Abortion Rights is an advocacy organisation that promotes access to abortion in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) and the National Abortion Campaign (NAC). [1] The ALRA campaigned effectively after World War II for the elimination of legal obstacles to abortion and the peak of its work was the Abortion Act 1967.
The "Abortion Law Reform Association" was founded in the United Kingdom in 1936 by Janet Chance, Alice Jenkins, Joan Malleson [2] and Stella Browne. [3] Its intention was to change attitudes and the law to allow access to abortion in the United Kingdom. Janet Chance created the funding and the marketing whilst Alice Brook Jenkins was the honorary secretary. Jenkins created a network of supporters. [2]
At the end of their first year they had 35 new members, and by 1939 they had almost 400. The membership were gathered from the working class using labour groups and women's branches of the co-operative movement. These women wanted the privileges that “moneyed classes had enjoyed for years.” [3]
The ALRA was very active between 1936 and 1939 sending speakers around the country to talk about Labour and Equal Citizenship and attempted to have letters and articles published in newspapers. They were in the frame when a member of the ALRA's Medico-Legal Committee received the case of a fourteen-year-old girl who had been raped, and she received a termination of this pregnancy from Dr. Joan Malleson, a progenitor of the ALRA. [3]
Alice Jenkins wrote an important book titled "Law For The Rich" which was published in 1960. [4] Her book drew attention to the double standards that faced women with unwanted pregnancies. Abortion was nominally illegal so many women had to give birth to unplanned children, however rich women could persuade their private doctors that their mental health was at risk. The doctors were then able to carry out an abortion that was denied to most women in Britain. [5]
During the 1970s and 1980s there were several proposed amendment bills against the Abortion Act 1967, so in defense of the Abortion Act 1967 The National Abortion Campaign (NAC) was formed in 1975. [6]
Vera Houghton became the chair of the ALRA in 1963 and over the next seven years she led the organisation. [7] The ALRA's turning point was to gain the support of the Liberal Party MP David Steel, who placed a private members bill through the House of Commons to reform the laws of abortion, choosing this issue over calls to instead amend the law on plumbers or the rights of homosexuals. He cites Alice Jenkin's argument in her book "Law For The Rich" as being pivotal in his decision. [5] Steele put forward a private members bill that was backed by the government and it resulted in the 1967 Abortion Act. [8]
In 1974 the ''Working Women's Charter" was launched at the Trades Union Congress headquarters in London. The charter was an attempt to bridge the gap between women's economic and social requirements. and included equal pay, an end to the glass ceiling, free contraception and access to abortion. [9] In 1975, the Scottish politician James White introduced a bill in parliament to make abortion more difficult. [10] A demonstration was arranged to protest at moves to restrict the then legal access to abortion. This demonstration led to the formation of National Abortion Campaign. [11]
''Abortion Rights" was formed in 2003 by the merger of the "Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA)" and the "National Abortion Campaign" (NAC). [1] The organization is led by Anne Quesnay. [12]
In 2016, abortion law was devolved to the Scottish Parliament in the Scotland Act 2016. [13]
The devolved organisation Abortion Rights Scotland is a campaigning and advocacy organisation, taking part in an annual prochoice demo in Edinburgh on the anniversary of the Abortion Act 1967, giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament for the Safe Access Zones Bill, [14] and taking part in the debate on decriminalization of abortion in Scotland. [15]
Abortion in the United Kingdom is de facto available under the terms of the Abortion Act 1967 in Great Britain and the Abortion (No.2) Regulations 2020 in Northern Ireland. The procurement of an abortion remains a criminal offence in Great Britain under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, although the Abortion Act provides a legal defence for both the pregnant woman and her doctor in certain cases. Although a number of abortions did take place before the 1967 Act, there have been around 10 million abortions in the United Kingdom. Around 200,000 abortions are carried out in England and Wales each year and just under 14,000 in Scotland; the most common reason cited under the ICD-10 classification system for around 98% of all abortions is "risk to woman's mental health."
Abortion in Canada is legal throughout pregnancy and is publicly funded as a medical procedure under the combined effects of the federal Canada Health Act and provincial health-care systems. However, access to services and resources varies by region. While some restrictions exist, Canada is one of the few nations with no criminal restrictions on abortion. Abortion is subject to provincial healthcare regulatory rules and guidelines for physicians. No provinces offer abortion on request at 24 weeks and beyond, although there are exceptions for certain medical complications.
Abortion in Australia is legal at all stages of pregnancy. There are no federal abortion laws, and full decriminalisation of the procedure has been enacted in all jurisdictions. Access to abortion varies between the states and territories: surgical abortions are readily available on request within the first 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy in most jurisdictions, and up to 16 weeks in Tasmania. Later term abortions can be obtained with the approval of two doctors, although the Australian Capital Territory only requires a single physician's approval.
Abortion in France is legal upon request until 14 weeks after conception. Abortions at later stages of pregnancy up until birth are allowed if two physicians certify that the abortion will be done to prevent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman; a risk to the life of the pregnant woman; or that the child will suffer from a particularly severe illness recognized as incurable. The abortion law was liberalized by the Veil Act in 1975.
The Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ) is New Zealand's national abortion-rights advocacy group in existence since 1971. Since the decriminalisation of abortion in 2020, the organisation continues to monitor and lobby for changes to the law. The organisation is based in Wellington, publishes a quarterly newsletter, and has its own web site.
The Sexual Offences Act 1967 is an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It legalised homosexual acts in England and Wales, on the condition that they were consensual, in private and between two men who had attained the age of 21. The law was extended to Scotland by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 and to Northern Ireland by the Homosexual Offences Order 1982.
Joan Graeme Malleson was an English physician, specialist in contraception and prominent advocate of the legalisation of abortion.
The timeline of women's legal rights (other than voting) represents formal changes and reforms regarding women's rights. The changes include actual law reforms, as well as other formal changes (e.g. reforms through new interpretations of laws by precedents). The right to vote is exempted from the timeline: for that right, see Timeline of women's suffrage. The timeline excludes ideological changes and events within feminism and antifeminism; for that, see Timeline of feminism.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69 was an omnibus bill that introduced major changes to the Canadian Criminal Code. An earlier version was first introduced as Bill C-195 by then-Minister of Justice Pierre Trudeau in the second session of the 27th Canadian Parliament on December 21, 1967, which was modified and re-introduced as Bill C-150 by then-Minister of Justice John Turner in the first session of the 28th Canadian Parliament. After heated debates, it passed third reading in the House of Commons by a vote of 149 to 55. The bill was a massive 126-page, 120-clause amendment to the criminal law and criminal procedure of Canada.
Ramblers is the trading name of the Ramblers Association Great Britain's walking charity. The Ramblers is also a membership organisation with around 100,000 members and a network of volunteers who maintain and protect the path network. The organisation was founded in 1935 and campaigns to keep the British countryside open to all.
ALRA may refer to:
Stella Browne was a Canadian-born British feminist, socialist, sex radical, and birth control campaigner. She was one of the primary women in the fight for women's right to control and make decisions regarding their sexual choices. Active mainly in Britain, her principal focus was on sexual law reform, including the right for women to both access knowledge on and use birth control, as well as the right to abortion. She was also involved in labour parties, communist parties, as well as a number of women's societies.
Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pregnancy without fear of legal or social backlash. These movements are in direct opposition to anti-abortion movements.
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionistmovements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the legalization of elective abortions.
Janet Chance was a British feminist writer, sex education advocate and birth control and abortion law reformer.
Vera Houghton, Baroness Houghton of Sowerby, was a British women's health campaigner, chair of the Abortion Law Reform Association and founder of the Birth Control Trust. She also served as a Vice President of the British Eugenics Society from 1964–1966 and again in 1969 when it was reformed as the Galton Institute.
Alice Jenkins or Alice Brook; born Alice Glyde (1886–1967) was a British abortion campaigner. She co-founded the Abortion Law Reform Association which reformed UK abortion law. Her book "Law For The Rich" proved pivotal in the creation of the UK's 1967 Abortion Act which made abortion accessible in mainland Britain eight days before she died.
The Abortion Legislation Act 2020 is an Act of Parliament in New Zealand allowing unrestricted access to abortion within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, and repealing sections of the Crimes Act 1961 related to unlawful abortion. After the 20-week period, women seeking an abortion must consult a qualified health practitioner who will assess their physical health, mental health, and well-being. The Act also provides provisions for conscientious objection rights for medical practitioners and exempts abortion services from certain Crimes Act provisions, while extending the definition of health services to include abortion services under the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994.
The Northern Ireland Act 2019, colloquially known as the 2019 Northern Ireland Act, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provided for the extension of the period for forming a Northern Ireland executive until 13 January 2020. The Act also extended the powers of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland during this time whilst imposing several conditions. The Act requires that the Secretary of State report regularly to Parliament, designed to limit the ability of the sovereign to prorogue parliament, as well as providing for the legalisation of same-sex marriage and opposite-sex civil partnership in Northern Ireland and the liberalisation of abortion laws if no executive was formed by midnight on 21 October 2019. After the deadline passed, abortion was decriminalised automatically by repeal of Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861; in December 2019 the British Government passed regulations legalising same-sex marriage and opposite-sex civil partnerships on 13 January 2020. Further regulations governing abortion came into force on 31 March 2020.
Diane Munday is a British political activist who, as a leading member of the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) from 1962 until 1974, played a prominent role in the decriminalisation of abortion in the United Kingdom with the Abortion Act 1967. She was also a co-founder of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service. A longtime associate of the secular humanist movement, she has been named a patron of Humanists UK.