Fran Amery
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781529204995
- eISBN:
- 9781529205404
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529204995.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter focuses on the newest battlegrounds in the UK abortion debate. This includes growing calls for decriminalisation, involving the repeal of sections of the Offences Against the Person Act ...
More
This chapter focuses on the newest battlegrounds in the UK abortion debate. This includes growing calls for decriminalisation, involving the repeal of sections of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, and the increasing purchase these are finding inside Parliament and among the medical profession. It also includes new debates about sex-selective abortion and abortion in the cases of severe disability, and the need for the pro-choice movement to organise horizontally to address the needs of all women. It ends with an assessment of the future prospects of both the movement for decriminalisation, and the movement for more restrictive abortion law.Less
This chapter focuses on the newest battlegrounds in the UK abortion debate. This includes growing calls for decriminalisation, involving the repeal of sections of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, and the increasing purchase these are finding inside Parliament and among the medical profession. It also includes new debates about sex-selective abortion and abortion in the cases of severe disability, and the need for the pro-choice movement to organise horizontally to address the needs of all women. It ends with an assessment of the future prospects of both the movement for decriminalisation, and the movement for more restrictive abortion law.
Fran Amery
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781529204995
- eISBN:
- 9781529205404
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529204995.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
A common misunderstanding of the Abortion Act 1967 is that it granted women the ‘right’ to access abortion. In reality, there is no such thing; the current provision of abortion in the United Kingdom ...
More
A common misunderstanding of the Abortion Act 1967 is that it granted women the ‘right’ to access abortion. In reality, there is no such thing; the current provision of abortion in the United Kingdom rests on a system in which doctors, not women, are the arbiters of abortion access. In recent years, calls for the full decriminalisation of abortion have been given a vigour not seen before. For the first time, MPs and medical associations have moved to back decriminalisation, in line with the demands of pro-choice campaigners across the UK. But at the same time, opponents are mobilising to undermine public faith in both the Abortion Act and abortion providers. In doing so, they have tended to set aside the classic ‘right to life’ arguments, instead focusing on issues such as sex-selective abortion and disability rights. This book makes sense of today’s changed landscape of abortion debate by tracing the evolution of political and parliamentary discourse on abortion from the passage of the Abortion Act in the 1960s to the present. It makes the case that to understand contemporary abortion politics, it is necessary to move beyond a conceptualisation of the debate as characterised by ‘pro-choice’ versus ‘pro-life’.Less
A common misunderstanding of the Abortion Act 1967 is that it granted women the ‘right’ to access abortion. In reality, there is no such thing; the current provision of abortion in the United Kingdom rests on a system in which doctors, not women, are the arbiters of abortion access. In recent years, calls for the full decriminalisation of abortion have been given a vigour not seen before. For the first time, MPs and medical associations have moved to back decriminalisation, in line with the demands of pro-choice campaigners across the UK. But at the same time, opponents are mobilising to undermine public faith in both the Abortion Act and abortion providers. In doing so, they have tended to set aside the classic ‘right to life’ arguments, instead focusing on issues such as sex-selective abortion and disability rights. This book makes sense of today’s changed landscape of abortion debate by tracing the evolution of political and parliamentary discourse on abortion from the passage of the Abortion Act in the 1960s to the present. It makes the case that to understand contemporary abortion politics, it is necessary to move beyond a conceptualisation of the debate as characterised by ‘pro-choice’ versus ‘pro-life’.
Fran Amery
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781529204995
- eISBN:
- 9781529205404
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529204995.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter gives a brief overview of the current terrain of abortion debate in the UK, covering calls for decriminalisation as well as debates on sex-selection, disability and pre-abortion ...
More
This chapter gives a brief overview of the current terrain of abortion debate in the UK, covering calls for decriminalisation as well as debates on sex-selection, disability and pre-abortion counselling. It argues that the classic image of abortion politics as a war between ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice’ actors cannot adequately accommodate these recent developments – nor does it fit with how abortion debates have actually unfolded in Britain historically. Instead, it offers an interpretation of abortion law as resting on a coalition between government and medical actors formed to govern women’s reproductive decisions. The chapter closes with an overview of the book.Less
This chapter gives a brief overview of the current terrain of abortion debate in the UK, covering calls for decriminalisation as well as debates on sex-selection, disability and pre-abortion counselling. It argues that the classic image of abortion politics as a war between ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice’ actors cannot adequately accommodate these recent developments – nor does it fit with how abortion debates have actually unfolded in Britain historically. Instead, it offers an interpretation of abortion law as resting on a coalition between government and medical actors formed to govern women’s reproductive decisions. The chapter closes with an overview of the book.
