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Focus on the United States
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Biden Promotes Abortion as Healthcare
A Proclamation issued by President Biden during National Women’s Health Week reiterated his support for abortion in addressing “the health and well-being of women and girls across our Nation.” Biden proclaimed, “Central to this mission is protecting women’s fundamental rights to make their own choices and build their own future. I am committed to defending women’s rights, including their access to reproductive health care. Roe has been the law of the land for almost 50 years; basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned. In response to the continued attack on abortion and reproductive rights across the country, my Administration is exploring all the tools at our disposal to strengthen and protect women’s access to critical reproductive health care.”
He continued the pro-abortion promotion connecting access to abortion with women’s equality stating that “there is still more work to do –- including to defend reproductive rights, which are under unprecedented attack, and to ensure we do not go backwards on women’s equality.”
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Biden Administration Promotes State Access to Abortion Laws
Biden’s Director of the White House Gender Policy Council Director and the Director of White House Intergovernmental Affairs held a meeting with leading pro-abortion state legislators to discuss laws designed to ensure access to abortion in light of the anticipated Supreme Court decision which will return the power to make laws on abortion to individual states.
The readout of the meeting explains, “This important discussion follows the passage of proactive reproductive rights measures in at least 10 states so far in the 2022 legislative session, including in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington. These actions to protect and expand access to reproductive health care stand in sharp contrast to a wave of abortion bans and restrictions that have passed in states across the country.”
During the discussion, state lawmakers "shared the steps they have taken so far to protect access to abortion, as well as plans to further expand care" and the participants "discussed ways the Administration can support state and local efforts.”
The Biden officials “underscored their support for state action to strengthen reproductive rights.”
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Biden Administration Promotes Abortion at the World Health Assembly
Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs Loyce Pace delivered the U.S. remarks to the 75th World Health Assembly by telling the delegations that “the quest for health and peace is not new, but it is enduring”. She then emphasized that “under President Biden’s leadership, the United States is continuing this critical work every day. We are promoting universal health coverage and health equity, including advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights...”
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is being used to advance access to abortion. Abortion is included as part of “sexual and reproductive health interventions” during pregnancy in the WHO UHC Compendium, beginning as a health intervention for girls ages 10-14 years old.
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Biden’s New Press Secretary Attacks Republican State Legislators
President Biden’s new press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement on passage of the "Oklahoma Heartbeat Act” which prohibits abortion when a heartbeat is detected, at about six weeks of pregnancy. Jean-Pierre mentioned that Roe has been “the law of the land for almost 50 years" describing the action by the Oklahoma legislature as “the most extreme effort to undo these fundamental rights we have seen to date”. She called the state action “part of a growing effort by ultra MAGA officials across the country to roll back the freedoms we should not take for granted in this country.”
Despite the clear writing by Justice Alito in the leaked Supreme Court opinion on Dobbs that the opinion is only about abortion and no other issue, she contended, “They are starting with reproductive rights, but the American people need to know that other fundamental rights, including the right to contraception and marriage equality, are at risk.”
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U.S. Country Reports Include Abortion
The 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices issued by the Biden Department of State once again include reporting on the status of reproductive rights, including abortion. The official announcement claims that the annual reports “cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements” and includes the section “Reproductive Rights” begun by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012.
The section was removed by the Trump administration because “reproductive rights” includes access to abortion and abortion is not an internationally recognized human right and was replaced by "coercion in population control".
A number of the 2021 reports highlight abortion in countries where there is current debate including the report on pro-life Malta which states under Reproductive Rights: “The country’s ban on abortions allows no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest or when a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life or health.”
El Salvador’s report relies on reports from pro-abortion NGOs which have been targeting El Salvador’s pro-life ban on abortion for years with false claims about women jailed for having a miscarriage. It states, “The law bans abortion. Civil society advocates expressed concern that the ban led to the wrongful incarceration of women who suffered severe pregnancy complications, including miscarriages.”
Dr. José Miguel Fortín-Magaña Leiva, former Director General of the Dr. Roberto Masferrer Institute of Forensic Medicine of El Salvador, has debunked these claims. He states, “As former director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine and as a doctor, I can assure you that the foregoing is totally false”. He also points out that sentences given in abortion cases “can be for community service instead; and therefore there’s not a single case of women imprisoned for that reason.”
The Institute of Forensic Medicine is a part of the Salvadoran judicial system that “contributes technically and scientifically to the administration of justice.” The doctor also stressed that there are cases of women who “committed aggravated homicide” and “murdered their child, once it had been born by the natural process.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights commended the Biden administration on the release of the reports stating, “Reporting on reproductive rights is fundamental to supporting the human rights of women, girls, and gender diverse individuals…We urge Congress to pass the Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights Act in order to ensure that this reporting can continue, regardless of administration, and without politicization or interference in the future.”
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Attempt to Force Future U.S. President to Fund Abortion NGOs Globally
Pro-abortion organizations are pushing the Global Her Act in Congress in an attempt to end the ability of a future pro-life president to block U.S. funding to international groups that perform or promote abortion as President Trump did with the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA), the revised and expanded Mexico City Policy--called the Global Gag Rule (GGR) by pro-abortionists. A virtual event was held with opening remarks by Karin Olofsdotter, the Ambassador of Sweden to the United States that called for the permanent repeal of the pro-life policy along with a report that gave a number of examples from countries on how the policy interfered with their abortion performance or promotion. Presenters included NGO representatives working in Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, and Zimbabwe.
The past U.S. government pro-life policy under President Trump was negatively highlighted in discussions on the legalization or expansion of abortion with the PLGHA being called “one element of ‘the erosion of good U.S. diplomacy overseas’ which has become a trend in recent years.”
A representative from World Vision in Mozambique expressed support for Biden’s revocation of PLGHA believing that it will “provide an additional range of services” and that not “all the communities they serve are Christian or share their perspective about abortion.” He explained, “It [The revocation] provides a range of additional services to the community and we do recognize that the community we serve is not predominantly Christian. There are other faiths and then there are also people who do not have any faith at all…And so, for those who would request such services [as abortion], I think it’s a great opportunity for them. And our organization doesn’t do anything to prevent them from accessing those [services].”
The NGO behind the report, Fòs Feminista, tweeted, “President Biden’s revocation of the GGR will have positive long-term impacts on organizations providing SRHR services, and Congress must permanently repeal the GGR to prevent future Republican president from reinstating it.”
H.R.556, the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights Act— the Global Her Act— is sponsored by Rep Barbara Lee in the House and has 196 Democrat co-sponsors. Its Senate companion bill S. 142 by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) has 46 Democrat co-sponsors, 2 Republicans—Sens Collins and Murkowski and 2 Independents— Sens. King and Sanders.
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U.S. Likely to Allow States to Protect Unborn Children from Abortion
The Supreme Court in 1973 imposed abortion on demand on the United States (U.S) and nearly 50 years later the Supreme Court of 2022 appears ready to return to a democratic process that allows individual states to determine laws relating to abortion and protection of children in the womb.
An unprecedented leak of the majority Court opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—a case challenging the state of Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy— has revealed that the U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to overrule two past abortion decisions recognizing abortion as a constitutional right and restoring authority to state legislators to enact laws on abortion.
The draft opinion, dated February 2022, indicates that the Court had voted 5-3 to overturn both Roe v. Wade which established a constitutional right to abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy and allowed states to restrict abortion after that point, subject to exceptions to protect the life or health of the mother. The draft opinion also impacts the Court’s decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey which ruled that restrictions on abortion are unconstitutional if they place an “undue burden” on a woman seeking an abortion.
Alito writes: “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
Alito explains, “In some States, voters may believe that the abortion right should be more even more [sic] extensive than the right Casey and Roe recognized. Voters in other States may wish to impose tight restrictions based on their belief that abortion destroys an ‘unborn human being.’ ... Our nation’s historical understanding of ordered liberty does not prevent the people’s elected representatives from deciding how abortion should be regulated.”
“The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions. On the contrary, an unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment persisted from the earliest days of the common law until 1973.”
“In this case, 26 States have expressly asked us to overrule Roe and Casey and return the issue of abortion to the people and their elected representatives.”
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Defending Life
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Speaker Pelosi Barred from Communion for Her Abortion Support
Archbishop Cordileone, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bishop from her home diocese in San Francisco, took a bold and courageous step by barring her from receiving communion in the San Francisco archdiocese until she ends her support for abortion. In a public letter, Cordileone explained that he issued the instruction in accordance with canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law, which states that “Those … obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”
“After numerous attempts to speak with her to help her understand the grave evil she is perpetrating, the scandal she is causing, and the danger to her own soul she is risking, I have determined that the point has come in which I must make a public declaration that she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion unless and until she publicly repudiate her support for abortion ‘rights’ and confess and receive absolution for her cooperation in this evil in the sacrament of Penance,” Cordileone wrote in the letter.
The Archbishop also explained to the priests of the San Francisco Archdiocese that his decision was “simply application of Church teaching” in expectation of criticism that he was “weaponizing the Eucharist.” He said in the letter, “I have been very clear all along, in both my words and my actions, that my motive is pastoral, not political.”
He had advised Pelosi that if she refused to repudiate her support for abortion, he “would be forced to make a public announcement that she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion.” After receiving no response for months, the Archbishop again reached out to her after she described herself as a “devout Catholic” while explaining that she supported abortion in the wake of the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion.
Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas also banned Speaker Pelosi from receiving communion in his diocese “until she repents and stops advocating the murder of children.”
He tweeted: “The concern for Mrs Pelosi’s eternal salvation extends to the Diocese of Tyler. She is barred from Communion here until she repents & stops advocating the murder of children. Pray for her heart to be turned to God & away from the power of this world.”
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of the Arlington, Virginia diocese near Washington, D.C. said that he also would bar Pelosi from receiving communion. He explained that while the decision was up to her bishop, the “direction and guidance he provides is not limited to just a geographical area”.
Burbidge elaborated that such matters and decisions "are not political for bishops". He said, "They’re moral and they’re spiritual. They’re the result of prayer and discernment. I can’t say it enough, (these) decisions are made for the good of individuals to guard the faithful from scandal.
A number of other Catholic bishops expressed their support for the action. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann issued a statement applauding “Archbishop Cordileone’s patient and persevering efforts to enlighten Speaker Pelosi about the moral gravity of her extreme efforts to promote, to advocate and to initiate legislation to enshrine legalized abortion into federal law.”
He expressed hope that the action would “awaken Speaker Pelosi’s conscience and at the same time protect Catholics in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and throughout the country from being confused by Speaker Pelosi’s radical support for abortion, while claiming to be a faithful Catholic. I pray that Speaker Pelosi will have a change of heart."
Speaker Nancy Pelosi remained defiant in her support of abortion and gave no indication that her position on abortion, or how she speaks about it as a Catholic, will change. Over the years, Pelosi has defended abortion while citing her Catholic faith. Anyone who listens to her on the House floor knows that she often uses the words “for the children” during speeches and remarks as justification for whatever position she is advancing, except when it is about abortion. Then she ignores the children alive in the womb.
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Colombia Signs Pro-Life Declaration
Colombia is the latest country to sign the Geneva Consensus Declaration (GCD) which affirms that there is no international right to abortion. Colombia’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Alexander Ordonez, announced Colombia's support at a special meeting of the Permanent Council commemorating the International Day of Families. The session had been requested by the Brazilian government which serves as secretariat for the GCD after President Biden removed the U.S. from the Declaration which was initiated under President Trump.
According to the Political Network for Values, Brazil’s Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights, Cristiane Britto, said that the “incorporation of Colombia represents a great victory for the agenda of the life and the family in our continent.” The signing had been advocated for months by Ángela Gandra, Brazil’s National Secretary for the Family, and the Institute for Women’s Health (IWH) which advances the GCD in its advocacy for solutions to the obstacles that stand in the way of women’s health.
Cristiane Britto tweeted about Brazil’s role: “This morning, I met with representatives of nations in the Americas and the Caribbean to discuss the importance of expanding the number of member countries of the Geneva Consensus. For Brazil, it is essential to promote a culture of life, of defense of women and babies in the gestational state.”
The GCD has now been signed by 37 countries who agree with its four main pillars: 1) Acceleration of real health gains for women; 2) Assertion that there is no international right to abortion; 3) Protection of the family as the foundational unit of society; 4) Defense of the sovereign right of every nation to protect these pillars through policy and programs.
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International Pressure for Abortion
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Pro Abortion NGOs in Europe Warn Roe May be Overturned
The European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, a pro-abortion organization that unites Members of the European Parliament and legislators serving in national parliaments on abortion and other issues, issued a statement on the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs. It says that the U.S. “is poised to slip precipitously towards authoritarianism” if it follows the draft opinion despite the fact that if the Court rules as argued in the Alito opinion, it will be enabling a democratic process that allows elected representatives to enact laws on abortion.
The statement acknowledges that the Alito draft “did not emerge in a vacuum. Indeed, overturning Roe v Wade would be the culmination of years of strategic, behind the scenes work”. It calls pro-life organizations “anti-human rights groups” and states that they “have deployed a long-term, multi-pronged strategy aimed at testing legal cases which erode the right to abortion.”
EPF warns its pro-abortion colleagues that “this decision is not an isolated case. At the same time, we equally need to be lucid and realise that exactly the same strategy of eroding sexual and reproductive rights is taking place in the Europe before our very eyes, the main difference being that the strategy in Europe is at a much earlier stage in its deployment.”
An admonishment to its members was issued claiming that it is “high time to update, revamp and modernise our abortion laws and ensure that they are given the legal safeguards of the human rights we believe them to be”. The group calls for the EU to include abortion in the EU Charter for Fundamental Rights in order to “ensure that what risks happening in the US in undermining abortion rights …cannot spread to Europe.”
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Spanish Government Approves Draft Law to Expand Abortion
The Council of Ministers of the Government of Spain, headed by the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), approved a change in the county’s law on abortion passed in 2010 to “guarantee and expand sexual and reproductive rights” and eliminate “existing obstacles to exercising the right to voluntary interruption of pregnancy.” The changes also address other issues under the category of "sexual and reproductive health" including mandating sex education on all education levels.
The project to reform Organic Law 2/2010 on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy next proceeds to debate before both the Congress of Deputies and then the Senate where it could be amended.
The Minister for Equality, Irene Montero, led the government’s effort to change the law to including eliminating a three-day waiting period, informed consent and parental consent for minors aged 16-17 years. About the change to remove parental consent Montero said, "The State guarantees them that the decision about their bodies, their life projects and their motherhood will be theirs.” Abortion on demand is already allowed in Spain until the 14th week of gestation, and until 21 weeks for “malformation of the fetus or risk to the woman’s life”.
The government’s justification for the expansion refers to UN statements and definitions: “The right to sexual and reproductive health is part of the right of all people to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and a historical and continuing claim of the global feminist movement. More specifically, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights links women's sexual and reproductive health with human rights, including the right to life, health, privacy, education and the prohibition of discrimination.”
The Spanish Episcopal Conference expressed its opposition to the draft through Secretary General Auxiliary Bishop of Valladolid, Msgr. Luis Argüello, who stressed "the defense and promotion of life is one of the sources of civilization, it is one of the red lines that express the moral health and hope of a people”.
He said that the new law “continues to affirm the right to abortion, that is, the right of the strong over the weak when it comes to eliminating a new and different life that exists within Mother. Since the first law that tried to regulate abortion was approved, advances in science have made us able to affirm with all force that within a pregnant woman there is a new life that must be cared for and welcomed.”
Love and concern for both mother and child was stressed by the Archbishop who said that "we must defend the mother and offer economic, labor, housing conditions and welcome this new life that is going to give birth” and explained that "a society that defends life from the womb of the mother, going through all the vicissitudes of life until the final moment of death, shows the moral health of a society and the hope in building a future for the common good”.
A large pro-life demonstration is planned for June 26. ACIPrensa reports that María San Gil, vice president of the Villacisneros Foundation and spokesperson for one of the convening associations, Neos, said that "the new abortion law is the straw that breaks the camel's back in this Government's strategy to pervert our social order. We cannot remain silent and passive in the face of this project of a totalitarian nature that completely distorts the dignity of the person."
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Focus on the United Nations
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UN Official Voices Opposition to Overturning Roe v Wade
In a clear example of overreach by the United Nations into the sovereignty of the U.S., the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, voiced her opinion that the U.S. Supreme Court should not overturn Roe v Wade in an amici curiae filed in the Dobbs case and during a recent interview. The abortion activist, serving in a key U.N. position, considers access to abortion to be a component of “the right to health and, in particular, the right to sexual and reproductive health”.
Mofokeng said, “It sends chills down my spine to think that the court is being brought on to play – as a very powerful player – to decide on an issue of human rights that has jurisprudence, and has a basis in legal findings, that will actually lead to restriction of rights.”
She actually said that a reversal of Roe v Wade would, “legitimize the use of morality and theological reasoning to take away human rights, empower anti-rights activists globally, criminalize the practice of medicine, undermine the doctor-patient relationship and expose healthcare providers and patients to heightened abuse and violence.”
Mofokeng also claimed that if Roe is overturned, and if individual states “implement bans or near-bans on abortion access”, that those state laws would be “irreconcilable with international human rights law” and falsely claimed that such laws would be “in violation of the United States’ obligations under the human rights treaties it has signed and ratified.”
However, there is no international treaty that recognizes a so-called right to abortion.
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U.S. Advances Death of Unborn, Holy See Advances Life at UN Meeting
The contrast between the Biden’s administration’s activism for the death of unborn children in abortion vs the Holy See’s strong support for the protection of life beginning at conception was on display during the U.N. meeting of the Commission on Population and Development. Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations stated in the official Holy See submission,
“The violation of the inherent and inalienable right of every person to life is never the answer to challenges arising from sustainable development, nor is it a means to achieve economic growth. Rather, respect for life from the moment of conception to natural death must always be at the core of all development policies.”
In addition, he highlighted the importance of the family stating that in regards to the unaddressed root causes of poverty, “the Holy See stresses the importance of assistance to the family – the fundamental unit of society – by providing it with adequate and effective means of support, both for the upbringing of children and for looking after and integrating the elderly into society.”
U.S. Ambassador Lisa Carty presented the Biden administration’s polar opposite view, delivering remarks that described laws against abortion as “holding back women and girls” if they “do not have the ability to make decisions about their bodies and futures.”
She addressed the delegates stating, “We must do better to enable them to exercise their bodily autonomy, access sexual and reproductive health services, including comprehensive sexuality education…We must acknowledge that respecting the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all people and progress towards SDG Goals 3 and 5, including targets 3.7 and 5.6, are foundational to achieving sustained and inclusive economic growth.”
Target 3.7 seeks to ensure by 2030 “universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services” and Target 5.6 seeks to “ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.”
Ambassador Carty also referenced the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality which seeks to “protect the constitutional right” to abortion established in Roe v. Wade and promote “access to sexual and reproductive health and rights both at home and abroad.” She described the strategy as “fundamental to every individual’s economic security, safety, health, and ability to exercise their rights” and urged the Commission on behalf of the Biden administration to “include progress on SRH [sexual and reproductive health]” as among the “unique drivers of sustained and inclusive economic growth.”
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Legislative News
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Spain: Senate Approves Bill Banning Peaceful Pro-Life Protests
The Spanish Senate has voted to criminalize pro-life protests outside of abortion facilities. The new law penalizes sidewalk counselors who seek to talk to women about reconsidering abortion as well as those who quietly pray with up to one year of imprisonment. The law portrays pro-lifers as criminals and calls any counsel against abortion “harassment” and “intimidation.” The law will also impact doctors who object to performing abortions by putting more pressure on them to do so. Members of the Spanish People’s Party opposed the law for violating the rights to free speech and assembly. “You don’t want to penalize supposed coercion,” said María Teresa Angulo Romero of the People’s Party, “if so, your proposal would be unnecessary because the Penal Code already covers coercion. You want to prohibit the right of assembly or free speech where and by whom you don’t like.” The bill already passed the House and will become law once it is published in the official state bulletin.
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Ecuador: Pro-Life Win
Ecuador’s National Assembly failed to override a presidential veto of a bill that would make abortion a human right and remove conscience protections for medical personnel. President Guillermo Lasso vetoed a bill on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. Article 45 of the Ecuadoran Constitution says the government “shall recognize and guarantee life, including care and protection from the time of conception.” Only 17 lawmakers voted to overturn the veto, well below the majority needed.
Valerie Huber, the CEO of the Institute for Women’s Health said that the pro-life movement “won” the battle in Ecuador. “It was created supposedly to just create a very narrow exception for abortion in matters of rape but in reviewing the law, it was pages and pages and pages of things that had absolutely nothing to do with that narrow exception," Huber argued. "More than 20 times, it asserted abortion as a human right. It removed all conscience protections for any kind of healthcare providers that would be called upon in that country to provide abortion against their consciences."
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Guam: Legislature Considers Heartbeat Bill
Guam’s legislature is considering a bill to ban abortions once a heartbeat is detectable. The bill was sponsored by Guam Senate Majority Leader Telena Cruz Nelson, a pro-life Democrat. The Guam Heartbeat Bill would prohibit abortions at about six weeks gestation, and permit people to sue abortion providers who violate the ban. “It is a bill to protect—to protect—our most vulnerable and give every single human with a heartbeat the fighting chance to live a life, to be able to breathe, to live freely and experience the opportunity to be on this Earth, like all of us here today,” said Nelson said. “I was repeatedly told that this isn’t the right time and this [bill] is political suicide. Well, I realized it will never be the ‘right’ time and I never ran for Senator to serve myself.”
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Italy: Proposal to Provide Financial Aid to 100 Pregnant Women Who Choose Life
A new regional proposal would give financial assistance to 100 women who choose life instead of abortion. The idea to hel address the economic reasons many women turn to abortion was introduced by Maurizio Marrone, regional councilor for social policies in the Piedmont region of Italy. “In Piedmont, 100 more children will be born,” said Marrone, “Children who would not otherwise have come into the world because of their mothers’ financial hardship.”
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Scotland: Green MSP introduces bill to criminalize pro-life protests
A Scottish MSP has introduced a bill to create censorship zones around abortion clinics, imposing up to 2 year jail sentences for those who seek to counsel women seeking abortion. Led by women, “Compassion Scotland” was created to oppose attempts such as this bill that seeks to create censorship zones in Scotland. Spokesperson Hannah McNicol argued that any gatherings are peaceful and to ban them would be an “egregious breach of fundamental human rights.”
Attempts to criminalize peaceful pro-life protests are based on ideology, not harassment as claimed. Catherine Robinson with Right to Life UK explained: “a recent Freedom of Information Request by Compassion Scotland revealed there were no recorded incidents of intimidation or harassment at thirteen different locations across Scotland between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2021.” She said, “The evidence to justify censorship zones simply does not exist.”
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Executive News
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Ireland: Health Service Concedes At-Home Abortions Risk Women’s Safety
Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) has acknowledged that ‘DIY’ abortions make it difficult to determine cases of abuse or coercion. Responding to a parliamentary question, the HSE acknowledged that “in-person consultations allow provision of personalised care and allow potential problems to be identified and mitigated.” Further, he said, “meeting the woman in person increases the likelihood of the provider identifying any coercion or domestic abuse.” By permitting DIY home abortions, women have an increased risk of abuse.
Dr Calum Miller, NHS doctor and research associate at the University of Oxford, called for the end of ‘DIY’ abortions, arguing that since the practice began, “the evidence has only piled up more and more against it.” In light of the HSE’s admission, Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said it was shocking that the government is continuing to permit ‘DIY’ abortions: “The HSE are admitting that they are willingly putting women at greater risk, all for the sake of ease of accessibility to abortion”.
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Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues
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has been updated with expanded information on Human Dignity and critical
issues including: Abortion, Bioethics, Child Mortality, End of life issues,
Infanticide, Maternal mortality and Sex-selective abortion.
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