We must be vigilant

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

We must be vigilant

(Monday 17 November 2008)








With an attack on women's right to choose successfully deflected, ANNE KANE considers the continued importance of campaigning.



THIS year has seen the most vigorous campaign for a woman's right to choose on abortion for 18 years.Anti-abortionists trying to use the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill to restrict abortion law were roundly defeated, which is testimony to the campaign's breadth and diversity.

This victory has put the need to strengthen women's rights to choose on the national political agenda. While MPs may have been denied a vote on pro-choice amendments, they should now be in no doubt about the scale of support for choice and the need for Parliament to respond.


Forty years on from the 1967 Abortion Act, we would have liked to be able to mark that anniversary by focusing solely on the rights that women still need.


But moving forward was not the only matter on the pro-choice movement's agenda, as the anti-abortionists' targeting of the HFE Bill meant that this attack needed to be defeated too.


Of all the anti-choice amendments, the proposal to cut the time limit from 24 to 22 weeks drew the closest vote, with 233 in favour of this restriction and 304 against. It's highly telling that the "tightest" vote still represents a solid majority in support of women.


Voting cut across all political parties. However, of the 233 voting to reduce the time limit to 22 weeks, 133 were Conservative MPs, plus a further two "independent conservatives." Sixty-two were Labour and 23 Liberal Democrat.


With an election pending and potential changes in the parliamentary party arithmetic, there is clearly cause for continued vigilance.


But our campaigning created widespread awareness of the damage that would follow any legal restriction on choice.


Women who need later abortions are often in the most desperate circumstances. Sometimes, they have been blocked earlier in pregnancy or face unforeseen medical complications. Sometimes, they are women from Northern Ireland who are denied the provisions of the 1967 Act.


Whatever the reason, women themselves have to be able to decide what to do with their own bodies. Any restriction would spur anti-choice activists on to further attacks.


Our campaign on the HFE Bill involved many young people new to pro-choice campaigning, as well as those with long experience.


Kickstarted by a January public meeting that spilled over two huge rooms in Parliament, women organised around the country against an anti-abortion speakers' tour in February and March.


Public meetings and a massive lobby outside Parliament in May sent a clear message against any cut in the time limit. The TUC women's conference and then the TUC voted to give unanimous support for Abortion Rights and for defending and extending women's rights to choose.


Trade unionists mobilised for protests, addressed meetings and made MPs aware of union policy. Briefings, newsletters, postcards and model letters helped thousands to lobby MPs. Protests took place right up to the final stage late last month.


Important amendments were tabled at the report stage. One sought to reduce the number of doctors who need to consent to abortion from two to one, placing abortion on the same level as every other medical procedure barring involuntary detention under the Mental Health Act and helping to reduce obstruction.


A separate amendment tabled by Diane Abbott MP sought to extend the 1967 Act to Northern Ireland.


At an Abortion Rights public meeting on October 7, Family Planning Association in Northern Ireland director Audrey Simpson pointed out that, "since the 1967 Act made abortion legal in England, Scotland and Wales, as many as 80,000 women from Northern Ireland have travelled to England and other European cities to have a private abortion. They are not entitled to an NHS abortion in Britain.


"Given that many of these 80,000 women have the support of friends and families and the fact that the population of Northern Ireland is only 1.7 million, it is evident that a significant number of people in Northern Ireland have been silently voting with their feet with regards to the need for abortion in Northern Ireland."


Then, as Abortion Rights protested outside Parliament the evening before the report stage, the government announced a timetable that meant that no votes on abortion amendments, pro-choice or anti-abortion, would take place.


In relation to Northern Ireland, as Abbott put it, the decision "thwarted the chance to even debate the notion of extending the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland" and "let these people down."


The improvements that were not voted on are still needed.


Abortion Rights is calling on the government to use regulation where possible to improve access, such as by permitting women from Northern Ireland to use NHS abortion services when they travel to England, Scotland and Wales.


We urge MPs to support early day motion 2393 tabled by Abbott which calls on government to "provide funding for women in Northern Ireland to access NHS abortion services in Britain."


It is clear that the well-funded but minority anti-abortion lobby will not just give up, but, with opinion polls showing a big majority in support of a woman's right to choose, Abortion Rights will be continuing to campaign to harness that support to defend and extend women's rights.


We urge supporters to join or affiliate to the national campaign for a woman's right to choose.

Anne Kane is chairwoman of Abortion Rights.

www.abortionrights.org.uk