treatment offered to women ‘by anti-abortion groups in UK’

‘There is also a very real risk of haemorrhage from using these medications. The fact that anti-abortion groups are encouraging women down this path demonstrates that they do not care about women,’ says expert

Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
March 25, 2021

Dangerous so-called abortion reversal treatment is being offered to women by anti-abortion groups in the UK, healthcare professionals have said.

The warning comes after an undercover investigation conducted by Open Democracy revealed advocates of abortion pill reversal treatment claimed at least 60 women in Britain requested it in the first half of last year.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/abortion-reversal-treatment-women-anti-abortion-groups-b1822583.html

UK women are being ‘used as guinea pigs’ by ‘abortion reversal’ doctors

openDemocracy investigation reveals spread of controversial treatment that claims to ‘reverse’ abortions, supported by US Christian right

Nandini Archer
25 March 2021

“We do help hundreds of women every day in the UK,” said a tired-sounding American woman who spoke to an openDemocracy undercover reporter in the middle of her night. “We’re like the international abortion pill reversal line.”

So-called ‘abortion pill reversal’ (APR) treatment was invented by a controversial anti-abortion doctor in California. It prescribes high doses of progesterone, a hormone, after the first of two pills used for medical abortions.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/uk-women-are-being-used-as-guinea-pigs-by-abortion-reversal-doctors/

Edinburgh City Council U-turn on blocked abortion advice website searches

Edinburgh City Council has announced it will no longer block access to vital abortion information websites, after facing heavy criticism from a leading charity.

By Joseph Anderson
Wednesday, 17th February 2021

The council was previously accused of ‘taking
an anti-abortion stance’ by pro-choice campaigners after a freedom of
information act, submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, revealed
the council does not allow employees or school pupils to access lifesaving
healthcare information on abortion.

Previously, the only accessible website containing abortion information was the
NHS website, however, charities such as the British Pregnancy Advisory
Service(BPAS) – which campaigns for women’s reproductive choices, provides a
helpline and appointments, and signposts women to treatment – were blocked .

Continued: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/health/edinburgh-city-council-u-turn-blocked-abortion-advice-website-searches-3137588

17.02.2021

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Edinburgh City Council

Katherine O’Brien

Local Democracy Reporting Service

How the pandemic revolutionised abortion access in the UK

Since patients have been allowed to take pills at home to terminate pregnancies, major medical complications have dropped by two-thirds.

15 DECEMBER 2020
BY KATHARINE SWINDELLS

When national lockdown was imposed at the end of March, and in-person access to healthcare was limited, the government initially flip-flopped over temporary changes to abortion laws.

Yet from the beginning of April, it approved measures to allow patients within the first ten weeks of pregnancy to take abortion pills at home after a telephone call or e-consultation with a clinician. Previously, these would have been face-to-face appointments.

Continued: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/health/2020/12/how-pandemic-revolutionised-abortion-access-uk

Two-child benefit cap influencing women’s decisions on abortion, says BPAS

Charity says policy was important factor in many deciding to terminate pregnancies during the pandemic

Patrick Butler Social policy editor
Thu 3 Dec 2020

The controversial “two-child limit” restricting the amount that larger families can receive in social security benefits was a key factor in many women’s decisions to terminate their pregnancy during the pandemic, according to a leading abortion charity.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) said over half of the women it surveyed who had an abortion during the pandemic, and who were aware of the two-child limit and likely to be affected by it, said the policy was “important in their decision-making around whether or not to continue the pregnancy.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/03/two-child-limit-on-benefits-a-key-factor-in-many-abortion-decisions-says-charity

03.12.2020

Bpas

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

increase in abortion rates

Jonathan Reynolds

Katherine O’Brien

two-child benefit cap

Manchester’s teenage conception rate drops 62% in ten years

Manchester's teenage conception rate drops 62% in ten years

16 Jun 2020
By Billy Brake

The latest data supplied by the Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group shows a decrease in 62% teenage conceptions, from 2,562 in 2008 to 978 in 2018.

The decrease shown by the latest figures fits into a national trend observed over the same year period, with teenage pregnancies dropping by 55% across the country.

Continued: http://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/160678867-manchesters-teenage-conception-rate-drops-62-ten-years

16.06.2020

Featured

News

Bpas

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Katherine O’Brien

Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group

teen pregnancy

teenage contraception rate

Europe

United Kingdom

Health

Northern Irish women told to sail to England for abortions despite pandemic

Northern Irish women told to sail to England for abortions despite pandemic

Amanda Ferguson, Reuters
April 7, 2020

BELFAST — Northern Irish women seeking an abortion have been told they must take an 8-hour ferry to England despite the lockdown, as the regional government resists pressure to offer abortions locally and the coronavirus pandemic stops flights.

Abortion was decriminalized in Northern Ireland last year after the British parliament bypassed opposition from socially conservative Christian politicians in Belfast to bring the region into line with the rest of the United Kingdom, where abortion has been legal for decades.

Continued: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/northern-irish-women-told-to-sail-to-england-for-abortions-despite-pandemic

Campaigners Welcome Historic Day As Abortion Decriminalised In Northern Ireland

CAMPAIGNERS WELCOME HISTORIC DAY AS ABORTION DECRIMINALISED IN NORTHERN IRELAND

21st October 2019
For immediate release

Today is a landmark moment for reproductive rights in Northern Ireland, and for women and girls who have been living under one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. At midnight tonight, abortion will be decriminalised, and we will be one step closer to free, safe, legal and local abortion in Northern Ireland. Women and girls in Northern Ireland have been left behind for too long - and today marks a historic step in bringing this cruel injustice to an end.

In July 2019, the UK Parliament voted in favour of an amendment proposed by Stella Creasy MP and supported by pro-choice groups across the UK. Section 9 of the Northern Ireland Executive Formation Bill 2019 passed by 332-99 votes in the House of Commons and 182-37 in the House of Lords. Section 9 states that decriminalisation of abortion would take effect if no Executive was formed in Northern Ireland by October 21st.

Continued: https://londonirisharc.com/press-releases/2019/6/14/campaigners-welcome-historic-day-as-abortion-decriminalised-in-northern-ireland