RCM signs letter from from women’s organisations on the DUP and abortion rights to Theresa May
By RCM Media Office on 13 June 2017 Abortion
Today the Royal College of Midwives has co-signed a letter – along with a wide coalition of organisations - sent to Prime Minister Theresa May.
The letter seeks assurances that she will not allow women’s rights including women’s access to abortion to be used in any kind of trade-off with the Democratic Unionist Party.
The letter also stresses that there would be strong opposition to any proposal to re-open the issue of time-limits or to in any way restrict women’s access to abortion.
The letter has widespread support from many organisations committed to the rights of women including Mumsnet, the Trade Union Congress, the National Union of Teachers and Women’s Aid Federation of England.
The letter can be read below.
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Letter to Prime Minister Theresa May from women’s organisations on the DUP and abortion rights
13 June 2017
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing to seek a categorical assurance from you that you will not allow women’s rights and, in particular, women’s access to abortion to be used in any kind of trade-off with the Democratic Unionist Party. We would strongly oppose any proposal to re-open the issue of time-limits or to in any way restrict women’s access to abortion.
As you will know, unlike elsewhere in the UK, abortion is only permitted in Northern Ireland if a woman's life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious risk to her mental or physical health. As a result, women in Northern Ireland are forced to travel to another part of the UK in order to access the same abortion services as women in the rest of the UK. This affects hundreds of women each year. Only those who can afford to travel and pay for treatment – as, despite being UK taxpayers, women resident in Northern Ireland are currently not entitled to NHS funded abortion care in England - can do so. In 2015 a High Court Judge ruled that the current law on abortion in Northern Ireland was incompatible with human rights law. In his ruling, Mr Justice Horner said there was “one law for the rich and one law for the poor,” because the law makes it “much more difficult for those with limited means to travel to England.”
Women in Northern Ireland, left with few other options, have turned to the internet to buy abortion pills - but they are then criminalised for doing so. Instead of contemplating any compromise the UK government should be focussing on extending access to abortion for women in Northern Ireland to give them the same rights as others in the UK. This is not a devolved matter but rather a question of their fundamental human rights.
We are a pro-choice country which supports a woman’s right to choose. In our last parliament, MPs across all the main political parties voted for a bill to decriminalise abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy in England and Wales. 50 years since the Abortion Act was passed, there is clearly an appetite to extend, not restrict, reproductive rights.
We urge you - do not allow the clock to be turned back on women’s rights, and do not turn your back on the women of Northern Ireland.
Yours,
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive, British Pregnancy Advisory Service
Sam Smethers, Chief Executive, Fawcett Society
Frances O’Grady, General Secretary, Trade Union Congress (TUC)
Sharon Greene, National Women’s Officer, UNISON
Diana Holland, Assistant General Secretary: Equalities, Unite the union
Kevin Courtney, General Secretary, National Union of Teachers
Justine Roberts, Founder, Mumsnet
Caroline Criado Perez, writer
Polly Neate, Chief Executive, Women’s Aid Federation of England
Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive, Royal College of Midwives
Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones, President-elect, and Dr Olwen Williams, Vice President, Medical Women’s Federation
Natalie Biernat, Emma Campbell, Emma Gallen, Jill McManus Dawn Purvis, Kellie O'Dowd, Danielle Roberts, Alliance for Choice, Belfast
Mark Breslin, Director, FPA Northern Ireland
Andrew Copson, Chief Executive, Humanists UK
Jane Fisher, Director, Antenatal Results and Choices
Sarah Green, Co-Director, End Violence Against Women Coalition
Dr Kate Guthrie and Joanne Fletcher, Co-Chairs, British Society of Abortion Care Providers
Natika H Halil, Chief Executive, FPA
Vivienne Hayes MBE, CEO, Women’s Resource Centre (WRC)
Lesley Hoggart, Leading Reproduction, Sexualities and Sexual Health Research Group at the Open University
Sally Hunt, General Secretary, Universities and College Union
Jayne Kavanagh, Principal Clinical Teaching Fellow, UCL Medical School
Ian Lawrence, General Secretary, NAPO
Annette Mansell-Green, Head of Employment Relations, British Dietetic Association
Wendy Savage, Doctors for a Woman’s Choice on Abortion
Rebecca Schiller, Chief Executive, Birthrights
Marsha Scott, Chief Exec of Scottish Women’s Aid
Sally Sheldon, Lawyers For Choice
Louise Sutherland, Director, Pankhurst Trust (incorporating Manchester Women's Aid)
Kerry Abel, Chair, Abortion Rights
Mara Clarke, Director, Abortion Support Network