Defend the 67 abortion act
For a woman's right to choose
Terry Conway is a member of
Socialist Resistance
The last private members bill which sought to
further restrict women's limited rights to abortion was in 1987 when
Liberal MP David Alton unsuccessfully tried to introduce a restrictive
private members bill which would have criminalised all abortions over
eighteen weeks. Unfortunately events over the summer suggest that the
next attempt at doing something similar might be all too uncomfortably
close.
The bedrock of current abortion legislation is the
1967 Abortion Act that was successfully introduced by Liberal MP David
Steele. Despite all the problems with the 67 Act (see box), it was an
enormous step forward for women’s rights. Backstreet abortions which had
resulted in the painful death from septicaemia of thousands upon
thousands of women was massively reduced. Between 1967 and 1975 the
number of back street abortions fell by 75 per cent. “No return to the
backstreets was the heartfelt chant of every pro-choice mobilisation.
The 67 Abortion Act, together with the 1966? Equal
Pay Act were a key to the rise of the second wave of feminism in
Britain. Women having more economic independence and the beginnings of
the right to control their fertility were the twin pillars on which the
Women's Liberation movement grew in the late 1960s and early 70s. For
several generations of feminists and in particular for the strong
socialist feminist current, the fight to defend and extend abortion
rights was absolutely centre stage of our political radicalisation and
activity.
At the beginning of July 2004, David Steele stated
that he now believes the time limit for abortions should be reduced. In
1967 the upper limit was 28 weeks and in 1990 this was reduced to 24
weeks after Tory MP Geoffrey Howe successfully moved an amendment to the
Act. These time limits were always tied to the notion of foetal
viability – an unacceptable and dangerous approach.
| Accepting
viability argument plays into the hands of powerful organisations
such as SPUC (Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child) and
Life, with massive funding and organisational support from the
Roman Catholic Church and other religious groups. As a Socialist
Outlook pamphlet written in 1987 in the wake of the Alton Bill
explained: “To argue that abortion is allowable only until
“viability” is reached is to concede there are certain acceptable
grounds for abortion and limits of women’s choice, that women cannot
be trusted to make their own decisions”. |
The anti-abortionists have been
particularly manipulative of issues of disability rights. Earlier
this year for example they supported Johana Jepson’s attempt to have
the doctor’s who permitted a having abortion supposedly because the
foetus had a cleft palate. No one else can know the reality of that
woman’s situation. Certainly what is really abhorrent is that women
should be forced by the law to give a reason for wanting an
abortion. It should be our right to decide. |
No woman wants to have a late abortion but there
are many reasons why it happens. I know – because I ended up having an
abortion at 22 weeks. It is extremely difficult now to get an abortion
after 20 weeks because there is a four-week margin of error for dates.
Women approaching the menopause for example often have irregular cycles
and end up being 3 or 4 months pregnant without noticing. Some young
women don’t realise they are pregnant because of poor or non-existent
sex education. Britain has the highest level of teen-age pregnancy in
the developed world.
The National Abortion Campaign (NAC) was launched
in 1975 to oppose the first private members Bill that sought to further
restrict women’s rights, introduced by James White, a Labour MP for
Glasgow. Other attacks followed – in 1977 the Benyon Bill and in 1979
the Corrie Bill. By this time the campaign had built up such support
that we were able to get the TUC to call a massive demonstration in
opposition to the Corrie Bill. During this period virtually every trade
union in Britain (with the exception of unions such as the National
Union of Teachers which have restrictive rules preventing them even
debating “political” topics such as abortion) were won to support for a
woman’s right to choose.
|
What’s wrong with abortion
provision today
The time limit for late
abortions is set on the basis of “viability” – see main article
Women have to give a reason
why they do not want to proceed with the pregnancy.
A woman needs the permission
of two doctors – to decide what to do with her own body and her own
life. Doctors can and do sometimes refuse to sign. Women may also be
afraid this will happen and therefore not go. For young women in
particular there is also the fear their confidentiality will be
breached as there is around other issues of sexuality and sexual
health.
It is very hard to get an
abortion on the NHS in some parts of the country because the
facilities don’t exist. Countless surveys have shown consistently
that there was a post-code lottery for abortion facilities in the
days when this was not generally the case for other aspects of
welfare provision. If you have the money you can go to a charity –
and if you don’t then you may be stuck with an unwanted pregnancy |
A lot of work was also done within the Labour
Party, especially in the then relatively strong Women’s Sections.
However even at the height of the National Abortion Campaign, which
coincided to some extent with the development of the Bennite left
who were largely supportive of the issue, it was not possible to
impose a whip on the issue. The Parliamentary Labour Party
maintained a scurrilous position throughout that this was an issue
of conscience on which MPs had to be allowed to vote as they
individually saw fit – regardless of how many women died as a
consequence.
But although NAC tried in between attacks
to fight to improve the existing situation both in terms of NHS
provision and the law we didn’t succeed in galvanising the same
level of support. At the end of last year NAC decided to merge with
the pre-existing Abortion Law Reform Association and become Abortion
Rights.
Steele’s article in the Guardian (July 6)
talks about reducing the upper limit to 22 weeks, though he was
quoted indirectly in The Guardian (July 5) as being in favour of
reducing the limit to 12 weeks – which would obviously be even more
devastating. Women’s Voice, the women's paper of the International
Socialists (forerunners of the SWP) calculated in 1975 that if the
limit was reduced to 18 weeks 80,000 women would loose their legal
right to abortion. |
Tony Blair initially responded to questions in the
house by saying that
the government would look at the new scientific evidence and then decide
how to proceed. There was obviously some vigorous pro-choice lobbying
because the following week a junior health minister was put up to argue
that the
private members ballot was the proper route for this debate.
Abortion Rights together with a number of other
pro-choice organisations and individuals are meeting in London in
mid-September to discuss how to mobilise against the attacks that may
come over the months ahead.
The ballot for the private members ballot will take
place in late October or early November, but given the length of time it
has been since this debate was had in many parts of the left and Labour
movement it is essential the preparatory work starts now. Hopefully
meetings will take place in Scotland, Wales and other parts of England
in the next month or so too.
For further information contact
pro-choice@tiscali.co.uk
August 2004
