Two days ago a woman, Carla Foster, was sentenced to 28 months in prison for the crime of inducing her own abortion. The case is a complex one — Foster was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant when she took her anti abortion pill — but the key fact is that current legislation in this country is not fit for purpose. It is primitive and punitive. That could be seen in the sentencing of a mother of three who obviously needed psychological support, not prison. Calls from doctors and women’s rights organisations asking the judge not to imprison the woman fell on deaf ears. Today more and more women are waking up to the false sense of security we have had when it comes to our rights and access to an abortion in UK.
As an activist I have known for years that it was time for the UK to update its archaic abortion laws and provide women with the care and support they need, rather than punishing them for making difficult decisions. But having worked with MPs and Ministers from both sides of the House I also knew how dangerous it was to open up the abortion debate. I thought maybe it was best to protect what we had.
I was so wrong. In not fighting anti-choice rhetoric and repressive policies we are turning back the clock on women’s rights and access to reproductive healthcare in this country. The writing was on the wall last year when I saw how hard we had to fight in order to keep the “pill by post” scheme introduced during Covid.
During Covid I worked with government to help women access the abortion pill at home. It took a lot of work to make this basic health care accessible. At the time I thought it was because there was a real concern for women who would not be able to access medical support if there were complications.
I realised how wrong I was when after Covid the Government wanted to roll back women’s access to the abortion pill at home.
There was no medical or logical reason to take us back to the horrific situation of women having to take a pill in the clinic and then head home distressed and in pain.
As I lobbied MPs and ministers to vote in favour of allowing women the choice to be at home, I found last week how many of our MPs on both sides of the House were actually anti choice.
I lost a lot of respect for people I once thought cared about women. MPs I had worked with to help end the violence against women and girls were now telling me that they would not stand up the to misogyny and abuse of power that defined our culture on access to abortion.
We did in the end win the right for women to keep access medical abortion at home, but the awful case this week is a wake up call. At the next general election we must demand our political parties be open about their views on abortion. If you are anti choice we should know and we should be able to know, because we cannot afford to let anti-choice agendas make over our country just like they have in America and other European countries.
We need to fight and take to the streets – as women are intending this weekend.
In other news...
I saw the Little Mermaid with my niece last week and it was brillian.t I am not a massive fan of these films but I did my duty as an Aunty and took a little girl who was excited to see it.
The cast was stunning, my niece could see herself in the film, and importantly there was a message to us humans to be kinder to the environment. The shipwrecks littered the sea with rubbish just as we are doing today and the takeaway for my niece was to learn more about the ocean and the different kinds of people who live around it and the animals within it. That’s a big win.
