Abortion Battles in the U.K./Scotland!
It’s been a while since I wrote about what’s happening with abortion in the U.K. and Scotland. There is actually quite a lot going on!
In November, my Westminster petition to decriminalise abortion was approved. The petition has surpassed 43,000 signatures, which means it has received a ‘response’. If you look at the page, it reads, “All women have a right to access safe, legal abortions on the NHS.” This is somewhat misleading! When you click to read the entire response, it states, “All women have access to safe, legal abortions on the NHS, both in a medical setting and at home, where eligible. In England and Wales, the Abortion Act 1967 defines the criteria under which legal terminations can take place. The criminal law in relation to procuring an abortion is contained in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, particularly sections 58 and 59. At this moment, the Government has no plans to make changes to these Acts.”
The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 is the law that can send you to prison for life if you procure your own abortion—even pills bought at an early stage. There has been a significant increase in the investigation and prosecution of women and girls in the U.K. Therefore, abortion is NOT a right. The Abortion Act stipulates that your abortion needs to be signed off by two doctors, who have the right to refuse. Some do, but thankfully not many. However, it only takes one doctor in a very remote area, like an island, to make life difficult for someone. If there were proper access abortion would be easily available in Northern Ireland, and it would be available up to the legal limit in Scotland. It’s not. Dozens of patients, including young girls, have to travel to England every year for care. If we can get this to 100,000 signatures, there will be a debate. Let’s make it happen!
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700014
This brings me to my other petition, which is being progressed through the Scottish Parliament to ensure that abortion services in Scotland are available up to the legal limit. This is the second time I have petitioned on this issue. My first petition, a couple of years ago, was for them to provide services up to the legal limit and to decriminalise. In some ways, it went well, as the government made a written comment to ensure that abortion was first and foremost a healthcare matter. They have established an expert working group that immediately set a condition of ‘no detriment’.
There are many great experts on this panel. Predictably, the abortion-obsessed Bishop of Paisley (who was called out for spreading disinformation in the Scottish Parliament) has been complaining that he was not invited to give his views on the healthcare women and pregnant people are allowed to access.
*eye roll*
I was told that the only way to revisit abortion provision was to submit another petition, so I have done that. I haven’t been bending over backwards to collect signatures because in the Scottish Parliament, if the petition is approved, it technically doesn’t even need to collect signatures; it will still be discussed at the petition committee. Also, I’m hoping for lots of ‘submissions’ attached to the petition, which probably have more influence than mere signature count.
Westminster has an upcoming policing bill. This is potentially both good and bad. There is potential for an amendment to decriminalise abortion, but there is always the possibility that someone could attempt an anti-abortion amendment. With Nigel Farage making noise about reducing term limits, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine this could happen. If my decriminalisation petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it will force a debate on this, so please sign and share.
Lord Moylan in the House of Lords is at it again, trying to push through a bill to impose special reporting conditions on ‘abortion complications’. This is straight out of the Texan playbook and an attempt to frame abortion as dangerous. Moylan’s last attempt was a ‘foetal sentience’ bill, which failed due to the snap election. Frustratingly, this man is a life peer, so he has plenty of time to keep trying. The good news is that his nasty little bill is unlikely to gain traction, but the public generally doesn’t realise how frequently these attempts to undermine rights occur in the U.K. You can watch some footage of the Lords debate below.
You will likely be aware of Elon Musk suddenly discovering the Rotherham sexual abuse cases, targeting Jess Phillips and spreading disinformation. The U.K. anti-abortion movement has seized the opportunity to weaponise this. Senior ADF U.K. officer Lois McLatchy tweeted, “The sexual health clinics in grooming gang towns would have seen thousands of underage girls come in with requests for contraceptives, abortions, and STD treatments. Why didn't this lead to instant alarm and reporting? Ideologically, these clinics had adopted an 'as long as it doesn't lead to teen pregnancy' approach to teen sex and provided IUDs and abortion procedures without so much as warning a child's parents, let alone authorities, that something was amiss.”
You don’t need me to tell you how dangerous it is to use these cases as an excuse to remove choice, autonomy, and privacy from sexual abuse victims. If you don’t know who the ADF are, they brag about having got Roe v. Wade overturned in the USA and are categorised as a homophobic hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centre. Other anti-abortion activists have made similar claims that reproductive healthcare facilitates grooming and sexual abuse, particularly targeting abortion pills. This is obviously complete nonsense, and it’s disgusting that anyone would wish to force survivors to give birth against their will. It’s important to know what these people are up to.
‘Abortion Pills Go Global’ by Dr Sydney Calkin is excellent if you want to know more about abortion pills being a safe and effective game changer in the reproductive rights landscape.
A Few Other Things
Thank you if you’ve made it this far! Something a little bit linked to reproductive freedom (in my opinion) is giving children and young people the right to opt out of religious observance in schools. I am a teacher, and there is a LOT of Christian prayer and children being taken to churches in Scotland. Yes, even in ‘nondenominational’ schools. I’m not suggesting there should be no religious education; that can be very important for children in understanding their Jewish, Muslim, Sikh etc classmates. However, religious observance is only ever Christianity, and I think children at least deserve a choice in that matter. If you would like to know more about this, I wrote an article for The National.
https://www.thenational.scot/comment/24822372.children-right-opt-religious-observance/
You can respond to the consultation below, and it is actually quite a quick one! The government is not currently planning on giving young people a choice in religious observance (though parents have always had the right to withdraw them). But we can still tell the government that young people have a right to choice (it is literally one of their human rights under the UNCRC)!
https://consult.gov.scot/education-reform/religious-observance-education-legislation-schools/
A few other articles I’ve written include one about the far-right threat to women in Scotland with next year’s election.
And one about why it is now essential that schools stop using Twitter/X.
https://www.thenational.scot/politics/24845575.teacher-scotland-schools-stop-using-twitter-x/
Finally, I wanted to share a link to this petition to ensure that trans people are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve when in hospital. Our reproductive rights are intrinsically linked to trans rights and gender-affirming care.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/703861
Solidarity!