{"id":3606,"date":"2011-03-03T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.badreputation.org.uk\/?p=3606"},"modified":"2011-03-03T09:00:21","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T09:00:21","slug":"reproductive-justice-in-the-uk-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badreputation.org.uk\/2011\/03\/03\/reproductive-justice-in-the-uk-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Reproductive Justice in the UK: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
Read Part 1 of this article here<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
I asked some leading UK pro-choice campaigners whether the US
reproductive justice approach introduced in Part 1 is relevant to their
work, and what – if anything – might be gained from creating
a similar movement in Britain.<\/p>\n
Shaming black women<\/strong><\/p>\n
Black British women are, according to Department of Health
statistics, more likely to have an abortion than their white
counterparts (source<\/a>).\u00a0
On the other side of the Atlantic there has been some especially
poisonous anti-choice campaigning based around a similar difference.
Georgia Right to Life posted 80 billboards around the city of
Atlanta proclaiming \u201cBlack people are an endangered
species\u201d, with a website address: toomanyaborted.com. Loretta
Ross, National Co-ordinator of SisterSong<\/a>, described it
as:<\/p>\n
a misogynistic attack to shame-and-blame black women who choose
abortion, alleging that we endanger the future of our
children\u2026 Our opponents used a social responsibility frame to
claim that black women have a racial obligation to have more
babies \u2013 especially black male babies — despite our
individual circumstances.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Alarmingly, the UK anti-choice movement has already begun to adopt
some of the US campaigning messages about the ‘black
genocide’. Lisa Hallgarten, Director of
Education for
Choice<\/a><\/strong>, reported that \u201cthe Marie Stopes
International clinic in Brixton is routinely picketed by antis
who claim that MSI is trying to kill black babies. I have seen
leaflets that claim that Brook is a eugenic organisation.\u201d
This is just the latest trend in a pattern of UK anti-choicers
adopting US campaigning tactics.<\/a><\/p>\n
Reproductive rights<\/strong><\/p>\n
I wanted to know whether the broader \u2018reproductive
rights\u2019 approach had been adopted in the UK at all,
by which I mean looking at contraception, sex education,
adoption and the socioeconomic factors which impact on
women\u2019s decisions about whether or not to have
children
alongside<\/em> calling for the right to safe, legal
abortion.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Darinka Aleksic,
Abortion
Rights<\/a><\/strong> Campaign Co-ordinator, said
that \u201cbecause British women do not experience
the extremes of health inequalities on ethnic or
economic grounds that women in the US do (although
I\u2019m not minimizing those that exist), the repro
rights approach has not, in my opinion, been quite
so vital or so relevant to our
situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lisa agreed that a rights-based approach
hasn\u2019t been widely adopted: \u201cSince UK
policy can be made or broken by the Daily Mail it
is hard to take an abstract political or human
rights approach to these things\u201d. But she was
clear on some of the problems with the existing
situation, including the emphasis on abortion as a
medical issue:<\/p>\n
The public health approach is fundamentally
limited and limiting because it relies on
scientific evidence supporting the role of
abortion in public health. For me there is a
point where personal autonomy may trump public
health and we should always keep our commitment
to autonomy at the forefront of
discussion.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
And the absence of universal high quality sex
education:<\/p>\n
Lack of sex education is a clear obstacle not
just to the people who are young at that point
in time, but to society getting better at
talking about sex. I think, realistically,
that some fundamental work needs to be done on
coming to terms with human sexuality as a
society before anyone will have the courage or
funding to stand up in government and take a
reproductive justice approach to these
things.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
Abortion rights and social
justice<\/strong><\/p>\n
Finally I asked Lisa and Darinka if it
would be helpful to put the campaign
to protect and extend abortion rights
in the UK in a wider context of social
justice, and whether there was a risk
of losing support in the medical
establishment if it came to be seen as
a campaigning issue rather than a
question of health policy.<\/p>\n
Lisa said that:<\/p>\n
Our whole law was put in place to
medicalise the procedure, put it
under doctors’ control and
protect doctors. I think there is a
big danger of losing their support
if they don’t feel ownership
of it.<\/p>\n
However, the greater danger is that
we don’t have a broad
grassroots movement to protect
abortion rights in this country. If
we built a reproductive justice
movement we would have a much more
broad-based constituency to come out
fighting when our rights are up for
grabs in the
Commons.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
Darinka explained that
“Abortion Rights\u2019
primary role is to defend the
1967 Abortion Act.” But
also that:<\/p>\n
As an organization that has
strong links to the trade
union movement, we are
inclined to stress the
importance of abortion access
as an economic issue. It has
always been working class
women who have suffered from a
lack of access to safe, legal
abortion.<\/p>\n
Public service and spending
cuts are going to hit women
hardest and the reorganization
of the NHS raises real
questions about how access to
abortion and contraception
services will be maintained.
So we are campaigning against
the cuts alongside other
organizations on a broader
social justice
basis.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
Reproductive justice
for the
UK?<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
After talking to
Mara, Lisa and
Darinka it became
clear that there
are opportunities
for the UK
pro-choice
movement in the
reproductive
justice approach,
although simply
importing the US
model
wouldn\u2019t
work. In Britain
public and medical
establishment
support for the
right to choose is
far greater, there
are fewer
differences in
access to
healthcare along
lines of race or
sexual
orientation, and
there is more
state support for
families.<\/p>\n
However, the
British sexual and
reproductive
health landscape
is shifting. While
the usual attacks
on the Abortion
Act are being
launched in
Westminster (and
Abortion
Rights<\/a>
tirelessly resists
them) a few more
developments have
been added to the
mix over the last
year –
including
controversy around
the sterilisation
of drug
addicts<\/a> and
those with severe
learning
disabilities<\/a>,
the end of the Teenage
Pregnancy
Strategy<\/a>,
mass popular
protests against
the Pope\u2019s
visit<\/a>, the
crisis in midwifery<\/a>,
and health
professionals
calling out shoddy
sex education<\/a>
in the
media.<\/p>\n
While there are a
whole range of
fantastic
organizations
working variously
to defend and
extend abortion
rights and access,
to improve sex
education and
sexual health, to
support families
and advance LGBT
and women\u2019s
rights, to fight
racism and
inequalities in
access to or
influence on
public services,
this work
doesn\u2019t take
place under a
shared banner of
Reproductive
Justice.<\/p>\n
I am a campaigner;
I understand the
need to choose
your battles and
your targets
carefully. But as
the ideological
reforms of what is
essentially a Tory
government start
to bite, I wonder
if the battle may
be coming to us.
Perhaps it\u2019s
time to build a
movement and raise
the flag.<\/p>\n
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