Anti-abortion movement

Last updated

Anti-abortion movements, also referred to as pro-life movements, 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.

Contents

Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. [note 1]

Europe

Each Life Matters demonstration in Madrid, Spain, on 17 October 2009 AntiAbortionDemonstration.jpg
Each Life Matters demonstration in Madrid, Spain, on 17 October 2009

In Europe, abortion law varies by country, and has been legalized through parliamentary acts in some countries, and constitutionally banned (or heavily restricted) in others. In Western Europe this has had the effect at once of both more closely regulating the use of abortion, and at the same time mediating and reducing the impact anti-abortion campaigns have had on the law. [1]

France

The first specifically anti-abortion organization in France, Laissez-les-vivre-SOS futures mères, was created in 1971 during the debate that was to lead to the Veil Law in 1975. Its main spokesman was the geneticist Jérôme Lejeune. Since 2005, the French anti-abortion movement has organized an annual March for Life. [2]

The 1920 abortion laws of France have not been entirely repealed leading to ambiguity in the nation's policies. [3] By 1975, Simone Veil, the minister for health, introduced legislation that specifically in cases of distress "tolerated" abortion up to ten weeks. [4] Abortions after this date are only cleared by the government if the pregnancy endangers the health of the woman or will result in the birth of a child with a severe and incurable disease. [4] After twelve weeks, abortion, except for "therapeutic abortion, under the terms of Article 317 of the Criminal Code, is a crime, punishable by 6 months to 10 years in prison, a fine of between 1800 and 250,000 Francs, and loss of professional license." [4]

Catholics and right-wing political groups continue to protest abortion. The Front National, an extreme right-wing anti-immigration party led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, has attempted to decrease to funding of abortions unsuccessfully even though they have around 10% of the French electorate. [3]

Ireland

There are several major anti-abortion groups in the Republic of Ireland, Pro Life Campaign, Youth Defence and Iona Institute. Despite the 1967 Abortion Act which was a significant landmark for women in the UK, it did not apply to Northern Ireland. These women either had to travel to the mainland to receive medication or face criminal charges for purchasing abortion pills illegally. [5] The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland (2018) provided for legal abortion in Ireland, but several anti-abortion parties still campaign, including Aontú. [6] [7]

Liechtenstein

In Liechtenstein, an application to legalize abortions was rejected by a slim majority in a referendum in 2011. The opponents, which included Prince Alois, got 500 votes more and eventually settled at 52.3 percent compared with 47.7 percent. [8]

Prince Alois had announced the use of his veto in advance if necessary to prevent the introduction of abortion. [9]

Russia

Abortion is legal in Russia as an elective procedure up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and in special circumstances at later stages. [10] The abortion issue gained renewed attention in 2011 in a debate that The New York Times says "has begun to sound like the debate in the United States". [11] Parliament passed and President Dmitri Medvedev signed several restrictions on abortion into law to combat "a falling birthrate" and "plunging population". [11] The restrictions include requiring abortion providers to devote 10% of advertising costs to describing the dangers of abortion to a woman's health and make it illegal to describe abortion as a safe medical procedure. Medvedev's wife Svetlana Medvedeva has taken up the anti-abortion cause in Russia in a weeklong national campaign against abortion called "Give Me Life!" and a "Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness" by her Foundation for Social and Cultural Initiatives in conjunction with the Russian Orthodox Church. [11]

Spain

In Spain, over one million demonstrators took part in a march in Madrid in October 2009 to protest plans by the government of José Luis Zapatero to legalize elective abortions and eliminate parental consent restrictions. [12]

In 2010 1,067,315 Spaniards signed a petition against the liberal abortion policy of the government. The petition was launched by the organizations "Derecho a vivir" (right to life) and "Hazteoir" (make yourself heard). [13] Hazteoir is connected to the right-wing party Vox, whose leader Santiago Abascal is a Hazteoir member. [14]

Ukraine

Gift of Life is a medical and anti-abortion charity in Ukraine. [15]

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the most prominent anti-abortion organization is the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. It was formed at the time of the passage of the 1967 Abortion Act which liberalized abortion law. The group campaigns against abortion, often using questionable claims, [16] and supports protests at pregnancy clinics. [17] The Anti-Abortion Act of 1967 had significant effect in Britain (excluding Northern Ireland). Rather than overturning the existing law, the act states that if at least two doctors deemed the reasons for abortion in alignment with the Act, it could legally be performed. This still meant that the punishment for women who obtained abortions contrary to the act were faced with potential life imprisonment. Doctors too could be prosecuted if they were found administering abortions without reasonable cause. [5] To this day, there are many clinics in the UK that anti-abortion activists routinely stand outside; their goal being to discourage the women entering from having their abortions. This is through two processes known as "prayer vigils" which are sometimes whispered quietly and other times said aloud to actively dissuade, and "pavement counseling" where activists approach entering women to persuade them to continue with their pregnancies. This is a practice held in low regard by women who seek abortions and the organisations providing the service as it has been known to cause anxiety and distress. [5]

Middle East

Israel

In Israel, the major anti-abortion organization is Efrat. [18] Efrat activists primarily raise funds to relieve the "financial and social pressures" on pregnant women so that they will not terminate their pregnancies. However, this activity is only carried out in the Jewish sector in Israeli society, as Efrat officially views abortion among Jews as a demographic threat to the Jewish people. [19]

Americas

United States

Protest outside clinic in the Bay Area, 1986. Anti-abortion protest, 1986.jpg
Protest outside clinic in the Bay Area, 1986.

The United States anti-abortion movement formed as a response to the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court decisions, with many anti-abortion organizations having emerged since then. There is also a smaller consistent life ethic movement, favoring a philosophy which opposes all forms of killing, including abortion, war, euthanasia, and capital punishment.

The current movement is in part a continuation of previous debates on abortion that led to the practice being banned in all states in the late 19th century. The initial movement was led by physicians, but also included politicians and feminists. Among physicians, advances in medical knowledge played a significant role in influencing anti-abortion opinion. Quickening, which had previously been thought to be the point at which the soul entered a human was discovered to be a relatively unimportant step in fetal development, caused many medical professionals to rethink their positions on early term abortions. [20] Ideologically, the Hippocratic Oath and the medical mentality of that age to defend the value of human life as an absolute also played a significant role in molding opinions about abortion. [20]

Meanwhile, many 19th-century feminists tended to regard abortion as an undesirable necessity forced upon women by thoughtless men. [21] The "free love" wing of the feminist movement refused to advocate abortion and treated the practice as an example of the hideous extremes to which modern marriage was driving women. [22] Marital rape and the seduction of unmarried women were societal ills which feminists believed caused the need to abort, as men did not respect women's right to abstinence. [22]

Canada

A Conservative MP, Cathay Wagantall, introduced a bill in 2020 seeking to ban abortions for the purpose of choosing a child's sex. [23] Abortion in Canada is legal at all stages of pregnancy and funded in part by the Canada Health Act. [24] In 2013, the Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, barred the members of Parliament from discussing the matter in the Commons. Harper's move was linked to his repeated declarations that he wouldn't allow the abortion debate to be re-opened. [23] Since the 1980s, at least forty-three private member bills that are against abortion have been sent to the House of Commons yet none of them have been passed. [3] Canadian anti-abortion discourse increasingly "aims at changing cultural values more than legislation; is explicitly framed as 'pro-woman'; largely avoids appealing to religious grounds; and relies on a new 'abortion-harms-women' argument that has supplanted and transformed traditional fetal personhood arguments". [25]

There have been two national anti-abortion March for Life rallies that have gathered over 10,000 protesters at Parliament Hill. [25] At these protests, thousands gathered in attempts to create enough commotion to enact change. In addition to the national protests, anti-abortionists still protest abortion clinics across the nation in attempts to stop abortions from continuing. [25]

Chile

The Chilean movement is called Siempre por la Vida. [26]

Africa

South Africa

In South Africa there is an anti-abortion organization called Pro-Life Generation. [27] [ third-party source needed ]

Australia

In Australia, the anti-abortion movement is represented by a number of organizations including Cherish Life, Right to Life Australia, and Australian Christian Lobby. These organizations undertake various campaigning actions including political campaign fundraising. [28]

When considering the anti-abortion laws of Australia, it is important to look with an international lens as a large portion of Australian law is derived from the British law. [29] Until 1967, British law states that "an induced abortion is unlawful in all situations save the (probable) exception of situations where it is necessary to save the life of the mother." [30] Australia partook of this law until Britain changed it in 1967 towards a more liberal standpoint. [30]

About twenty-two per thousand women aged between fifteen and forty-four have an abortion each year which causes great unrest with the anti-abortionists of Australia. [29] Throughout Australia, specifically in Victoria and Queensland, numerous anti-abortions lobbying and protesting took place. In Brisbane in 1985, the police raided an abortion clinic and successfully took the records of the women being treated there. [30] With this breach of privacy, many gathered in attempt to gain political support to end the raids. Within the government there is also said to be seen a loosely banded group of anti-abortion politicians that attempted to deny government rebates for terminations but was denied due to its need of clarification. [30]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Definitions of abortion, as with many words, vary from source to source. Language used to define abortion often reflects societal and political opinions (not only scientific knowledge). For a list of definitions as stated by obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) textbooks, dictionaries, and other sources, please see Definitions of abortion.

Related Research Articles

United States abortion-rights movement Support for womens right to elective abortion

The United States abortion-rights movement is a sociopolitical movement in the United States supporting the view that a woman should have the legal right to an elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy, and is part of a broader global abortion-rights movement. The movement consists of a variety of organizations, with no single centralized decision-making body.

Abortion is legal throughout the United States and its territories, although restrictions and accessibility vary from state to state. Abortion is a controversial and divisive issue in the society, culture and politics of the U.S., and various anti-abortion laws have been in force in each state since at least 1900. The Democratic Party has generally defended access to abortion, whereas the Republican Party has generally sought to restrict abortion access or criminalize abortion.

The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1983 was an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which inserted a subsection recognising the equal right to life of the pregnant woman and the unborn. Abortion had been subject to criminal penalty in Ireland since 1861; the amendment ensured that legislation or judicial interpretation would be restricted to allowing abortion in circumstances where the life of a pregnant woman was at risk. It was approved by referendum on 7 September 1983 and signed into law on 7 October 1983.

Abortion law Laws that permit, prohibit or regulate abortion

Abortion law permits, prohibits, restricts, or otherwise regulates the availability of abortion. Abortion has been a controversial subject in many societies throughout history on religious, moral, ethical, practical, and political grounds. It has been banned frequently and otherwise limited by law. However, abortions continue to be common in many areas, even where they are illegal. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), abortion rates are similar in countries where the procedure is legal and in countries where it is not, due to unavailability of modern contraceptives in areas where abortion is illegal.

Abortion in Australia is largely regulated by the states and territories rather than the Federal Government. The grounds on which abortion is permitted in Australia vary by jurisdiction. In every state, abortion is legal to protect the life and health of a woman. As of October 2019, all states and territories except South Australia have fully decriminalised abortion, starting with Western Australia in 1998. All jurisdictions of Australia have safe access zones, except for Western Australia which as of November 2020 has a bill pending.

Women on Waves

Women on Waves (WoW) is a Dutch pro-choice nongovernmental organization (NGO) created in 1999 by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts, in order to bring reproductive health services, particularly non-surgical abortion services and education, to women in countries with restrictive abortion laws. Other services offered by WoW include contraception, individual reproductive counseling, workshops, and education about unwanted pregnancy. Workshops are conducted for lawyers, doctors, artists, writers, public health care activists, as well as for women and men to learn about contraceptive practices and non-surgical, DIY abortion using RU-486. Services are provided on a commissioned ship that contains a specially constructed mobile clinic, the A-Portable. When WoW visits a country, women make appointments, and are taken on board the ship. The ship then sails out approximately 20 km, to international waters, where Dutch laws are in effect on board ships registered in the Netherlands. Once in international waters, the ship's medical personnel provide a range of reproductive health services that includes medical abortion.

Feminists for Life

Feminists for Life of America (FFL) is a non-profit, anti-abortion feminist, non-governmental organization (NGO). Established in 1972, and now based in Alexandria, Virginia, the organization describes itself as "shaped by the core feminist values of justice, non-discrimination, and non-violence". FFL publishes a biannual magazine, The American Feminist, and aims to reach young women, college students in particular.

Anti-abortion feminism or pro-life feminism is the opposition to abortion by some feminists. Anti-abortion feminists may believe that the principles behind women's rights also call them to oppose abortion on right to life grounds and that abortion hurts women more than it benefits them.

United States anti-abortion movement Movement opposed to abortion in the United States

The United States anti-abortion movement contains elements opposing induced abortion on both moral and religious grounds and supports its legal prohibition or restriction. Advocates generally argue that human life begins at conception and that the human zygote is a person and therefore has a right to life. The anti-abortion movement includes a variety of organizations, with no single centralized decision-making body. There are diverse arguments and rationales for the anti-abortion stance. Some anti-abortion activists allow for some permissible abortions, including therapeutic abortions, in exceptional circumstances such as incest, rape, severe fetal defects or when the woman's health is at risk.

Abortion in Israel is permitted when determined by a termination committee, with the vast majority of cases being approved as of 2019. The rate of abortion in Israel has steadily declined since 1988, and compared to the rest of the world, abortion rates in Israel are moderate. According to government data, in Israel, abortion rates in 2016 dropped steadily to 9 per 1,000 women of childbearing age, lower than England (16.2) and the United States (13.2). 99% of abortions are carried out in the first trimester. Despite allegations of permitting abortion under limited circumstances, Haaretz noted in 2019 that this is not the case and abortion is almost always permitted in Israel.

Abortion-rights movements Social movement that advocates for the right of access to abortion services

Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, and anti-life movements advocate for legal access to induced abortion services. It is the argument against the pro-life movement. The issue of induced abortion remains divisive in public life, with recurring arguments to liberalize or to restrict access to legal abortion services. Abortion supporters themselves are divided as to the types of abortion services that should be available and to the circumstances, for example different periods in the pregnancy such as late term abortions, in which access may be restricted.

Socialist perspectives on abortion

Socialist perspectives on abortion vary. In the first world, some socialist individuals believe in the legalisation and right to abortion on demand as a public service, whereas others do not believe abortion should be legal in any circumstances for a number of reasons. In Third World, there are discussions regarding traditionalists, Natalists, Malthusianists and economics factors within society.

Abortion in Illinois is legal. Laws about abortion dated to the early 1800s in Illinois, and it became a criminal offense for the first time in 1827. Illegal abortions date in the state date back to 1888. As hospitals set up barriers in the 1950s, the number of therapeutic abortions declined. Following Roe v. Wade in 1973, Illinois updated its existing abortion laws in late May 2019. By 2010, the state had a number of newer abortion limitations in place including Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP). The state has seen a decline in abortion clinics over the years, going from 58 in 1982 to 47 in 1992 to 24 in 2014.

Abortion in Connecticut is legal. 67% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Abortions took place early in the state's history. People at that time talked about abortions using euphemisms. The death of Sarah Grosvenor following unsuccessful abortion resulted in a prosecution in colonial Connecticut. Connecticut became the first statue to criminalize abortion after codifying its common law in 1821. Later, such laws were justified as trying to protect the life of the women from bad actors providing unsafe abortion services. The state was one of ten states in 2007 to have a customary informed consent provision for abortions. In 1965, the US Supreme Court heard the case of Griswold v. Connecticut. The Supreme Court struck laws the banned the sale of, use of and giving of prescriptions for contraceptives, even for married couples. The US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester. In 2019, state law said, "the decision to terminate a pregnancy prior to the viability of the fetus shall be solely that of the pregnant woman in consultation with her physician."

Abortion in Michigan is legal. 54% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Abortion in West Virginia is legal however only 35% of West Virginians in a poll approved of legalized abortion in most or all situations.

Abortion in Wisconsin is legal. 53% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Abortion in New Hampshire is legal. Abortion was criminalized in the state by 1900. In June 2003, the state passed a parental notification law, repealing it four years later before passing a new one in 2011. New Hampshire's abortion laws have been heard before the US Supreme Court, including the case Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England in 2006. The number of abortion clinics in New Hampshire has declined over the years, with eighteen in 1982, sixteen in 1992 and four in 2014. In 2010, there were three publicly funded abortions in the state, of which three were federally funded and zero were state funded. There are active abortion rights and anti-abortion rights activists in the state.

Abortion in Puerto Rico is legal. Attitudes and laws in Puerto Rico relating to abortion have been significantly impacted by decisions of the federal government of the United States. Abortion effectively became legal in 1937 after a series of changes in the law by the Puerto Rico legislature based on introduction of Malthusian clinics introduced from US-initiated eugenic policies. During the 1960s and early 1970s, women from the mainland of the United States would travel to the island for legal abortions, with the practice largely ending in 1973 as a result of the US Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. Women have continued to travel to Puerto Rico from other parts of the Caribbean since the 1990s to obtain abortions illegal in their home countries. The total number of abortion clinics on the island has been in decline since a peak of over a dozen in the 1990s.

References

  1. ↑ Outshoorn, Joyce (1996). "The stability of compromise: Abortion politics in Western Europe". In Marianne Givens; Dorothy M. Stetson (eds.). Abortion politics: public policy in cross-cultural perspective. Routledge. p. 161. ...parliamentary decision are sustained by political parties which, in comparison to the United States, are deeply rooted in European society. The political parties have managed to regulate and pacify the political reform process, which in the decision-making stage marginalized opposition outside parliament.
  2. ↑ "Thousands take part in Paris anti-abortion march". Euronews . 19 January 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Abortion Debate". BMJ: British Medical Journal. 299 (6703): 814–816. 1989. ISSN   0959-8138. JSTOR   29705487.
  4. 1 2 3 Gaudry, D.; Sadan, G. (1989). "France: late abortion". Planned Parenthood in Europe = Planning Familial en Europe. 18 (1): 6–8. ISSN   1017-8538. PMID   12315825.
  5. 1 2 3 Low, Pam; Page, Sarah-Jane (May 2018). "Anti-Abortion Activism in Britain".
  6. ↑ "Protest rally in Limerick as abortion figures are revealed". www.limerickleader.ie.
  7. ↑ https://www.irishcatholic.com/6666-abortions-in-ireland-not-treated-as-a-big-story/
  8. ↑ "In Liechtenstein bleiben Abtreibungen verboten". Focus. 18 September 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Radikal für das Leben!, 08 September 2012". Zukunft CH. 28 September 2012. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "Федеральный закон "Об основах охраны здоровья граждан в Российской Федерации"". Российская газета.
  11. 1 2 3 Sophia Kishkovsky, Russia Enacts Law Opposing Abortion, New York Times
  12. ↑ "Agence France Presse, 17 October 2009". 17 October 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  13. ↑ "Spanien: Mehr als eine Million unterschreiben gegen Abtreibung, 23 February 2010". Blaue Narzisse. 23 February 2010. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  14. ↑ Bastante, Jesús (7 December 2018). "Las conexiones de Vox con HazteOir, los 'kikos' y una docena de obispos españoles". eldiario.es (in Spanish).
  15. ↑ "Gift of Life website". us.giftoflife.org. 10 June 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  16. ↑ Vasagar, Jeevan, ed. (23 March 2012). "Revealed: what children are being told about abortion". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  17. ↑ Quinn, Ben (13 March 2012). "Anti-abortion activism escalating, warns clinic targeted by vigil". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  18. ↑ "Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life". Friendsofefrat.org. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  19. ↑ "How Efrat Saves Lives". Friendsofefrat.org. Archived from the original on 14 December 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  20. 1 2 James C. Mohr (1978). Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy . Oxford University Press/. pp.  35–36.
  21. ↑ Mohr, James C. (1978). Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy . Oxford University Press. p.  110.
  22. 1 2 James C. Mohr (1978). Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy . Oxford University Press/. p.  112.
  23. 1 2 Levitz, Stephanie (27 February 2020). "Scheer appears to backtrack on commitment not to allow debate on abortion". The Canadian Press . Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  24. ↑ J. Cherie Strachan; Lori M. Poloni-Staudinger; Shannon Jenkins; Candice D. Ortbals (2019). Why Don't Women Rule the World?: Understanding Women's Civic and Political Choices. SAGE Publications. p. 115. ISBN   978-1-5443-1727-4.
  25. 1 2 3 Saurette, Paul; Gordon, Kelly (2013). "Arguing Abortion: The New Anti-Abortion Discourse in Canada". Canadian Journal of Political Science. 46 (1): 157–185. doi:10.1017/S0008423913000176. ISSN   0008-4239. JSTOR   43298127.
  26. ↑ "Bachelet to Redact Chile's Abortion Prohibition before End of 2014". PanAm Post . 26 June 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  27. ↑ "ProLife Generation Archived 2018-08-06 at the Wayback Machine ". ProLife Generation
  28. ↑ Allan, Lyle (30 November 2010). "Margaret Tighe. The most powerful woman in Victoria". Tasmanian Times. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018.
  29. 1 2 "Abortion Laws Around the World". Pew Research Center. 30 September 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  30. 1 2 3 4 Warhurst, John; Merrill, Vance (1982). "The Abortion Issue in Australia: Pressure Politics and Policy". The Australian Quarterly. 54 (2): 119–135. doi:10.2307/20635163. ISSN   0005-0091. JSTOR   20635163.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.