EVENT: Human trafficking road show in Leeds (Saturday 14th January 2012, 2-5pm)

leeds anti-traffickingPlease see the poster advertising a road show in Leeds (January 2012) which my friend and I are helping out with. It seeks to raise awareness around the issues of human trafficking, and is being led by Stop The Traffik. (http://www.stopthetraffik.org/language.aspx)

Trafficking is a massive issue and this workshop seeks to get the issues ‘on the table’ so we can enter into useful dialogue about it.

I really hope you can make it, or spread the word. Alternatively, there is scope to put on your own road shows!

Thanks lots,

Fran McFarlane

ACTION: UK abortion rights – latest news

Below is a campaign update from Abortion Rights – to recieve updates, visit www.abortionrights.org.uk and sign up for emails.

Welcome to our latest round-up of campaign news and pro-choice issues on our radar – abortion counselling, public health reform, anti-choice protests, global news and a look at what Abortion Rights has been up to recently. Where next on counselling?

On the abortion counselling front, there has been little movement from the Department of Health since the Parliamentary debate. As many of you will know, amendments to the Health and Social Care bill tabled by Nadine Dorries, which sought to strip abortion providers of their role in counselling women about their pregnancy choices, were comprehensively defeated in Parliament in September. At that time the Department of Health committed to holding a consultation on abortion counselling to further examine whether any change was needed. Since then, there has been little in the way of public pronouncements on the issue from the DH. When Diane Abbott sought clarification from Public Health Minister Anne Milton, she was told they were still ‘developing proposals’.
However, it now seems that the Department of Health aims to complete their planning for the consultation but the end of 2011, suggesting a launch in the New Year. We have also learned that that Departmental officials are conducting site visits to inspect current counselling systems. As we would expect, abortion providers BPAS and Marie Stopes have received visits, but alarmingly, the officials are also visiting the pregnancy counselling services offered by anti-choice groups LIFE and Care Confidential.

It would seem that ministers are seriously considering allowing these organisations, which are ideologically opposed to abortion and which have a track record of providing misleading and judgemental advice to clients, to be formally involved in NHS abortion and pregnancy decision-making care. Although it now seems that future changes to counselling regulations will not strip abortion providers of their right to advise patients on their choices, which is a victory in itself, allowing anti-choice groups to join them in offering this service would be an extremely negative step, undermining the right to accurate, unbiased information, as well as creating many practical problems and in all likelihood, serious delays. Abortion Rights will keep you updated as we hear more about the consultation – this is an issue that hasn’t gone away and we need a robust response from pro-choice supporters and groups.

Why pro-choice supporters should care about Public Health reform

Another key campaign issue which pro-choice advocates will need to focus on in the coming months is the government’s planned reform of the public health system, which will potentially have far reaching consequences for the delivery of abortion services. The plans, laid out in the government’s Public Health White Paper, mean that responsibility for abortion and most sexual health services will be transferred from Primary Care Trusts to Local Authorities. Abortion Rights, alongside healthcare professionals and sexual health groups, is concerned that this move threatens to turn the commissioning of abortion and sexual health services into political issues at local level, potentially resulting in some areas of the country voting to severely limit abortion service provision on financial or ideological grounds. Allowing elected local counsellors or even representatives of anti-choice or religious groups to serve on planned ‘Health and Wellbeing Boards’ opens up clinical commissioning decisions to political and ideological influence. Have a look at our briefing on the issue to find out more.

The issue is starting to attract the attention of MPs and anti-choice advocates. Following Parliamentary Questions on the issue, anti-choice group SPUC have started a campaign to ensure that Local Authorities are not required by the Department of Health to commission abortion services at all. Abortion Rights is raising these concerns with colleagues in health, equalities and trade unions groups and is urging them to include the issue in their campaigning work on NHS reform. We will also be discussing the issue at a Parliamentary Group meeting this month and will update supporters on what we find out.

Continue Reading…

NEXT HFC EVENT: READ MY LIPS – reading (and more) group starts next week! (Tuesday 20th September 2011)

Microsoft Word - Book group.docWe’re starting a reading/film/art/culture discussion group! Like a reading group, there will be one managable ‘text’ each month, and we’ll get together informally in different locations to discuss it.

First up:

Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber (click here to read on Google books)
A book of short stories – please read the title tale, and any others are a bonus!
Tuesday 20th September, 7.30pm, Upstairs bar at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street, Huddersfield.

If you arrive before 7.30 one of us will be hanging about in the foyer to show you where to go! The venue is wheelchair accessible and refreshments both hard and soft will be available in the bar 🙂 This is a free event. Bring your ideas, plus any suggestions for future texts.

All welcome – hope to see you there!

ACTION: Stand up for abortion rights!

my choiceWe mentioned this a while ago, but it bears repeating – if you haven’t contacted your MP yet, please do so using the link below. We CAN make a difference – please don’t let the government slip this one through without raising your voice.

The following is re-blogged from The F Word

Abortion Rights Action Alert

by Laura Woodhouse // 14 August 2011, 11:08

Abortion Rights have issued the following Action Alert encouraging us to contact our MPs to ensure women are not forced to seek counselling from anti-choice organisations prior to obtaining an abortion:

As many of you will know, plans are afoot to introduce new pre-abortion counselling requirements – opening the door for anti-choice organisations to receive public funds to advise women facing unplanned pregnancy. We need as many supporters as possible to contact their MP to urge them to vote against these proposals if they are debated in Parliament on 6th September.

We’ve set up an easy-to-use lobbying facility on our website. It only takes a minute to do – all you need is your postcode! It’s so important that we stop these anti-choice plans in their tracks. Just last week we saw further evidence of the appalling misinformation and bad practice used by some faith-based pregnancy counselling groups in their quest to deter women from having abortions.

What’s more, Nadine Dorries is already indicating that she wants to reopen the debate about the abortion time limit.We have to send a clear signal to politicians of all parties that our rights are not up for negotiation and we must make sure anti-choice MPs are not emboldened to continue chipping away at abortion access.

Please contact your MP via the AR website, or write a personal letter/email if you have the time/ability, as these are much more effective than templates.

NEXT HFC EVENT: SUNDAY SOCIAL, Sunday 21st August 2011, from 1pm

Microsoft Word - 5HFCSSposterAug11.docYou are very warmly invited to drop in and join us at our fifth SUNDAY SOCIAL
21st August, 1 – 4, downstairs at Coffee Evolution, 9 Church St, Huddersfield (click here for a map)

  • ‘Oh yeah!’ help us write a zine – bring your thoughts on sexism in our community
  • What’s happening to the UK abortion law?
  • Knit a blanket for the Poppy Project
  • Zine library for your perusal
  • PLUS our favourite books, and general hanging out

All welcome!

Hope to see you there… it’s kind of our first birthday!

EVENT: Leeds SlutWalk (Saturday 23rd July 2011)

Saturday July 23rd – 1200 – 1500

Meet at Victoria Gardens in front of the art gallery, Leeds. You may have heard of the success of the recent Slutwalk marches that are happening across the world! We are organising a march in Leeds for the 23rd July and we really hope you can join us! Please invite all your friends to march and rally and confront the rape culture that we live in.

With the rape conviction rate stuck at a shocking 6% (of reported rapes), 1 in 10 survivors never engaging with the criminal justice system and rape survivor survices being cut left right and centre now is the time to stand together and protest against the shameful victim blaming. It’s amazing that the comments of one ridiculous police officer in Toronto (who told students that if women wanted to avoid being raped they should “avoid dressing like sluts) can spark off a global movement. Lets celebrate the birth of a response to survivor/victim blaming, stand together and say that rape is NEVER the fault of the victim/survivor. For those on FaceBook here’s a link to the FB group https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140250409386868

EVENT: Pro-choice demo (9th July 2011)

Pro-choice Demo – 9th July 2011 from 13:00 to 15:30 – Trafalgar Square, London

Given the government’s recent appointment of Life to their sexual health forum at the expense of the British pregnancy Advisory Service, I’m organising a protest to show that we don’t think this is right. An organisation that is anti-abortion, advises abstinence, and doesn’t provide a full range of contraceptive services doesn’t have any place in influencing government policy decision. Whilst Life may offer a service to those wh…o do not see abortion as an option, we still live in a society in which women have a legal right to an abortion if that’s what they want and any step away from that endangers a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body. It has been argued that the appointment of one anti-abortion group will not make a difference to policy – I argue that this is a symbol of a further attack on women’s rights by a government that has shown itself to be retrogressive and misogynistic. We need to stand up and tell them to keep their hands off our bodies, to protest for the right to carry on deciding what happens to our bodies.

The police have not yet confirmed that this protest can go ahead in Trafalgar Square, but it isn’t inside a ‘designated area’ near Westminster so permission should be less difficult to get. Police support is desirable though, because some organisations have shown interest in speaking at a rally. I’ll post more information on this as soon as I’ve spoken with the Met.

So, if you believe that abortion rights are fundamental to women’s places as full citizens in our society, and that those rights are under threat, please join us on 9th July and publicise this page.

You can also check out #prochoicedemo2011 on Twitter.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=175470995844914

ACTION: Proposed changes to abortion law

Hi everyone,

Seriously time to sit up and act now – our government is attacking women again. Those of you following the F Word blog or keeping an eye on feminist news in general will probably already know, but abortion rights are, as usual, under threat.

Under new proposals, which won’t be well-publicised, and won’t be voted on in Parliament, women will be required to seek conselling before being able to access an abortion, effectively shortening the window she has. This counselling may be provided by organisations with a distinctly anti-abortion agenda. More information is below this email, where I’ve pasted the F Word blog post.

We need to make a *massive* fuss about these proposals, spread the word, tell people what’s happening and encourage everyone (not just women) to raise their voices and defend abortion rights.

Actions

  • Write to your MP. A letter is attached which you can adapt as you please or send in its entirety. You can find out your MP here. (Just pop in your postcode, then click on your MP’s name and you’ll be taken to a page where you’ll find their email address and postal address – you can paste the letter into an email or post it to them. Remember to add their name at the top and yours at the bottom)

Or be a superstar and do both.

Please send this email on to your friends and networks – it’s so important we stand up now and defend the hard-won abortion rights that we enjoy, but which are always under threat from those who seek to diminish women’s control and choice over their own bodies and lives.

Cheers!

____________________
The government is seeking ways to make it more difficult for women to access an abortion without bringing the proposal to a vote in Parliament, Liberal Conspiracy reports.

The Department of Health is looking for ways to force women to undergo mandatory ‘counselling’ before getting an abortion by changing existing regulations.

That is they are adopting the patronising proposal by Nadine Dorries and Frank Field in their quest to undermine the right to choose, rather that through the democratic process in Parliament, where it would at least face scrutiny by MPs and the Lords.

They also want to introduce a further ban on abortion clinics giving counselling. As Sunny says:

As BPAS (who have been targeted in this amendment) point out – around 20% of women they offer counselling to eventually chose not to have an abortion.

It’s like saying your doctor should not operate on you because they have an interest in doing so.

We’ve seen this all before in the US. Anti-choice campaigners wear away at one thing after another, till we’re left in a situation where women who miscarry and have stillbirths are being tried for murder, as the Guardian reported only yesterday:

What can we do? Writing to your MP and the Department of Health might be a good start. But also if you’re able to make the Pro-choice demo in London on 9 July, that’s another way to show your support for the right to choose, trusting women to make their own decisions, based on accurate information given out by healthcare providers.

EVENT: Wild – three women writers perform (Sunday 3rd July 2011)

Wild: women/write/speak, Hebden Bridge Arts Festival Fringe, White Lion, Bridge Gate, Hebden Bridge

Sun 3 July – 8pm – £3/£4 on the door

Three vibrant women writers and performers, stretching from Manchester in the west, to Bradford in the east, picking up at Todmorden in the middle, all come together at the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival Fringe. Emma Decent of Todmorden presents her raw, funny and vibrantly performed words – a mix of provocative poetry and performance prose. Emma has had guest poet slots all over the north west including Manchester, Huddersfield
and Preston. She was chuffed to have her first ever poetry slam win when travelling further afield last year at the famous Chicago Uptown Poetry Slam. “Thought-provoking, lasting, understated but pivotal.” Belinda O’Hooley.

Jane Steele is a Bradford-based poet whose first collection, ‘Natural Light’ was published by Currock Press in November 2010. She has been doing stand-up performance poetry in and around Yorkshire for 5 and a half years, and in 2007 was a prizewinner at the Ilkley Literature Festival for a monologue bringing Medusa to Wakefield. Her poetry makes people cry with both laughter and sadness. Well, three of her mates have cried. They told her so.

Angela Smith is well known to anyone who enjoys the Manchester live poetry scene. Impish and wry, Angela’s poetry looks at love, relationships and life with only a little help from faeries and butterflies. Her book ‘This is the Me I Would Be if I Dared’ is published by Puppywolf in June 2011, so ‘Wild’ will be one of the first opportunities to taste it.

There may even be time for a little open mic so bring something if you fancy!

EVENT: Huddersfield Feminist Collective at Manchester Slutwalk

Slutwalk (1)Here’s a couple of shots from when some of us took part in the Manchester Slutwalk on Friday 10 June.

Another Slutwalk is currently being planned for Leeds – look out for them on Twitter if you want to get involved.

[Thanks to Pictures In The Cloud for letting us reuse the pics here!]

Slutwalk (2)