Abortion law 40 years on ... Defend and extend a woman's right to choose

by Veronica Fagan | Socialist Resistance no48 | page 9-10

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It is forty years since women in Britain won a major victory in the battle to control our bodles and tnerelore our lives - with the passage of the 1967 Abortion Act.

At few points over the last four decades have the limited rights won then not been under attack from reactionary forces.

In the last twelve months alone there have been three anti-choice bills before parliament which have fortunately been thrown out.

In October 2006 a bill introduced by Conservative MP Nadine Dorries which sought reduce the time limit from 2421 weeks was defeated by 187 to 108 votes.

In March 2007 a bill introduced by Tory MP Angela Watkinson that would have ended confidentiality for young women seeking abortion was defeated by 159 votes to 87.

In 2007, Ann Winterton's bill to impose compulsory counselling and a seven-dav delav on women's

abortion Was aeleatea by loz votes to 10/

These defeats of the antiabortion forces have only been possible because proof anti-abortion

leaders are men.

of them will never

be pregnant. choice forces continue to be well organised and visible. If, as is expected, a more extreme version „Lne Dorries bill is put forward this autumn through amendments to the government's Human Tissue and Embryo bill - it will be vital that the answering campaign stronger than ever.

There is no doubt that public opinion supports woman's right to control her fertility.

Abortion Rights and the Joseph Rowntreee Reform Irust commissionea an opinion poll in March 2007 which showed that 73 per cent oppose tne aelays tnal women often face in seeking an abortion - while a massive 77 per cent support a woman's right to choose in the first three months of pregnancy.

Most trade unions have positions in SUPPULL oI a woman s rignt to choose - a legacy of the days when campaigning on the streets in support of the National Abortion and against right-wing attacks on our existing rights.

The TUC women's conference marked the anniversary of the Act with a backdrop emblazoned "Defend woman's right to choose".

But last year's defeats of the anti-abortionists took place quite quietly - and even the majority of women activists in umons are probably nol aware of what further attacks may be in the offing.

Meanwhile, Abortion Rights is also using the fortieth anniversary to go on the offensive and fight to extend the current provisions.

campaigners want to end the paternalistic -and dangerous - situation where a woman woo wants do abortion has to persuade two doctors to support her first.

We want a woman's right to choose at least up to 12 weeks.

We also want the law to oblige the NHS to provide abortion services Levels of funding for NHS service provision have increased over the past 10 years, but waiting lists still vary across Britain resulting in a 'postcode lottery' of delays.

The Department of Health has set a target for delays of no longer than three weeks.

No government figures are published on waiting times but research conducted by the All Party Pro-choice and Sexual Health group showed that 27 per cent of Primary Care Trusts delayed women beyond three weeks

The British Medical Association gave important support to the campaign at its conference, with 67 per cent voting in favour of a woman's right to choose in the first trimester, while reaffirming their support for the 24-week time limit. • Abortion rights is calling for a week of action from Oct 20-27. For further information and to join abortion rights go to www.abortionrights.org.uk or phone 0207923 9792 • Get your MP to sign the Early Day motion "Access to abortion rights" (No 1649) put forward by Laura Moffat - which counters many of the myths put forward by the anti:http://edmi.parliament.uk/E DMi/

page 10 of the scan

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The paper also published this on its own website — read that text

Socialist Resistance ran its own site at socialistresistance.net before it moved to WordPress, and this article appeared there too. The text below is the paper's own HTML, recovered from the Internet Archive, so it carries none of the OCR faults above. It is not a correction of the printed article: the two versions differ, sometimes by a fifth of their length, and the printed page remains the text of record.

Home - SR Editions - Socialist Resistance No.48

Abortion law 40 years on … Defend and extend a woman's right to choose Veronica Fagan

It is forty years since women in Britain won a major victory in the battle to control our bodies and therefore our lives - with the passage of the 1967 Abortion Act. At few points over the last four decades have the limited rights won then not been under attack from reactionary forces.

In the last twelve months alone there have been three anti-choice bills before parliament which have fortunately been thrown out. In October 2006 a bill introduced by Conservative MP Nadine Dorries which sought reduce the time limit from 24- 21 weeks was defeated by 187 to 108 votes. In March 2007 a bill introduced by Tory MP Angela Watkinson that would have ended confidentiality for young women seeking abortion was defeated by 159 votes to 87. In June 2007, Ann Winterton's bill to impose compulsory counselling and a seven-day delay on women's access to abortion was defeated by 182 votes to 107.

These defeats of the antiabortion forces have only been possible because pro-choice forces continue to be well organised and visible. If, as is expected, a more extreme version of the Dorries bill is put forward this autumn through amendments to the government's Human Tissue and Embryo bill - it will be vital that the answering campaign is stronger than ever. There is no doubt that public opinion supports woman's right to control her fertility.

Abortion Rights and the Joseph Rowntreee Reform Trust commissioned an opinion poll in March 2007 which showed that 73 per cent oppose the delays that women often face in seeking an abortion - while a massive 77 per cent support a woman's right to choose in the first three months of pregnancy.

Most trade unions have positions in support of a woman's right to choose - a legacy of the days when campaigning on the streets in support of the National Abortion and against right-wing attacks on our existing rights. The TUC women's conference marked the anniversary of the Act with a backdrop emblazoned "Defend a woman's right to choose". But last year's defeats of the anti-abortionists took place quite quietly - and even the majority of women activists in unions are probably not aware of what further attacks may be in the offing.

Meanwhile, Abortion Rights is also using the fortieth anniversary to go on the offensive and fight to extend the current provisions. Pro-choice campaigners want to end the paternalistic - and dangerous - situation where a woman who wants an abortion has to persuade two doctors to support her first. We want a woman's right to choose at least up to 12 weeks. We also want the law to oblige the NHS to provide abortion services Levels of funding for NHS service provision have increased over the past 10 years, but waiting lists still vary across Britain resulting in a 'postcode lottery' of delays.

The Department of Health has set a target for delays of no longer than three weeks. No government figures are published on waiting times but research conducted by the All Party Pro-choice and Sexual Health group showed that 27 per cent of Primary Care Trusts delayed women beyond three weeks

Abortion rights is calling for a week of action from Oct 20-27. For further information and to join abortion rights go to www.abortionrights.org.uk or phone 0207 923 9792 Get your MP to sign the Early Day motion "Access to abortion rights" (No 1649) put forward by Laura Moffat - which counters many of the myths put forward by the antiabortionists. Go to: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/