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Abortion

Abortion. Transformations (Week 13). Outline. Facts and figures History UK abortion law US abortion law “The right to choose” “ Foetal rights” Population control / eugenics Disability and abortion. Facts and figures .

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Abortion

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  1. Abortion Transformations (Week 13)

  2. Outline • Facts and figures • History • UK abortion law • US abortion law • “The right to choose” • “Foetal rights” • Population control / eugenics • Disability and abortion

  3. Facts and figures • 1.25 billion women have either no access to legal abortion, or only to save the woman’s life. • Approximately 80,000 women die globally every year from unsafe abortions • Less than 1% of abortions in the UK are after 22 weeks • 90% of all abortions taken place in the first 12 weeks • 10% of UK GPs refuse to grant women access to abortion • 76% of the UK population are pro-choice • 1:3 women has an abortion in her lifetime

  4. History of abortion in the UK • From 13th c, abortion acceptable until quickening • 19thand early 20th century – succession of laws limiting access to legal abortion • Significant loss of life due to unsafe abortion (c. 15% of all maternal deaths in 1920s and 30s). • 1936: the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) established. • 1938: Dr Alex Bourne acquitted of performing illegal abortion • 1967: The Abortion Act • 1975: National Abortion Campaign (NAC) formed • 1990: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

  5. Mike Leigh film starring Imelda Staunton as 1950s Vera Drake, devoted wife and mother working to help working class women facing unwanted pregnancies by inducing miscarriages. She sees her activities as help, the law and those around her as murder and when a woman dies in her care she’s put on trial and things fall apart.

  6. UK abortion law • Abortion allowed up to 24 weeks if the pregnancy involves greater risk to: • Physical / mental health of the woman • Physical / mental health of existing children • Allowed if the child would “suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped” • Allowed if woman’s life at risk

  7. UK Abortion Law • Allowed after 24 weeks if: • Risk to woman’s life • Evidence of severe abnormality • Risk of grave physical / mental injury to the woman.

  8. UK Abortion Law • Abortion must be: • Agreed by two doctors (one in an emergency) • Carried out by a doctor • Carried out in a government-approved hospital or clinic

  9. US Abortion Law • 1973: Roe v Wade decision by US Supreme Court recognised woman’s ‘right to privacy’ • Attempt to balance rights of women and state protection of foetus • US women have absolute right up to 12 weeks • After 12 weeks subject to state regulation • Abortion can be banned in 3rd trimester unless woman’s health or life medically certified as at risk • Highly contested issues in US • Barriers to access

  10. Safe abortion methods • Medical abortions (drugs) • Surgical procedures • Induced labour

  11. Abortion Rates in England & Wales Questions: What can we learn about abortion rates from this map? How might the map be explained?

  12. “the right to choose” • Rallying cry for feminists / pro-choice activists • Discourse of rights • Privacy (Wade vs Roe in US) • The problem of “choice”

  13. Foetal rights • Foetal rights v women’s rights • Contradiction: foetus constructed as autonomous and independent AND vulnerable and dependent • Foetallife as “innocent” and therefore as having greater rights than the woman • Rose and Hatfield (2007) – contingent citizenship • “This [abortion] is abuse of pre-born American children. This is violence against pre-born American babies. This is the torture and murder of future American patriots who deserve this Nation” (Rose and Hatfield, 2007, p. 15) • Right to bodily integrity (Smyth)

  14. Foetal Images and Anti-Abortion • Ultrasound scans and IVF contribute to construction of foetus as autonomous • A question of scale • 3D imaging and claims of babies smiling in the womb • Anti-abortion campaigning

  15. Thinking globally • Global gag rule • Population control • Sex selection • Eugenics

  16. Disability and abortion • A life worth living? • Being a good mother…. • (Tom Shakespeare, in Sharpe and Earle 2002) decision to abort because of impairment is not always freely made and is therefore problematic (e.g. socio-economic factors; anti-disability culture) • But – if feminist principle is that women don’t need a socially justifiable reason to request abortion, then this is in tension with Shakespeare’s position.

  17. Conclusion • A very contested issue • The debate is frequently articulated in terms of competing rights (woman / foetus) • Abortion policy / practice tells us a lot about normative ideas of what constitutes a “good mother” and the “right” kind of reproduction. • The right not to have to choose abortion is as significant as the right to choose • There is tension between feminists and disability activists over abortion

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