UK facing crisis point in abortion provision, experts say

Women said to be travelling hundreds of miles for appointments or waiting several weeks

Lucy Hough and Hannah Moore
Thu 26 Jan 2023

The UK is facing a “crisis point” in abortion provision, experts say, with rising demand and restricted access to care in many areas putting unprecedented pressure on struggling NHS services.

Healthcare professionals described a “terrifying” state of affairs in which women are travelling hundreds of miles for appointments or waiting several weeks before they are seen.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/26/uk-facing-crisis-point-in-abortion-provision-experts-say

26.01.2023

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Bpas

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Clare Murphy

Jonathan Lord

MSI Reproductive Choices

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Tracey Masters

travelling for abortion

Europe

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Health

‘No matter the law, no matter the stigma, no matter the cost.’ This European network helps people access abortions

Story, photographs by Kara Fox
CNN Video by Ladan Anoushfar and Louis Leeson, CNN
Wed September 28, 2022

It’s early evening in an affluent neighborhood in the Dutch city of Haarlem and bed and breakfast owners Arnoud and Marika are waiting for their next guest to arrive. They’ve prepared their single room for her, a brightly colored space with massive windows overlooking a leafy drive.

The traveller is a woman from France. She’s only staying one night, but her hosts want her to feel at home because she’s not here on vacation. She’s come to have a second-trimester abortion.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/28/europe/europe-abortion-travel-as-equals-intl-cmd

Ireland’s Struggle for Abortion Rights Should Be an Inspiration for the US

Ireland’s Struggle for Abortion Rights Should Be an Inspiration for the US

BY SINÉAD KENNEDY
Aug 22, 2022

Irish pro-choice activists had to overcome a rigid constitutional ban on abortion that was in place for more than 30 years. They succeeded by putting mass mobilization and a confident assertion of the right to choose at the heart of their campaign.

In May 2018, the Irish electorate voted by a two-to-one majority to remove or “repeal” the prohibition on abortion, known as the Eighth Amendment, from the country’s constitution. While opinion polls had suggested that pro-choice campaigners would win, most predicted a nerve-rackingly close result; certainly no one anticipated the sheer scale of the victory and the support for abortion access found across every section of society, from young to old, urban to rural.

Continued: https://jacobin.com/2022/08/ireland-abortion-rights-repeal-campaign-us-roe

Poland’s ban on abortion forces many to seek help in Germany

A Berlin-based activist group seeks to aid the rising number of women seeking help with abortion in Poland.

By Gouri Sharma
Published On 8 Aug 2022

For Zuzu*, an activist with the Berlin-based group Ciocia Basia that assists people seeking an abortion in neighbouring Poland, fielding calls is just one of many responsibilities she carries out.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Zuzu and other activists working with partner organisation Abortion Without Borders (AWB) told Al Jazeera that the number of calls they are receiving has increased.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/8/8/polands-ban-on-abortion-forces-many-to-seek-help-in-germany

Rwanda – ‘I Was Forced to Leave the Country for an Abortion’

MAAZA SEYOUM
July 10, 2022

I remember wanting to vomit as the plane took off. I felt anxious; this was not a situation I expected to find myself in. I closed my eyes, adding up how much the trip was costing me—the flight, the hotel and the procedure itself had set me back around $2,000. I would be burdened with more credit card debt but I was still immensely grateful to be on a plane to New York City, where I would be able to have an abortion.

I traveled over 6,000 miles to terminate my unwanted pregnancy in 2005, as I was living in Rwanda at the time, working on a national HIV treatment program. Abortion was only permitted in Rwanda when two physicians certified that it was needed to protect a woman's physical health or to save her life. Neither of these exceptions applied to me. I simply did not want to become a parent.

Continued: https://www.newsweek.com/i-left-country-abortion-illegal-america-1722957

10.07.2022

travelling for abortion

Funding and politics hit N.Ireland abortion services

by Akshata KAPOOR, AFP
July 4, 2022

Campaigners in Northern Ireland are closely watching US moves to restrict abortion, particularly concerns that women will now have to travel across states for terminations.

Abortion was only decriminalised in the British province in 2019 — 42 years after terminations were made legal up to 24 weeks in most circumstances in the rest of the UK.

Continued: https://www.macaubusiness.com/funding-and-politics-hit-n-ireland-abortion-services/

Americans look north and south for abortion access in post-Roe world

By Anna Mehler Paperny, Jackie Botts and Kayla Tarnowski, Reuters
29 June 2022

Some Americans without access to safe local abortions in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling are looking to the country's northern and southern neighbors for access to reproductive care.

While most Americans are likely to first try to access abortion in other states, providers in Mexico and Canada told Reuters they expect some people - especially from border states - will make the cross-border trek for reproductive care.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/americans-look-north-south-abortion-access-post-roe-world-2022-06-29/

It isn’t just the US: abortion barriers in Britain are forcing women to travel miles for treatment

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, access to second-trimester abortions still depends on a damaging postcode lottery

Rachel Connolly
Wed 22 Jun 2022

When a draft supreme court decision was leaked in May showing that judges intended to overturn Roe v Wade, many in the UK reacted with outrage. Rightly so: such a law change would leave abortion rules up to individual states. Rights groups estimate that abortion could become illegal in about half the states if this is successful. Americans would be forced to travel to states where it was still legal, or order costly abortion medicine online, risking severe legal consequences by doing so. Overturning Roe v Wade would probably also inspire anti-choice campaign groups to pursue legal action elsewhere in the world.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/22/abortion-hierarchy-uk-lack-of-services-scotland-northern-ireland-england-terminate-pregnancy

What Ireland’s Past Can Tell Us About A Post-Roe America

By Monica Potts
JUN. 8, 2022

Before 2018, most women in the Republic of Ireland were able to get abortions only if they traveled to a clinic in England or Wales or had a self-managed abortion at home, but figuring out how to do either of those options was difficult.

Information on abortion was censored in the first years of the ban, which took effect in 19831. Certain books were prohibited, and even the Irish edition of Cosmopolitan magazine had blank pages instead of adverts for British clinics. Meanwhile, those who sought abortions faced isolation, stigma and limited help from medical professionals. And for the few who were able to overcome those barriers and somehow reach one of the feminist networks that could help with information, logistics and fundraising, they still might pay hundreds of pounds or more for the procedure, transportation, meals and a hotel.

Continued: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-irelands-past-can-tell-us-about-a-post-roe-america/

The Scottish Government is failing women when it comes to abortion

By Lucy Grieve
Sunday, 5th June 2022

Since 2019, 170 Scottish women – including children under the age of 16 – have been sent across the border into England to have an abortion. This roughly equates to one Scottish woman every week that is having to make this journey to access healthcare that is legal in Scotland.

This is not happening because these women are located in remote areas, or because they require specialist treatment for complex medical issues, in fact it is quite the opposite. Women from cities that enjoy some of Scotland’s best healthcare infrastructure, like Glasgow, who are in their second trimester of pregnancy where abortion care has been legal for more than 50 years are being shipped as far away as Bournemouth on the south coast of England to have an abortion.

Continued: https://www.scotsman.com/health/the-scottish-government-is-failing-women-when-it-comes-to-abortion-lucy-grieve-3720095