Women deserve right to choose in Scotland ..not postcode lottery
AFTER the shocking reversal of the Roe vs Wade ruling in the US last week, women and doctors will be jailed if they attempt termination of a pregnancy.
But as outrage is directed towards the regressive move in the US, it’s worth noting a women can be criminalised for having an abortion in Scotland too.
Incredibly women’s right to choose is still predicated on the legal authorisation of two doctors, and without it both women and medical practitioners are subject to prosecution under the 1967 Abortion Act.
So it isn’t really the woman’s right to choose at all.
The 1861 Offences Against the Person Act criminalised abortion and threatened women with life imprisonment for ending a pregnancy and it is still in force today.
Unlike almost all other European countries, there is no right to abortion recognised in UK law.
The 1967 act set out a strict set of criteria that must be met showing medical necessity for the procedure to go ahead.
That such a fundamental gender equality issue still falls under anachronistic criminal legislation here is unacceptable.
Campaigners in Scotland from Engender to Rape Crisis have called for abortion to be decriminalised.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is pro-choice, as is most of her government and used an abortion summit on Monday to “reaffirm women’s autonomy and right to choose”.
This week she backed establishing buffer zones around abortion clinics in Scotland so women can access services “free of harassment”.
But the horrendous assault on women’s freedom across the Atlantic shows us how precarious abortion rights can be, and decriminalising abortion in Scotland is crucial.
US anti-abortion groups poured millions into Poland to help achieve what is a now nearalthough total abortion ban in the country and expect the same forces to step up action here too.
They won’t succeed in banning abortion but they do contribute to the stigmatisation and trauma women already feel.
Aggressive evangelists have been using intimidation methods imported from the US to harrass women accessing clinics, where there are not only abortion services but rape counselling and HIV services.
These zealots need to take their prayers and park them far from women accessing health care.
It is already deeply upsetting for women to go through abortion without being accused by placard of being baby murderers.
Men have been filming patients going into clinics and the police appear powerless to stop them.
Under the buffer zones “protesters” will have to stay 150 metres away from clinics, their exact location will remain in the Dark Ages.
In Scotland a small number of women are already having to travel to England because they are struggling to access abortions between 20 and 24 weeks here.
There appears to be a postcode lottery in Scotland, where there is neither the facilities in some areas or the expertise to carry out late terminations.
We need a consistent approach and no woman should have to cross the border to access an abortion.
We are catching up with England but slowly.
It was only a month before the Scottish Government confirmed that measures introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic allowing women to take both pills required for an early medical abortion at home will remain in place.
This is not only less traumatic for women but keeps them away from the intimidation of antichoice “protesters”.
Women are hopefully never going to being locked up in Scotland for accessing abortions but the legal tool should not be available to do just that.
Removing it would be a major step towards destigmatising abortion.
The 1861 act must be abolished and women given a legal right to bodily autonomy instead of having it remaining technically under state control.
Take your prayers and park them far from women accessing health care