My Two Cents: The General Election
Men play politics whilst abortion rights wither in a corner
Well, the Tories have gone and done it. Parliament will dissolve on May 30th, and a general election has been called for July 4th. The nod to America’s ‘independence’ day feels appropriate, given that a historic vote to potentially decriminalise abortion has been shoved aside in favour of a political gamble. Although frustrating, it’s not surprising that one of Rishi Sunak’s last acts in power will be to ignore reproduction rights: he is so very good at that, as his voting history implies. Sunak has abstained from almost every vote relating to abortion, and has been accused of taking an anti-abortion stance by service providers in the past. His stance on whether or not abortion should be decriminalised might be murky, but one thing at least is clear. Sunak is indifferent, at best.
Let me say right off that bat that I’m not against a general election - anything, ANYTHING to get the Tories out. What I care about is the timing. To understand the implications of what a general election means for women and people who can get pregnant, I need to set the scene a little.
We already know reproductive rights are under attack. Women and people with uteruses have experienced abortion access shrink in recent years - due to under funding, the false sense of security based on the (incorrect) belief abortion is legal in the UK, and a sharp swing to the political right in government. I could spend a good week writing about all the ways our reproductive rights are under attack, but my hands already hurt from typing this, so let me give you the bullet points. And becuase I do my homework, I’ll even categorise it for you <3
UNDER FUNDING
Well, we know the NHS is broken, due to chronic underfunding and political mismanagement. That extends to reproductive and sexual health services, where report after report has found:
Women and people in England have been struggling to access contraception for a while now. Made worse by the pandemic.
Funding cuts have led to closures or reductions of sexual health services - to the point where they are at “breaking point”.
A healthcare watchdog has warned that women are waiting far too long for abortions, leading to unsafe care.
Hundreds of people are forced to travel across the country becuase there’s no abortion availability in their area. Pregnancy, famously, does not give a shit about waiting times. The situation is particularly bad in Scotland.
Experts have been warning that the UK is at crisis point when it comes to abortion services for a while now.
Maya Oppenheim has written at length about how her attempt to have an abortion was met with hurdles at every single stage.
All of which suits the Tories because….
FAR RIGHT BULLSHIT
Just a few months after Roe vs Wade was overturned, anti-choice groups launched a triple attack on abortion access in the UK, as three bills were introduced in the House of Lords, targeted existing reproductive rights. These thankfully did not amount to much.
In fact, just a few weeks after Roe vs Wade was overturned, the UK government quietly removed women’s reproductive and sexual health rights from a multinational human rights statement, signed by 22 countries - an act that needed approval from ministers.
Anti-choice groups have repeatedly lobbied against legislation that would protect people from harassment as they enter abortion clinics. Extreme groups with links to the US have ramped up their spending as they have perceived the UK’s political climate to be favourable to their positions.
The government has tried more than once to roll back on telemedical access to abortions. Thankfully, MPs revolted (and pro-choice groups fought furiously) and this didn’t happen.
Ok, this government changes PMs and Cabinets more often than I argue with men on the internet, and that is saying something. But in the past five years, multiple high profile cabinet ministers have had some very questionable attitudes or voting records towards a woman’s right to choose if they have to give birth or not. Or just plain refused to uphold ‘my body, my choice’.
In fact, a number of MPs spoke against introducing the right to abortion into UK law in 2022. I won’t link to the article I read this on because it’s from a top anti-choice lobby group, but you can google it if you want I guess.
All of which is extremely important because…
IT’S FUCKING ILLEGAL
And finally. Most importantly. ABORTION IS STILL A CRIMINAL OFFENCE IN BRITAIN.
I say it in all caps because back when I worked at WEP, every single time I posted about it on our social media, we’d get a barrage of comments saying things like, “that’s not true, I got an abortion and it was easy.” Or “abortion is legal?? My friend got one last year."
Thanks to a Victorian era law abortion is only legal if it is signed off by two doctors, and carried out under certain, specific circumstances, within a time limit. If the abortion is carried out in other circumstances, that person faces life imprisonment.
Yeah. One more time - thanks to the Offences Against the Person Act (1861!!!), abortion became part of the criminal code. The Abortion Act (1967) introduced this legal loophole I mention above, but that is nowhere near good enough, and the overturning of Roe vs Wade shows so brutally.
A legal loophole is too tenuous, too fragile. Abortion needs to be removed from the criminal code and regulated in healthcare, where it belongs. And it especially needs that becuase there has been a rise in women being investigated and convicted for abortions in the UK. Doctors are also allowed to refuse to sign off on abortions due to personal beliefs.
So yes, you can get an abortion - if you meet certain criteria, if you realise you are pregnant on time, if you are lucky enough to come into contact with two doctors sympathetic to your situation, if you are lucky enough to even get an appointment in the first place, if you can afford to take time off work and travel, if you can arrange for, or afford, childcare whilst you undergo the procedure. The list goes on.
So what, I hear you mutter, does all this have to do with today? And the general election?
Great question. The Criminal Justice Bill has been dragging its way through government for time, mainly because of the three million amendments made to it. It’s a super controversial bill, for several valid reasons - see here. For its many faults, the Bill also had a really crucial amendment made to it, which, if voted through, would mean that women who sought abortions outside of the narrow legal parameters won’t face jail time. Say, if a woman realised she was pregnant after the 24 week limit, and lied to doctors in order to secure abortion pills by post, she would not be criminalised for it. And then it got messy, becuase another MP introduced a different, but equally crucial amendment which, if voted through, would decriminalise abortion up to 24 weeks but also introduce a '“lock” to guarantee future protection and legislation to protect the right to abortion. This would make it harder to roll back any legal rights to abortion access. Essentially, these MPs are proposing that abortion access become a human right - a much stronger protection that women and people with uteruses have had for over a hundred and fifty years. So a very fucking important Bill indeed.
Becuase it was such a chunky boi, the Bill was scheduled to be debated and voted on (this would push it one important step closer to becoming law) over two days. Day one took place on May 15th. Day two - which is when all the abortion amendments were scheduled for - was due to happen on June 4th. We were so close.
And then Sunak went and dissolved Parliament, essentially kicking the amendments into the long grass. Regardless of who wins the next election, there is no way to know when this Bill will come back, and in what form. The frontrunners -Labour - are broadly supportive of abortion access. But Bills take forever and a day to get to voting stage, and if they face an antagonistic Parliament or are forced to form a coalition, they may well face overwhelming opposition that could result in this critical chance for women being diluted, (further) delayed or scrapped altogether.
Having a Labour government does not guarantee improved reproduction rights. Labour had years of opportunities to decriminalise abortions in the 90s and chose not to do so. The Tories literally do not care about women and could so easily make abortion rights a political headache for a week, morally dubious Labour party, fronted by a weak leader who has shown again and again he can and will capitulate to right wing voters, if it gets (or keeps?) Labour in power.
For the record, I don’t think all is lost. I see a future where abortion is decriminalised and enshrined as a human rights - but we were on the potential precipice of getting that, and for it to be snatched away after years of fighting and lobbying is deeply frustrating. I’ll stop here. Reluctantly.
Sunak had reasons (rebounding economy, summer holidays meaning there are less people to door knock, rich people and their kids will be off skiing or whatever they do, students may forget to re-register if they are home for the summer, etc) for calling the elections in July - all for his or his parties’ political gain. Like I said: in this country, the men play politics to give themselves legacies, so often at the expense of women and other minorities communities. I watched him give his stupid, self-congratulatory remarks at the lectern today and wondered when advances in abortion rights would see the light of day in Parliament again. Six months? A year? Two years? In the gap, how many women will suffer unnecessarily, afraid of persecution, unable to access the healthcare that they deserve and need.
At least though, there was the comedic elegance of Rishi attempting to give his little election speech whilst he got progressively wetter and more dishevelled, and protestors blasted 1997 Labour election songs loud enough for the country to hear. If you don’t laugh you’ll cry, and all that.
A quick favour. I love writing these posts, and I intend to do them for free for as long as I can. If you enjoyed reading this, forward it to a friend (or three) who you think might like it too. It helps massively, because validation from strangers is truly the only thing that makes the horrors bearable for me.