Category Archives: action

HELP: Forced marriage campaign – ‘Because I am a Girl’

forced marriagePlan UK’s “Because I am a girl campaign”, by Josephine Tsui // 30 June 2011, 11:06

The charity Plan UK would like your support for the ‘Because I Am A Girl Campaign’ being launched asking the UK public and government to #TaketheVOW by signing an online petition to end early and forced marriage.

You might have already heard about the campaign (which went live yesterday) as The Guardian very recently published a story on it, “10 million child brides each year, charity warns: UK must help to cut level of forced marriages for girls under 18” (25/06/11).

Plan UK wants to inform you of the launch because the campaign will have more impact with the support of influential feminist bloggers like yourself. We hope that the issue of early and forced marriage is of interest to you and your followers and that you will back our campaign.

Lend your voice through a quick and simple action of ‘taking the vow’ today, in support of raising the voices of the millions of girls married young, against their will in the developing world.

One girl is married off every three-and-a-half seconds worldwide. We think forcing girls to marry young is wrong. Please help put a stop to this.

Help us spread the word about our #TaketheVOW action on Twitter – we’re hoping you take your vow before millions of girls in the developing world are forced to take theirs.

** Take your vow at http://www.plan-uk.org/what-we-do/campaigns/because-i-am-a-girl/vow
** Please use our Twibbon, Facebook and blog badges to show your support!
** Use #takethevow to tell friends about the vow and urge them to take theirs!

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.