Bernadette McAliskey in conversation with Alliance for Choice Belfast
The indefatigable Bernadette McAliskey talking about bodily autonomy in front of a live audience with Alliance for Choice Belfast, in Queen's University Belfast, Thursday 20th October 2022.
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Jayne McCormack’s summary
Dear Editor,
I write in response to the Belfast Telegraph article of 19th May 2022 entitled ‘Abortion service plans unjust and a continued assault on the preciousness of life, say ‘concerned’ Church leaders’. Whilst the Presbyterian church leaders quoted in the article are entitled to hold and express their views on the morality of abortion, it is important to highlight that they do not represent the views of all Christians. As Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice (FVRJ) (1) we represent people from all religious communities in Northern Ireland whose faith has led us to support safe abortion access as a necessary part of society.
There has never been complete consensus on the morality of ending a pregnancy and the approach taken by Christian denominations has changed over time. The Bible contains no direct teaching on abortion and many Christians the world over consider it an issue of individual conscience. For us at FVRJ, we believe that the moral consequences of denying women and pregnant people access to abortion services deserve more consideration by the Church. We all want to build communities where every family feels supported to have and raise children in safety and with dignity. But we cannot achieve that by denying women the right to make their own decisions about their own bodies. Research (2) demonstrates that religious women have abortions at roughly the same rate as those with no faith and we know many Christian women right here in Northern Ireland who have made this decision faithfully, prayerfully and with a sense of responsibility for their own lives and those they already care for. Public statements from church leaders condemning abortion serve to force those women into silence, burdened with stigma and fear of alienation from their church community. We want them to know that they are not alone and in fact churches are full of people who understand the complexity of pregnancy and difficult reproductive decisions, just as we believe God understands.
Grace and peace,
Kellie Turtle on behalf of Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice
PRESS RELEASE Monday 27th September 2021
Naomi Connor, Co Convenor said;"Our billboard locations were carefully selected to be visible by women and pregnant people accessing abortion care. It is unsurprising that anti choice people have resorted to harassment in an attempt to silence us, after all it is the kind of activity they engage in weekly outside clinics. We will not be silenced. They may be able to tear down a poster but they cannot tear down the pro choice majority. We had an incredibly positive reaction to our pro-choice message from members of the public and across social media."
Anti-choice online abuse and on-street harassment of women and pregnant people accessing abortion care must stop.
Emma Campbell, Co-Convenor added, “The billboards were funded by our amazing supporters chipping in to show they care about abortion seekers. Everyone loves someone who has had an abortion. Alliance for Choice will continue to ensure that there is free safe legal local abortion access for everyone who wants or needs one, regardless of the aggression anti-choice protesters show to healthcare staff and patients.”
In the coming days, we will continue with our campaign, albeit differently. We will not be deterred. Such despicable actions strengthen our resolve to normalise abortion healthcare in Northern Ireland.
We will not be bullied into silence.
ENDS
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Contact:
Emma Campbell 07894063965
Naomi Connor 07505096576
Alliance for Choice
@All4Choice
Further Information
The billboard images are stills from our series of short films ‘Who gets to choose?’ created by Alliance for choice with feminist artist Nichola Irvine.
Available at - https://www.alliance4choice.com/who-gets-to-choose
Alliance for Choice is pleased to support a letter published today from Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice calling for the immediate commissioning of abortion services. We have been supporting the development of this network over the past year through a joint project with Ulster University funded by Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. It is important people are more aware of the range of religious approaches to reproductive rights as people of all faiths and none have abortions.
Dear Minister Swann,
We are writing to you as people from faith communities in Northern Ireland to ask you to take action on the commissioning of abortion services. Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice is an initiative started by people from Christian denominations and as a growing network, we are open to members of all religious communities whose faith has led them to support safe abortion access as a necessary part of society. We have observed with concern the delay in the commissioning process which has led to a recent intervention by the Secretary of State. Our shared position as faithful members of religious congregations is that full reproductive healthcare services should be commissioned without further delay. This is a position we have come to through reflecting on scripture, our own life experiences, the stories of women and girls still having to travel for abortion related care, the burden of stigma and shame unfairly placed on those in our communities who have had abortions, and the values that underpin our beliefs and faith practice.
We believe in the inherent dignity of every person, including the sacred gift of sexuality. We recognise that the dignity of women has not been equally valued in society and that religious doctrine and power has been misused to harm women and girls over many generations. We believe that it is time for faith communities to reject entrenched patterns of sexism and patriarchy, listen to the stories of women and minority genders that have often been silenced, and be led by their voices. We therefore call on you as health minister, and on all legislators and policy makers, to fulfill your obligations to women under the United Nations human rights convention and ensure that reproductive healthcare is made accessible for everyone who needs it. These human rights standards serve the same purpose as our calling as people of faith; to uphold the dignity and rights of all people and to work for justice in an unequal world.
We treasure the freedom to live according to our own religious beliefs and values and the liberty to exercise our conscience in communion with God and each other. We celebrate the diversity of views on abortion within and across our many faiths and denominations. We acknowledge that people of all faiths and none have abortions. There are few things more sacred than the choices we make about our bodies and families. We are, we know and we love women who have exercised their right to conscience and made these important moral decisions in the context of their own life circumstances. It is not in keeping with our values of religious liberty and conscience to deny others access to abortion services. We do not support the use of religious ideology by legislators who claim to have the authority to make pregnancy decisions on behalf of others.
As people of faith we seek to practice compassion and care for everyone facing complex pregnancy decisions and challenges. We are called to provide support and understanding for women, pregnant people and their families as they make the decisions that are right for them. We are distressed by the stories of those from Northern Ireland who still have to travel for abortion services. A compassionate society does not turn its face away from people whose lives have led them to a crossroads, whose struggles we might never fully understand and who do not need the additional burden of travelling to access care. We want local services fully commissioned to provide people with the reproductive healthcare they deserve and which is in line with agreed international healthcare rights.
We believe in the moral vision of Reproductive Justice as it calls us to address all systems of oppression still at work in the world. We want everyone from every background to be able to choose if and when to have children. We want to build safe and sustainable communities where every family can raise their children with dignity and free from poverty, discrimination and violence. Removing barriers to reproductive healthcare is an important part of that wider vision. For too long accessing abortion in Northern Ireland has been an issue of inequality. Those without the resources, freedom and safety to travel have felt the greatest impact of the criminalisation of abortion and the absence of local services. Our NHS is a testament to this society’s commitment to the health of all people and as health minister we remind you of your duty to ensure that this vision of equal access is fulfilled in practice. Safe, free, legal and local abortion services without barriers are long overdue.
We therefore urge you to join us in acknowledging the importance of reproductive healthcare and exercising the power you hold to make it accessible to the people who need it. The report by the Northern Ireland Abortion and Contraception Taskgroup sets out a practical vision for achieving best practice in this area of healthcare which is in keeping with the regulations that are already in place. We hope you will embrace the advice of these experienced healthcare providers, many of whom have courageously delivered services over the past year with no support while often facing public harassment at their workplaces. We want to highlight our support as people of faith, for their recommendations.
We pray for wisdom and courage for you as you undertake this important work,
Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice
10 out of 26 areas in Northern Ireland have no access to early medical abortion services. The Northern Trust is the largest geographical health trust in NI and is also the most recent to have ceased provision of clinic-based early medical abortion services. Women and pregnant people in this trust now face further barriers to access will have to travel to seek the legal abortion that they could have had at home.
The current situation in Northern Ireland sees early medical abortion services only available up to 10 weeks gestation (9 weeks 6 days) despite the law stating it should be available on request up to 12 weeks gestation and the World Health Organisation recommending 13 weeks. No commissioned services mean that there has been no information published by health trusts on how and when to access services leaving women and pregnant people in the dark when it comes to making healthcare decisions.
The World Health Organisation have recognised that abortion services are essential healthcare and have stated that “abortion provision in a global pandemic should minimise facility visits and provider-client contacts through the use of telemedicine and self-management approaches.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic the rest of the U.K. has seen improved access to abortion through telemedicine and pills-by-post services. Northern Ireland has yet again been left behind despite being the only part of the U.K. that has fully decriminalised abortion. This is due to the continued obstruction to access by the NI Executive including prominent anti-choice politicians.
Telemedicine is safe and effective and has proven to be a vital service, providing people with safety and reassurance during the ongoing pandemic. Telemedicine would allow a medical practitioner to have a consultation with the pregnant person either over the phone or online. If eligible they will be prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol which can be collected at a pharmacy, alongside instructions for how to take the medication and information on who to contact if additional support is needed.
The Department of Health has advised the public to stay at home, however, women and pregnant people are being forced to travel to a clinic to take a single pill, when they can take the further 4 pills at home 24 hours later. Travelling in a pandemic puts the pregnant person and health professionals at risk of contracting COVID-19.
Alliance for Choice believes that everyone should have the right to choose, this extends to deciding between clinic-based care and self-managed abortions. Self-managed approaches use the same safe medications that are prescribed in clinics by healthcare professionals. Mifepristone and misoprostol are effective up to 98% of the time and this approach is used by millions of people around the world to safely end pregnancies up to 13 weeks with no long-term effects.
Self-managed approaches will allow us to be our own service providers removing many of the barriers to services that we currently face. Care at home enables us to have more control over our own bodies so we can be supported in ending our pregnancies safely, effectively and privately at home. Alliance for Choice have provided self-managed abortion workshops to empower, educate and inform activists and others in Northern Ireland. These workshops outline where to access the safe and legal online pills, how to take them, what to expect and who to call if there are any complications or worries.
Over the next two weeks we will be sharing how telemedicine prevents and ameliorates the impacts of gender-based violence… please link, like and share across our website and social media platforms.
Alliance for Choice honour the monumental efforts of women and pregnant people, activist organisations, committed healthcare professionals, civic society and political allies that have brought about the new regulations in Northern Ireland for those who will need abortions. Though we welcome the news, it falls significantly short, especially in a time of a global pandemic. If the COVID19 crisis is to intensify as predicted, the Health Minister has a duty to sanction provision that does not jeopardise the health of women and pregnant people by forcing them to travel to clinics unnecessarily for abortions.
Naomi Connor, Co Convenor said;
“We should not place women and pregnant people at risk of unsafe abortion when there is a scientific, safe and readily available alternative. At AFC we have heard directly that barriers and lack of access to abortion pills has led many to use dangerous alternatives. This is not a reality we wish to revisit when there is a body of scientific research that supports abortion telemedicine provision.”
Healthcare workers should not be put at risk by needlessly increasing footfall in healthcare premises when proven alternatives are readily available. Telemedicine is not only safe and effective for patients, but also serves to keep our healthcare staff safe and deployed where they are needed at such a critical time.
Emma Campbell Co-Convenor added,
“We note the NIO has said that arrangements for funded treatment in England will still stand “until we are confident that service provision in Northern Ireland is available to meet women’s needs”. However we are concerned they have not considered the impact on COVID-19 on both travel and the availability of abortion appointments in England as services shut down.”
The regulations make clear provision for the Health Minister to approve further places where medical abortion can be performed at any point in time. Now is that time and Minister Swann needs to ensure that this pandemic does not place women & healthcare providers at unnecessary risk. The Minister must act now, as is his charge, and as is provided for in the recent abortion guidelines to ensure this service is rolled out to women and pregnant people in NI seeking abortion healthcare
ENDS
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Contact:
Emma Campbell 07894063965
Naomi Connor 07505096576
Alliance for Choice
@All4Choice
Further Information
‘Where procedures can take place - terminations to be carried out in General Practitioners premises, clinics provided by a Health and Social Care (HSC) trust, and HSC hospitals, operating under the overall Northern Ireland HSC framework and women’s homes where the second stage of early medical terminations may be carried out. The Regulations also provide a power for the Northern Ireland Health Minister to be able to approve further places where medical abortion can be performed, with the power being able to be exercised at any point in time.’
A summary of key points:
- Abortion on request up to 12 weeks, certification from 1 healthcare professional. For medical abortion, home use for second pill will be permitted.
- Abortion 12-24 weeks with ground specificied in the consultation doc and ground C of the Abortion Act 1967. This is expanded upon in the explanatory notes, and in the explanatory notes which state other factors, like well being, which 'may be taken into account'. Certification of 1 doctor and 1 HCP will be needed.
- There will be a criminal, non imprisonable sanction for those HCPs who act outside of the regs, this will carry a 5k fine.
- No time gestational limit where there is a severe or fatal anomaly
- Conscientious objection will mirror Section 4 of the Abortion Act 1967 and will include a duty to refer.
- No action on safe/buffer zones
- CBS funding will continue.
- the explanatory notes can be amendment by the assembly/depts
Please contact us for a copy of the regulations.
BELOW ARE A NUMBER OF POSSIBLE CASE STUDIES
Someone who has tested positive and whose phase in isolation would push them over 12 weeks by the time they got to a provider.
Someone who is in a high risk vulnerable group and does not feel safe to leave the house.
Someone who has tried to make travel arrangements to get to England but as clinics are closing cannot get an appointment
Someone on a normally low income who has lost their job due the crisis and cannot afford the additional funds that would be needed to travel
Someone who had an appointment in England whose flight has now been cancelled
Someone caring for elderly relatives or immuno-suppresed relatives in their own home and cannot risk infection.
A rise in intimate partner violence was recorded in China during the lockdown, this increases the likelihood of pregnancy as a result of rape and decreases the ability of an abused partner to leave the house safely.
An Asylum Seeker, who would normally be unable to travel, may be further restricted in access to abortion care by movements of asylum seekers within Ireland being completely restricted going forward, and similarly with visitors not being allowed any access in. If/When asylum seekers are locked down in centres due to COVID-19 they may be hindered in accessing abortion support networks and/or abortion care.
Someone who is in the country illegally and/ without papers; with tightening of border control internationally due to COVID-19 crisis, it may be structurally impossible for them to access abortion care within or without of Ireland, due to fear of deportation and/or imprisonment
Someone who is in a high risk vulnerable group medically and/ disabled, travel may normally be restricted due to physical and financial limitations; however being known to medical and state services as high risk and/ disabled may make a case for someone not being granted exceptional orders to travel for abortion care to delimit potential exposure to COVID-19 (ie ‘for your own good’)
Someone who is in a high risk vulnerable group medically and/ disabled, particularly for cases over 12 weeks; if risk of threat to life of continuing pregnancy for pregnant person is already high without COVID-19 diagnosis, and if such same person were to be exposed to COVID-19, thus increasing risk to their own life, they then could be considered a major risk to their own health, and travel for abortion care denied
Someone in state care, a minor, travel may be restricted on guardianship grounds to be in the best interests of the health of the child going fwd, and the lack of agency of the child in such circumstances
Alliance for Choice are saying farewell to Kellie O’Dowd, our Co-Chair, one of AFC’s longest standing members and all round amazing feminist mover, shaker and influencer. Kellie is moving on to pastures new and whilst we wish her well in her new ventures, we would like to take this opportunity to pay credit to her amazing contributions to the struggle for reproductive justice.
From her time as Women’s Officer at Queen’s University through to all her work across the women’s movement, Kellie has been a friend, an educator, a mentor and a leader. Alliance for Choice would never have been where it is without her persistence and unwavering commitment to reproductive justice.
Long before the struggle for abortion rights became such a public issue, Kellie was an unapologetic activist who worked tirelessly to achieve abortion rights for women and pregnant people. The progress and achievements AFC have made in recent times are in large part, down to the integrity and hard work of women and people like Kellie who have been unafraid to challenge the status quo, shape conversations on abortion rights and encourage and bring others with them.
Wishing our sister love and solidarity and knowing she won’t ever be far away from our continued struggle.
“‘I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.’”
Courtesy of the Abortion Rights Campaign
Now that we are basking in the warm afterglow of the Belfast Rally for Choice - we are gearing up to join our siblings in the Abortion Rights Campaign in Dublin on Saturday 28th September 2019. The bus will pick up at St Anne’s Cathedral Belfast at 8.30am and pick up at Gardens of Remembrance in Dublin at 7pm
Please Pay £5 per person here:
YES! The ringing, resounding, confirming, affirming, positive joy of a yes. “Yes” to a new beginning in Ireland’s relationship with its women and pregnant people. “Yes” to compassion and care and change. “Yes” to the truth of every abortion story and its individual worth. “Yes” to never letting one more woman die because you will no longer say, “This is a Catholic Country”.
Alliance for Choice has some opportunities for activists in December 2017.
As well as our weekly city centre stall, we need around 20 volunteers to help with a travelling pop-up exhibition called “My Body My Life” which will be installed in the University of Ulster’s Unique Art and Design shop in Belfast from 5th to the 10th of December.