Women's Views on News |
| Abortion campaign in Northern Ireland launched Posted: 27 Oct 2014 06:17 AM PDT
Northern Ireland has different laws to the rest of the UK that only allow women to have an abortion in 'highly exceptional circumstances'. Although there is no formal guidance on what 'highly exceptional circumstances' are, they do not include rape, incest or if the foetus has a fatal abnormality – where the foetus would not survive outside of the womb. But new research into public opinion has shown that this situation is unacceptable to most people in the country. There is clear support to change the law from across all communities in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Research conducted by Millward Brown in September 2014 polling a representative sample of the Northern Ireland population found that: Seven out of ten people think an abortion should be available in cases of rape and incest; and Three in five (60 per cent) think an abortion should be available in cases of fatal foetal abnormality – when the foetus has no chance of survival “It is shocking that there is one rule that applies to women in Northern Ireland and another that applies to women in the rest of the UK,” Naomi McAuliffe, campaign manager for Amnesty International UK, said. “The results of this poll show that abortion laws in Northern Ireland are out of date, and that politicians are way out of step with the majority of the electorate. “The vast majority of people from all communities in Northern Ireland want laws reformed to allow women the right to choose to end an unwanted pregnancy in extreme circumstances,” she continued. “This would at the very least bring Northern Ireland into line with the bare minimum of international laws and standards.” UK-wide support for equal abortion laws was demonstrated by similar research carried out last month by YouGov which polled a representative sample of people in England, Scotland and Wales, and found that: More than two thirds of people in the rest of the UK do not know or wrongly assume that access to abortion is the same throughout the UK; Over three quarters (76 per cent) think it is unacceptable that women from Northern Ireland have to travel to access abortion and are required to pay for an NHS service that is free to women in the rest of the UK; and 72 per cent think that laws relating to abortion should be the same throughout the UK. The current legal situation is that Northern Ireland is not covered by the 1967 Abortion Act which applies in the rest of the UK. Instead laws covering abortion in Northern Ireland are governed by the 1861 ‘Offences Against the Person Act‘ and the Criminal Justice Act from 1945: it a crime, that carries a life sentence, for a woman to have an unlawful abortion or for any one to carry out an unlawful abortion. Abortions are only allowed in 'highly exceptional circumstances' to save a woman’s life or if there is a risk of permanent and serious damage to her mental or physical health. There are no formal processes or guidance on how women can access abortion in 'highly exceptional circumstances'. And the 'highly exceptional circumstances' do not include rape, incest, or if the foetus has an anomaly and there is no chance of survival. In 2013 the Northern Ireland Department of Health said 51 abortions were performed in Northern Ireland. The fpa have said that up to 1000 women come from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK for an abortion every year. In the rest of the UK, an abortion can be carried out in the first 24 weeks of a pregnancy, with the agreement of two doctors that an abortion would cause less damage to a woman’s physical or mental health than continuing with the pregnancy. An abortion can be carried out at a later stage if it is necessary to save the woman's life, to prevent permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or if there is substantial risk that the child will be born with serious physical or mental disabilities. The Northern Ireland's Department of Justice is currently reviewing its laws on access to abortion to include cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest: the public consultation on abortion legislation closes next January. Human rights law says that abortion should be legal where it is necessary to protect the physical or mental health of the pregnant women and in the cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality. Northern Ireland does not currently meet human rights standards. Amnesty International NI has now officially joined the fight for women's reproductive rights in Northern Ireland. At a packed launch event of the My Body My Rights campaign in Belfast, Amnesty International (AI) outlined the results of research into public opinion conducted by Millward Brown Ulster, including controlled representative samples from across the religious divide, age, gender and social class. AI is campaigning to change laws, policy and practice on access to abortion in Northern Ireland to at least bring it up to the bare minimum of international standards. Speaking at the event, Breedagh Hughes, from the Royal College of Midwives, stressed the climate of fear that midwives are operating in with regards to abortion in Northern Ireland and the lengthy delays with the publication of guidelines from the Department of Health. She also criticised the shortcomings of the consultation which does not include abnormalities which would later prove fatal and the unwillingness of women to be labelled 'a mental wreck' in order to access a termination. And she spoke of the harrowing increase in the number of women who have been forced – because of the current laws – to access terminations without medical supervision and those who find themselves attending the emergency department with incomplete terminations. Speaking to Grainne Teggart, from Amnesty International NI, briefly after the launch event, Mara Clarke, from the Abortion Support Network, said that the My Body My Rights launch “marks the start of Amnesty working on access to abortion in Northern Ireland.” “We will be calling on our Assembly members, legislators and Executive Ministers to support a change in the law to allow women to access abortion, at a minimum, in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest. “Amnesty will be drawing on international human rights standards, the opinion poll published today [21.10.14] and other research to show and demonstrate the need for legislative change. “MLAs have responsibilities under international human rights law to ensure that women can access abortion and it is about time they paid attention to these responsibilities and provided the care, support and legislative change that women in Northern Ireland so desperately need.”  |
| Help shape UK priorities on gender equality Posted: 27 Oct 2014 05:36 AM PDT
The twentieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – a framework of commitments to advance women's rights made in 1995 – is approaching, and the UK government's Equalities Office wants to hear from you about what progress you think is being made by business and the government to improve the lives of women and girls in the UK. In 1995, at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, 189 governments – including the UK – pledged their commitment to improve the lives of women and girls by signing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. In June 2014 the UK government published a progress report on how it is progressing with the delivery of the declaration’s requirements. And last week the government's Equalities Office launched a public survey to find out what your views are regarding: what progress has been made to improve the lives of women and girls in the UK since 2010; and what future priorities for women and girls the government should focus on in the next 5 years The government's Minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan, called this is a fantastic opportunity for individual women, men and civil society groups to have their voices heard on gender equality. "Almost 20 years ago the UK signed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action to end gender inequality and now we want to hear from you," she said. "We want to know how women's and girls' lives have changed in the UK over the last 5 years, and your thoughts on the priorities the government should focus on." You can have your say by completing this short and anonymous survey. The survey is open to all. It takes less than 5 minutes to complete. Please take the survey – your responses will help shape the UK's priorities on gender equality in the years to come.  |
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