HELP: University of York research study – women’s experiences of termination of pregnancy

From email:

Hello

I work in the Sociology Department at the University of York and I’m getting in touch to ask whether your group might be able to help circulate/publicise information about a research project that I am running?

The project is funded by the Wellcome Trust (a UK research charity) and is using interviews to explore women’s and health professionals’ experiences of abortion provision in England. I am inviting women aged 18 or over, who have had a termination of pregnancy within the last 6 months, to participate in an interview about their experiences. The aim of the interviews is to allow women to tell their stories in their own words and to explore what this experience has meant to them. Interviews are strictly confidential and women will not be identified. The study has been ethically reviewed and approved by the University of York Economics, Law, Management, Politics and Sociology Research Ethics Committee.

I am trying to find ways to publicise information about the project to women, so that those for whom this is relevant can decide for themselves whether they want to contact me about taking part in an interview. I wondered whether you might be willing to circulate the advert (pasted below this message and also included as an attachment flyer) around your mailing lists, and perhaps post the information on your webpage?

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ACTION: Abortion Rights: Campaign Update: October 2012

From email:

It’s time limit time again

Every couple of years, regular as clockwork, politicians start calling for the abortion time limit to be reduced. As we haven’t had a vote on the issue since MPs comprehensively rejected attempts to restrict access in 2008 (four whole years ago!) it was no surprise that the time limit reared its head again, just before the start of the Conservative Party conference. What is particularly concerning though is that it is the newly appointed Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the Minister for Women and Equalities Maria Miller who have led the charge, reaffirming their support for a 12 and 20 week time limit respectively. Other senior figures have been quick to jump on the bandwagon – Theresa May opting for 20 weeks and David Cameron voicing his support for a ‘modest decrease’ in the time limit. SNP Health Secretary Alex Neil echoed their views, and cheerfully added that he was ‘relaxed’ at the possibility of women being forced to cross the border to access abortion if the time limit in an independent Scotland was lower than in England.

Ministers have been quick to point out that they are expressing their personal views, and to stress that there are no government plans for legislation on the time limit. But Jeremy Hunt is ultimately responsible for all the UK’s abortion services and Miller is supposed to be the voice of women in government. Their views carry weight and when they fail to support access to a key women’s health service it is cause for real concern. Most of our readers will already know that the new medical evidence cited by ministers to support their desired time limit reduction does not exist. The current arrangements are supported by the UK’s major medical bodies and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has issued a statement emphasising the importance of retaining the 24 week limit. What this episode tells us though, is that restricting abortion via a cut in the time limit is back on the table in a major way. There may be no immediate plans to change the law, but it is highly likely that there will be an attempt to cut the limit before the next general election in 2015. It also tells us that if ministers think that there is any sort of consensus on the need to reduce the time limit or that they can do without much fuss, then they are seriously underestimating the extent of pro-choice feeling in this country. Their comments have caused lasting outrage. Abortion Rights saw a huge jump in twitter followers and an influx of new members following Hunt’s comments. We’ll need their support – and yours – to help us win the coming fight. So if you’re not already a member, please make sure you join or donate to Abortion Rights today.

More after the jump.

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EVENT: March for Choice in Ireland, Saturday 29th Sept. Dublin

March for the International Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion! Gather at the Spire and march to Merrion Square.

This is a celebration of being pro-choice! A day of being pro-choice and proud, speaking up and speaking out, making our voices heard. Come and celebrate with us!

Confirmed speakers thus far:

Ivana Bacik
Colette Browne
Clare Daly
Mara Clarke (Director of the Abortion Support Network)

Use the wall at www.facebook.com/notalwaysabetteroption to talk about the march and plans!

[Read more: March for Choice in Ireland]

ACTION: News and Events from Abortion Rights

On email:

Abortion Rights NewsWelcome to our Autumn Update: as ever there’s a lot to catch up on – reshuffles, debates, demos and trials – and lots for us to do. We’re particularly excited about our upcoming protest, but before we start a quick reminder: it only takes a minute to join or donate to Abortion Rights. Your support will really make a difference to our campaign.

It’s time for Action on Abortion!

On Saturday 29th September UK pro-choicers will be out in force to call for Action on Abortion.

Alongside women in Belfast, Dublin and around the world, we’ll be marking the International Day for the Decriminalisation of Abortion by calling for rights for women in Northern Ireland and global legalisation of abortion.

And as we head towards another anti-choice 40 Days for Life campaign, we’ll be demanding an end to the harassment of women outside abortion clinics.

After a week in which we have seen the appalling Abort67 given the green light to continue with their aggressive campaign in Brighton (see below), now is the time to make some noise on this crucial issue.

So grab your banners and get yourself down to Old Palace Yard, opposite the Visitors Entrance to Parliament at 2pm on Saturday 29th September. We’d love to see you.

Find out more and download a flyer for the event.

Get involved! We want to make the 29th a national day of action too. So why not set up your own action in your home town? Earlier this year enterprising pro-choicers around the country told one of our least favourite anti-choice groups to SPUC Off! – and it was a huge success. All you need is a few mates, a few placards and a facebook event page.

We’ll help you publicise your event on twitter (we’re using the hashtag #ActionOnAbortion) and on our website. Just email or tweet us your plans and we’ll help to spread the word. There are plans afoot for events in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee but we need more! Be part of a global campaign for Action on Abortion!

More after the jump.

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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.

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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.

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.