Thursday September 28th 2023 is the International Day for Safe Abortion, and we have plans!
We will be rallying at Shaftsbury Square from 12:30pm calling for the implementation of abortion services and looking ahead to the introduction of Safe Access Zone. Keep an eye on our socials too as we see how the SOSNI is faring and some other actions.
There will be events taking place all over the world, including in Dublin from our friends in Abortion Rights Campaign on Thursday, in Malta where Voice for Choice will be marching once again on Saturday and Stop Violencies Andorra have activities planned from 26 - 30 September! Check out http://www.september28.org/ to see what all is happening.
We have been told that Safe Access Zones will be in place ‘in a few weeks’ for a few months now, so we are not taking anything for granted, but this is a firm commitment from DOH that SAZs will be live this week. We still do not have commissioned abortion services either, so we’ve plenty to make noise about. Keep reading to learn more about how we got here, and what’s next.
Safe Access Zones
We are pleased to see a statement from the DoH today, 25th September, that they SAZs will be in place by the end of this week, the 29th September.
Earlier this month the NIO confirmed to us that the DoH were ‘on track’ to implement SAZs by the end of the month. This came after a few days of signage outside Causeway Hospital, which was removed as quickly as it was erected. We are pleased to see a statement from the DoH today, 25th September, that they SAZs will be in place by the end of this week, the 29th September.
However, given the winding road we’ve had to get here we aren’t celebrating just yet.
The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023 came into force in May after a 6 month lead in period. Despite having time to prepare, 2 months after this The Department said ‘detailed preparation work has been ongoing for a number of months, including mapping and signage arrangements’ however they were still ‘finalising a policy statement on Safe Access Zones as part of the preparations for their introduction.’ Today’s announcement means they will just meet their earlier promise made on 3rd July 2023 to introduce SAZ by the end of September.
This slow movement from the Department means that women and pregnant people accessing health care, and the staff providing it, have continued to be harassed and intimidated despite Safe Access Zone legislation.
Outstanding commitments
Abortion services are still not commissioned.
While Conscientious Providers are doing their best to rejig resources so that each Trust can provide Early Medical Abortion with pills, this is precarious. Lack of commission means a lack of funding, training, and staff. We’ve seen services collapse before in Trusts as hard working staff take the leave they are entitled to, this is unacceptable for workers and patients alike.
The Department of Health refuse to provide a central online information point for those needing abortions. While the NIO and some individual Trusts are doing what they can to provide information, some women and pregnant people are still ending up at Stanton Healthcare who continue to provide misinformation, harass and traumatize women; at times deliberately engaging them until past the 9 weeks 6 days cut off.
Accessing abortion care currently means contacting the Central Booking Line via phone or web form, waiting for them to contact you to arrange an appointment, and then waiting for the appointment. It is a lot of waiting to fit into around 10 weeks! We’ve been contacted by people waiting up to 2 weeks for a call back, and then 5 weeks for an appointment. BPAS are doing what they can to meet demand but are under pressure with resources given that abortions in England have also increased by 17% on this time last year.
The process for surgical abortion or those after 12 weeks is even harder to navigate. Due to a lack of guidelines, and ongoing criminalisation of healthcare providers in the regulations, people are being sent for second opinions or having their request for an abortion assessed by a panel of doctors. Manual Vacuum Aspiration is being progressed in one Trust but we have no specifics on when it will be available, or to what gestation.
We need commissioned and resourced abortion services, managed at a local level, supported by the introduction of telemedicine.
We need an end to the criminalisation of doctors, midwives and nurses.
We need the 2020 regulations as a minimum.
No care at home
The UK Government have released figures for January - June 2022.
These figures show that 96 women and pregnant people traveled from NI to England for abortion, 4 a week, 1 every other day.
This includes 3 under 16s, and 3 aged 16 or 17; 6 minors had to travel to England.
They should have been treated here.
Around a third of those who traveled were under 10 weeks. Were they living in a Trust where services had collapsed? Did they need a surgical abortion due to a medical condition?
They should have been treated here.
15 were over 20 weeks. Had they found something out at their ‘big scan’, and the doctor was too worried about criminalisation?
They should have been treated here.
What’s next?
Maybe the Department will have crossed all their Ts and dotted their Is soon, and we will be able to celebrate not too long after International Safe Abortion Day that we have Safe Access Zones that can actually be enforced.
Maybe We’ll have commissioned, resourced, locally available abortion services by the end of 2023.
Maybe then no one else will have to travel.
In any event our Doulas will continue to support people who self manage their abortion, our website will continue to have the most up to date information, and we will continue to advocate for those who need us too - whether they have complex medical needs, are an asylum seeker in contingency accommodation, or have been misled by so called ‘crisis pregnancy centers’.
