A Womans Right to Choose

Leah Ganley - Solidarity: Scotland's Socialist Movement

It is just over 40 years since the Abortion Act 1967 was passed, legalising abortion in Britain. The enactment of this law meant the end to illegal, dangerous, back street abortions for hundreds of thousands of women. It was of greatest importance to working class women who where not able to afford to pay for private treatment prior to the change in law.

The UK lagged behind other European countries in terms of abortion law reform, relatively liberal laws were passed in Poland (1932), Denmark (1935) and Sweden (1938). As the current law stands a woman requires the consent of two doctors to have a termination, which must be carried out no later than 24 weeks into the pregnancy, apart from in the case of fetal anomaly (where there is no time limit).

However, there are plans to amend the present legislation. Anti-abortion MP's and peers have plans to move amendments to the Human Fertillisation and Embryology Bill which is currently going through the Westminster parliament, to reduce the time limit to 22, or 20 weeks (many would like to see it reduced much further). They have also called for woman to undergo a “cooling off” period and/or compulsory counselling before having an abortion. This is despite the report issued be the House of Commons Science and Technology committee which looked into the issues.

The report concluded that there is no basis for reducing the time limit from 24 weeks because survival rates below that gestation period have not improved since 1990 (when the limit was changed from 28 to 24). Not only did the committee not call for a reduction in time limit, it called for improvements that would avoid delays. It recommends that the requirement for two doctors signatures be removed, an unnecessary restriction with no evidence of value in terms of safety. The report also suggests that there is no reason why trained nurses and midwifes could not carry out early medical and early surgical abortions, with no compromise of women's safety.

These proposals by the committee are to be welcomed. They are based on the most up to date medical evidence. Phil Willis, Chairman of the committee said, “we focused on the science, and have done so rigourously”. However, the parliament does not have to follow these recommendations, and we know that amendments trying to restrict abortion rights will be put forward and encouraged by the vocal minority of anti-abortionists. We must remember that over three quarters of people in Britain support a woman's right to choose an abortion, but it is still hugely important that the majority speak out. We need a united campaign involving community orgaisations, trade unionists, student groups and all defender's of a woman's right to choose an abortion, to actively campaign against these attempts to cut back women's rights but also to fight for reforms to make it easier to obtain an abortion.

We need to campaign for a major improvement in sex education services, with a complete ban on abstinence only sex education as well as, greater access to free contraceptives, including emergency contraception, with fully funded advisory services and family planning centres. By improving education and access to contraception, the number of abortions each year will fall, saving thousands of woman from unnecessary worry and anguish.

As socialists, we support the right of a woman to choose whether, when and how many children to have. This means not only opposing any restrictions on the current abortion laws, but also campaigning to improve them, calling for free abortion on request, without the requirement of two doctors signatures, as well as training nurses and midwifes to carry out early abortions. At the same time we fight for major public investment in childcare facilities, education and public sector housing.