Abortion Rights

Outraged by anti-choice abortion clinic protests?

Concerned about the counselling plans?

Ready to stand up to SPUC?

Then come to our Pro-Choice Public Meeting and have your say!

We are seeing an alarming change of climate at the moment, as activists and politicians opposed to a woman's right to choose turn their attention to abortion providers and individual women seeking abortion.

Already this year we have seen women harassed and filmed outside abortion clinics, the website of abortion provider BPAS hacked by an anti-choice fanatic, hundreds of clinics hit by spot checks in search of bad practice – and we’re still awaiting the launch of the government’s consultation on abortion counselling, which could see anti-choice groups handed NHS contracts to advise women on their pregnancy options.

Fortunately pro-choice supporters have been responding brilliantly: groups have sprung up to oppose clinic ‘vigils’ and harassment, counter-protests have drawn huge crowds, and just last Saturday loads of you held demos around the country to tell anti-choicers to 'SPUC Off!'

Now we need to build on this upsurge in support and talk about what comes next. So we’ve scheduled a Pro-Choice Public Meeting in Parliament on Wednesday 16th May.

We’ll be hearing from some great speakers, who will be sharing their views on the political and activist issues facing the pro-choice movement. Speakers confirmed so far include:

Zoe Williams, Guardian columnist and journalist

Kay Carberry, TUC Assistant General Secretary

Natalie Bennett, Chair, Green Party Women

Clare Murphy, Director of Press and Public Policy, BPAS

Kat Banyard, founder of UK Feminista and author of The Equality Illusion

Richy Thompson, British Humanist Association, Education & Faith Schools officer

It's a great line-up, but we really want to hear your views too, so there will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.

The meeting is free and open to all, but if you would like to attend please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  and let us know you’re coming.

7.00pm, Wednesday 16th May, Committee Room 10 in Parliament.

See you there!

 

01.05.12

Abortion Rights has joined a range of sexual health, women's, health and trade union groups in calling on Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove to prevent anti-choice organisations from making false claims about abortion and contraception in schools.

A joint letter, co-ordinated by the British Humanist Association and Education for Choice, asks the Education Secretary to issue guidance following evidence that groups including the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), Lovewise and LIFE are being allowed to deliberately mislead schoolchildren about the mental and phyical risks associated with abortion.

The letter reads:

"We are writing to express our concern about the false claims being made by groups invited to give lessons in schools on abortion and contraception, and to urge you to take action to prevent these claims being repeated. In particular, we are referring to the work of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), Lovewise and Life.

To be clear, it is not the anti-abortion ideology of these groups that we are challenging. What prompts this letter are issues of fact: many of the claims these groups make are simply false. For example, there is no evidence that abortion can increase the risk of breast cancer or infertility; no evidence that hormonal contraception can cause an abortion; no evidence for a medical condition called ‘post abortion trauma’, or indeed that abortion causes more distress for women than carrying an unintended pregnancy to term.

SPUC and others have been repeatedly making these claims for a number of years. We believe it is time for the government to intervene. The Secretary of State for Education has the power to issue guidance on sex and relationships education to ensure that children are protected from inappropriate teaching materials and all state-funded schools must have regard to this guidance. This must surely include preventing materials that present false claims. We believe you should exercise your power accordingly and issue guidance to prevent lessons which can cause harm to young people – such harm would be caused if they are deterred from using contraception because they have been misinformed about its efficacy, or because they believe they will be infertile following abortion.

We therefore hope that you will make clear in future guidance on related matters that materials used in lessons which cover abortion and contraception must be based on fact insofar as they relate to medical and health matters. No group should be permitted to make claims for which there is no evidence."

Education For Choice’s Lisa Hallgarten commented, ‘Schools which invite these kinds of speakers in are letting their pupils down badly. It is poor educational practice to invite guests in to deliberately misinform young people; and it is poor pastoral care to deliberately promote fear and stigma about a common and safe medical procedure. It is time for Gove, School Governors and Head Teachers to take action to stop this happening.’

BHA Head of Public Affairs Pavan Dhaliwal commented, ‘It is well past time that evidence is a criterion when deciding which groups are invited into schools to give talks on abortion. A number of groups opposed to abortion are doing daily talks in schools on sexual health, and in doing so, these groups are not just expressing ideological opposition, but presenting claims that are simply not true.

You would not want someone giving a talk in science that claims the earth is 6,000 years old, or in geography claiming that the earth is flat. So why should we be so accepting of people making false claims in sex education? We urge the government to take action to end this situation.’ The issue of SPUC and LIFE's activities in schools has long been a cause of concern. In 2008 a Guardian story around the extent of their educational programme caused outrage.

In addition to BHA, Education for Choice and Abortion Rights, other signatories of the letter include Brook, FPA, Platform 51, the Women’s Health and Equality Consortium, Rape Crisis England and Wales, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the National Union of Students, the National Union of Teachers, the Trades Union Congress and the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

Image by Frank Juarez used under Creative Commons

 

Supporters mobilise against SPUC's 'kerbside vigils'

Anti-choice group SPUC have announced that they will hold 'pro-life chains' in 50 towns around the country on Saturday, 28th April to mark 44 years since the implementation of the Abortion Act.

Fortunately, Abortion Rights is not alone in believing that the advent of safe, legal abortion in Great Britain is a cause for celebration. In fact, pro-choice supporters will be staging counter-protests in major towns and cities this weekend, to remind SPUC and anyone who sees them, that the majority of the UK population firmly supports a woman's right to choose.

So why not join them, or stage your own counter-protest? It only takes a few friends and a facebook page to get started.

Here are the details of counter-protests organised so far. To add yours to the list This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it us the details or contact us on Twitter – we're happy to spread the word!

Bath: 10.30am, Bath Abbey

Brighton: 10.30, Preston Park

Bristol: 10.30/11.00am, Bristol Hippodrome

Liverpool: 10.45am, Childwall Health Centre

Edinburgh, 11am, Usher Hall, Lothian Road

Sheffield, 10.30am Vulcan Road

Cardiff: 10.45am near Whitchurch high School on the A470

Newcastle: 11am, Tyne Bridge

Stevenage: 11am, Stevenage Station

Oxford: 12pm, Cornmarket (there's no SPUC demo in Oxford, but it's a good day to do some pro-choice leafletting anyway!)

So let's make some noise on Saturday and tell anti-choice protesters to SPUC OFF!

16.04.12

A man who admitted hacking into the website of abortion provider Bpas was jailed for two years and eight months at Southwark Crown Court on Friday. James Jeffrey, 27, apparently targeted the website because he disapproved of the decision of two of his acquaintances to terminate pregnancies.

Jeffrey, who was affiliated to the 'Anonymous' hacking group, stole the personal details of 10,000 people registered with Bpas and planned to publish the information which included names, phone numbers and email addresses online at a later date.

Described as a 'zealot with an anti-abortion campaign', the hacker boasted about the attack on twitter, but was arrested shortly afterwards when police traced his computer's IP address to his home in Wednesbury, West Midlands. He later admitted two offences under the Computer Misuse Act.

The court heard that in order to demonstrate that he had hacked the website Jeffrey posted the log-on details of Clare Murphy, head of communications at Bpas, the BBC reports.

Daniel Higgins, prosecuting, told the court: "Clare Murphy states women who contact the charity are often in a vulnerable situation.

"They speak to teenagers who have not disclosed their pregnancy to their parents, women who have been victims of domestic violence and victims of sexual violence - many women for whom an unplanned pregnancy is a very private affair and would not wish to share this with others.

"The publication of the information would cause great anguish for women who contact the charity in confidence and would put some of these women at serious risk mentally and physically," he added.

Sentencing Jeffrey to 2 years and 8 months, Judge Michael Gledhill QC said of the data theft, "You only have to think for a few seconds of the terrible consequences had that threat been carried out." Jeffrey will serve at least 16 months in prison before being released on probation.

Abortion Rights' view that the inspections were politically motivated has been backed up by statements from Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham and the Chair of the Care Quality Commission.

The spot checks on abortion clinics that took place over three days in March were politically motivated, the BBC and Guardian reported.

Details of the inspections were revealed after a Freedom of Information request from the BBC, who reported “such inspections would not normally be carried out on such a scale, by the CQC, which inspects hospitals, care homes, dentists and domestic care to ensure that they are meeting government required standards.” The inspection was ordered by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

CQC chairman Dame Jo Williams wrote to the Department of Health saying the inspections had a damaging effects on their normal work.

The checks reportedly cost £1 million and mean that 580 pre-planned inspections of other facilities were cancelled.

The shadow health secretary, Andy Burnham, told the BBC he thought the health secretary was “chasing headlines” to divert attention from the NHS bill.

Even the chairman of the Commons’s health select committee, the Conservative MP Stephen Dorrell, criticised the decision to divert resourced towards the inspection, saying the CQC should be clearly established as an independent regulator determining its own priorities.

Pro-choice supporters gathered in Bedford Square, central London, on Friday (30.03.12) to voice their opposition to the 40 Days for Life campaign which has been picketing a BPAS clinic for several weeks. 

The group's tactics have caused public outrage following reports of clinic staff and patients being approached and filmed by the anti-choice activists.

The counter-protest, organised by Bloomsbury Pro-Choice Alliance and Abortion Rights, was called when 40 Days for Life announced it had invited Roman Catholic bishop Alan Hopes to join them for an evening 'prayer vigil' outside the clinic.

Anti-choice activists arriving for the vigil were greeted by a noisy, boisterous pro-choice crowd, who kept up a constant stream of chants, whistles and songs. As the evening wore on as many as 1000 people joined the protest - including dozens of cyclists from the Critical Mass movement - outnumbering the anti-choice crowd by a huge margin.

The protest was overwhelmingly peaceful and good natured, and some very kind pro-choice people even tidied up the square afterwards.

Many thanks to everyone who attended and helped to make the event such a huge pro-choice success. We needed to send a clear message to anti-choice groups that we will not tolerate their aggressive tactics, and we needed to remind anti-choice politicians that attempts to restrict our right to choose will be met with fierce opposition. And that's exactly what we did!

Have a look at our photos of the event and here are some great shots from Sinister Dexter.

Watch the Guardian video of the protest.

Further evidence has emerged that the government is engaged on an ideological crusade to undermine abortion provision when it was revealed that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has been ordered to undertake spot checks on all abortion providers in the UK.

According to the Department of Health, the inspections were carried out to establish whether procedures for signing permission forms were being followed correctly.

A statement released on Thursday linked the checks to allegations published by the Telegraph last month that doctors at three clinics had agreed to carry out terminations for the purpose of sex selection:

“Since February, it has come to light through CQC inspections that more clinics could be breaking the law than first thought.

The CQC is conducting unannounced inspection to see if there is evidence of pre-signing. Inspectors have this week mounted a large number of spot checks across the country.”

Announcing the checks, Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley said,

“I am shocked and appalled to learn that some clinics – which look after women in what are often difficult circumstances – may be allowing doctors to pre-sign abortion certificates. This is contrary to the spirit of the Abortion Act.

He continued: “We will set up a special team comprising of all the necessary regulators and the Department to look at how we stamp out bad practice in abortion”.

However, in spite of the strongly worded statement, it is unclear whether any evidence of illegality by clinic staff has been uncovered.

Abortion Rights understands that the order to immediately inspect all clinics came directly from the Secretary of State and that CQC staff were told to make the checks their highest priority. It appears that the Department of Health then contacted the Telegraph and the BBC to announce that it had important new revelations about abortion clinics.

Responding to news of the investigation, Abortion Rights campaign co-ordinator Darinka Aleksic said:

“Andrew Lansley has clearly decided to go to war against the UK’s abortion providers. At a time when public finances are under intense pressure it is beyond belief that he has ordered Care Quality Commission staff to drop everything and go on a fishing expedition to find fault with the system. 

The government is seeking to muddy the waters around abortion services and to undermine trust in providers in order to pave the way for damaging new requirements around abortion counselling.

It should really be focusing on anti-choice activists harassing women outside abortion clinics and on the dangerous misinformation and ideological bias doled out by so-called ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centres’. But there has been a deafening silence on these issues from ministers.”

Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of abortion provider BPAS commented:

“Abortion doctors provide an important service to women who are often in difficult circumstances. Their work is already intensely scrutinised, with clinics regularly inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Mr Lansley says he is shocked and appalled by the practices he has uncovered. bpas is shocked and appalled that Mr Lansley has found it necessary to inform journalists of alleged breaches of the abortion law before he has informed those responsible for providing the services that have been investigated, and before the investigation is concluded.”

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Updated 3.00pm, 23.03.12

Diane Abbott, Labour’s Shadow Public Health Minister, has released a statement raising concerns about the CQC abortion investigation:

‘These are serious allegations about breaches of the law. Where there is bad practice, the government has a responsibility to vulnerable woman to take action. The law is very clear, and we need to work to make sure doctors are working within the law. 

However, I have real concerns about the way this investigation has happened. There are questions that need to be answered by Andrew Lansley. How could data from forms from more than 250 clinics be processed in one day, in time for the claims to made a day later? Why was this raid carried out in the first place? What was the evidence that led to it? Why was the media told about the latest inspections before the clinics?

‘Last month we had another story from the Daily Telegraph alleging illegal activity on the part of abortion clinics. This month the BPAS website has been hacked by an anti-abortion extremist. And we have seen protestors outside clinics mimicking the tactics of the American far right and harassing women and abortion clinic doctors and nurses.

 ‘Of course we must stamp out poor practise. But women could be forgiven for thinking that what we are seeing is a steady drumbeat from anti-choice activists and their friends in the media and Westminster.’

Christian anti-abortion group 40 Days for Life provoked a storm of criticism yesterday (12.03.12) when members were accused of filming clients and staff at a London abortion clinic. Police were called to the Bloomsbury offices of abortion provider BPAS after complaints from members of the public and clinic staff about the behaviour of protesters.

Members of the group have been picketing abortion clinics in London, Birmingham, Brighton and Manchester every day during Lent as part of a US-based anti-abortion campaign which expanded its operations to the UK several years ago.

Although the group claims to hold peaceful prayer vigils, their presence has caused concern among neighbours and has caused distress and alarm to women using the Bloomsbury clinic. Protesters routinely approach clients and passers-by, handing out leaflets containing misleading information and directing women to counselling centres known to provide grossly inaccurate and judgemental advice.

Challenged about their behaviour on Twitter last night, 40 Days for Life claimed that the person filming was not part of their group and then that filming may have been inadvertent. Clinic staff were clear however that the individual was standing among the protest group and that he was deliberately pointing the camera at them.

The two nurses who took their employer, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to court over abortion supervision have lost their case. (07/03/12)

The judge who heard the case at the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled that the pair do not have direct involvement in terminations. Therefore, the duties they were expected to carry out as senior nurses – namely, assigning duties to other NHS staff, and other supervisory tasks – did not breach their right to conscientious objection to carrying out abortions.  

Lady Smith said in the judgement: "Nothing they have to do as part of their duties terminates a woman's pregnancy.

"They are sufficiently removed from direct involvement as, it seems to me, to afford appropriate respect for and accommodation of their [Roman Catholic] beliefs."  

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, welcoming the decision, said that the ruling reflected efforts made to accommodate the nurses' beliefs. A spokeswoman commented:  

"We are fully supportive of staff who hold a position of conscientious objection and make every effort to accommodate them, however at the same time we have an unequivocal duty of care to ensure the safety of our patients and as such we must balance this responsibility with the rights of the conscientious objector."  

The nurses had brought a claim under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which covers freedom of religion. However, Lady Smith said that the nurses had agreed to take on the positions of labour ward co-ordinators, with responsibility for delegating, supervising and supporting staff, and had not objected to the "job content".  

The nurses, Mary Doogan and Concepta Wood, have indicated that they may appeal against the ruling. They were supported in preparing and bringing their claim by anti-choice pressure group SPUC.

23.02.12

The Daily Telegraph has today published the results of an undercover investigation into the availability of abortion on the grounds of sex selection. Reporters visited nine clinics around the country and claim that in three of them doctors were willing to arrange terminations despite being told that it was because of the sex of the foetus.