tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/pro-life-campaigners-11073/articlesPro-life campaigners – The Conversation2024-02-20T16:52:16Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2231372024-02-20T16:52:16Z2024-02-20T16:52:16ZThe Virgin Mary features heavily in anti-abortion activism – and many Catholics are worried<p>If you’ve ever come across an anti-abortion protest, particularly outside of a clinic, you may have been struck by the use of the Virgin Mary. Images of Mary and other religious signs and symbols are frequently used in anti-abortion activism in Britain, as in other countries*.</p>
<p>At one level this is understandable because, as <a href="https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/anti-abortion-activism-in-the-uk/?k=9781839093999">our research has shown</a>, anti-abortion activists in the UK are overwhelmingly highly religious, with most aligned with conservative forms of Catholicism and a smaller number of evangelicals. Yet the use of these images also reveals important information about the activists’ motivations and understandings, such as ideas about the nature of women. And many Catholics are concerned about the way their religion is being portrayed.</p>
<p>The Catholic image of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67690996">Our Lady of Guadalupe</a> appears on everything from clothing to jewellery to shopping bags. Our Lady of Guadalupe is a specific, Mexican variation of the Virgin Mary. She depicts Mary as pregnant and has been given the title of “the protectress of the unborn”. </p>
<p>Catholic activists we spoke to said that Mary was important in their campaign as someone who proceeded with an unplanned pregnancy. So Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good representation of their cause. </p>
<p>There was also a particular colonial understanding of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s role in converting Mexico to Christianity, linked to the activists’ ideas about child sacrifice. They mentioned how Our Lady of Guadalupe’s apparition was central to Christianity displacing the “pagan” Aztecs, who they believed <a href="https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/nearly-everything-you-were-taught-about-aztec-sacrifice-is-wrong">sacrificed children</a>. </p>
<p>One participant went as far as to say that Mary enabled Mexicans to convert to the “true religion”. This position is in line with the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/colonialism">colonial mentality</a> at the time, which <a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/98075/3/Pennock%20-%20Insights%20from%20the%20Ancient%20Word.pdf">exaggerated and distorted indigenous practices</a> to justify subjugating whole populations.</p>
<p>Activists we spoke to linked child sacrifice and abortion and believe these to be the same thing. For these activists, Our Lady of Guadalupe visually represents opposition to abortion and is therefore really significant to their campaign.</p>
<p>But despite the beliefs of anti-abortion activists, there is no singular meaning of Our Lady of Guadalupe. All religious interpretations are disputed, and images can be used for many different reasons. </p>
<p>Our Lady of Guadalupe is often used to represent Mexican identity. <a href="https://www.police1.com/gangs/articles/understanding-east-coast-mexican-gangs-part-2-PJzWfEWCxb7QP21r/">Mexican prisoners</a> are known to deploy her image in tattoos. And she has also been an <a href="https://qspirit.net/queer-lady-guadalupe/">icon for the queer community</a>. </p>
<p>In these instances, her connection to abortion is absent, and we think that this is a surprise to many of the anti-abortion activists who promote her image.</p>
<h2>Misuse of religious symbols</h2>
<p>British Catholics are often unhappy with the ways anti-abortion activists use Catholic imagery. The majority of British Catholics <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/most-uk-catholics-support-abortion-and-use-of-contraception-2083291.html">support abortion</a> in at least some circumstances. Only a minority follow the strict Vatican teaching which is against abortion in all circumstances, including rape. </p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/book/9783031546914">Our latest research</a> with Catholic parishioners reveals that they are particularly unhappy about anti-abortion activism at clinic sites. This is because they see this as harassment of service users and staff, as well as a public nuisance to the local people who live around abortion clinics. </p>
<p>Like most people in Britain, they think that “<a href="https://www.rcog.org.uk/media/iouempf3/fsrh-rcog-safe-access-zones-around-abortion-clinics-report.pdf">safe access zones</a>” are needed to prevent any form of abortion protest in the vicinity of clinics.</p>
<p>Some Catholic parishioners told us that anti-abortion activism at clinics involving prayer like the Rosary was a “misuse of prayer” and preyed on women who might be vulnerable. They are concerned about the overall image that this gave to Catholicism, especially when objects connected to Catholicism – such as rosary beads – are used. </p>
<p>Rather than following the teaching of the church – that abortion is always wrong – these Catholics felt individual conscience was key to abortion decisions. They also often emphasised the importance of recognising that reproductive decisions are made within the broader context of people’s lives. </p>
<p>Of those who were against abortion, many still did not think it was the right of anti-abortion activists to display their theological viewpoint outside of clinic sites. Instead, parishioners felt that people needed to determine what their moral stance on abortion was through their relationship with God.</p>
<p>Overall, rather than adopting a secular interpretation of abortion, Catholic parishioners used Catholic theology to interpret their perspective on abortion. This often led to a negative perception of anti-abortion activists.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-no-one-religious-view-on-abortion-a-scholar-of-religion-gender-and-sexuality-explains-184532">multiple Catholic viewpoints</a> on abortion mean that an image such as the Virgin Mary does not have the same meaning to all those who display and see it. Even the same images of the Virgin Mary can have many different, and contrasting, interpretations. </p>
<p>It is important to recognise that, while religiously motivated anti-abortion activists often dominate the abortion discourse, they represent only a small minority of viewpoints within the broader Christian church.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah-Jane Page has received funding from The British Academy for research related to abortion. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pam Lowe has received funding from The British Academy for research related to abortion. She is a member of Abortion Rights and has previoulsy undertaken a secondment at BPAS. </span></em></p>There is no singular meaning behind the Mary imagery used by anti-abortion activists.Sarah-Jane Page, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of NottinghamPam Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1878332022-08-11T12:13:24Z2022-08-11T12:13:24ZThere’s reason for people on opposing sides of abortion to talk, even if they disagree – it helps build respect, understanding and can lead to policy change<p>The Supreme Court’s <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/19-1392">decision to overturn</a> Roe v. Wade has split the country into joyous supporters and furious dissenters. Emotions are running high, and some protests have <a href="https://time.com/6194085/abortion-protests-guns-violence-extremists/">turned violent</a>. Yet research shows that people on either side of the abortion rights issue can bridge their divide if they speak directly and respectfully with one another.</p>
<p>In July 2022, former leaders of prominent abortion-rights and anti-abortion advocacy organizations in Massachusetts gathered to discuss a new <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/Daily/2022/20220801/Lessons-of-Boston-s-secret-abortion-talks-Understanding-vs.-agreement">documentary film series</a> <a href="https://www.intergroupresources.com/rc/Fostering%20Dialogue%20Across%20Divides.pdf">about</a> <a href="https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/57e552041c882348567f1676/593c1ebf230b5002a4a2179b_1.1.%20Talking%20with%20the%20Enemy%2C%20Boston%20Globe.pdf">conversations they had regularly</a> from 1995 to 2001. The warm friendships that they developed across their deep differences on abortion persist today, decades after their first meeting.</p>
<p>Nicki Gamble, the former president and CEO of <a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-massachusetts">Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts</a>, said during the panel that the opportunity to engage with anti-abortion activists “changed my life.” </p>
<p>Others agreed.</p>
<p>“The facilitators made us really listen,” said Madeline McComish, former president of <a href="https://www.masscitizensforlife.org/">Massachusetts Citizens for Life</a>. “Most of the time the pro-choice women had said something different than what we thought.”</p>
<p>My <a href="https://odc.aom.org/HigherLogic/System/DownloadDocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=7690fa68-7776-e2e1-5162-c52758d7d2fb&forceDialog=1">research</a> on talks between abortion-rights and anti-abortion advocates found that respectful conversation produces numerous positive outcomes. It helps people listen more deeply and forge personal connections, which can reduce negative stereotypes and foster respect and empathy. In Boston, this translated to a lessening of inflammatory public language.</p>
<p>It can also lead people on opposite sides of an issue to evolve their views and develop more nuanced, complex perspectives. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Men dressed as police officers and investigators stand outside a generic looking brick building, blocked off with yellow police tape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Police block off a Massachusetts abortion clinic where two people were killed in 1994.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/proabortion-demonstration-after-a-christian-fundamentalist-killed-two-picture-id525610370?s=2048x2048">Brooks Kraft/Contributor</a></span>
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<h2>De-escalating violence</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://whatisessential.org/impact-stories/abortion-dialogues-greater-boston">Abortion Dialogues</a>, as they are known, were launched in Boston in response to <a href="https://time.com/3648437/john-salvi-shootings/">lethal shootings</a> in 1994 by an anti-abortion rights gunman at two local abortion clinics. </p>
<p>At <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2022/05/17/photos-1990s-abortion-show-how-present-is-like-past/">that time</a>, the country was deeply polarized about abortion, rocked by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/us/anti-abortion-violence">violent protests</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/29/us/30abortion-clinic-violence.html">murders</a> of prominent doctors who provided abortions. </p>
<p>Six women activists for and against abortion rights started confidential talks in Boston in 1995, hoping to de-escalate the violence.</p>
<p>They soon discovered that their moral worldviews presented two irreconcilable philosophies about how to live in the world. </p>
<p>The three participants on the “pro-life,” side, as they chose to call themselves, are all observant Catholics from Boston. They made life choices based on a worldview that there is one truth, guided by their faith, about moral rights and wrongs. </p>
<p>In contrast, the women on the “pro-choice” side, as they referred to themselves, said that they recognized a diversity of personal beliefs and weighed many circumstances in making life choices. </p>
<p>“The pro-choice side does not believe there are moral absolutes,” explained one “pro-life” leader who participated in the talks in a confidential research interview in 2008. “The pro-life participants would force others to conduct their lives according to the ‘one’ truth that they believe,” countered a “pro-choice” activist who also engaged in the talks. </p>
<p>Despite this irreconcilable difference, the participants valued their conversations. They enjoyed talking with people with whom they had formerly sparred via news interviews. </p>
<p>Gradually, each side’s negative stereotypes were replaced by greater understanding and respect for their opponents. They also discovered that they enjoyed each other’s company. They grew to be friends, celebrated birthdays together and shared the ups and downs of their lives. </p>
<p>Rehumanizing the fight led to their hoped-for public outcome – the participants toned down their name calling, spoke up loudly for nonviolent means of change and instructed their organizations to treat the people on the other side with respect.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blue lit room shows five middle aged and older women sitting at the front of an auditorium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Boston women who are former leaders of abortion-rights and anti-abortion organizations spoke together in July 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kate W. Isaacs</span></span>
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<h2>Truth statements and policy</h2>
<p>The Boston leaders didn’t try to agree on policy, but in June 2022, a different, small group of 22 residents in Jessamine Country, Kentucky, interested in abortion rights succeeded in doing just that. </p>
<p>They used a guide for how to structure conversations produced by the nonprofit <a href="https://braverangels.org/">Braver Angels</a>, an organization I volunteer with, that sets out how to find common ground among those <a href="https://braverangels.org/what-we-do/common-ground/#:%7E:text=What%20is%20the%20Braver%20Angels,change%2C%20electoral%20reform%20or%20abortion.">with opposing viewpoints</a>. Their aim: create agreements <a href="https://braverangels.org/if-we-could-get-past-this-issue-we-could-talk-about-almost-anything-heres-how-the-jessamine-county-alliance-dove-into-a-heated-debate/">about abortion</a> between conservatives and liberals. </p>
<p>One key to the group’s success was a selection of background readings by abortion-rights and anti-abortion authors that established a shared set of facts about abortion. For instance, there is a strong link between abortion and poverty, in that <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states">3 out of 4 women</a> seeking abortions are poor or low-income.</p>
<p>The Kentucky abortion conversation also focused on a goal everyone could support – reducing unwanted pregnancies and, consequently, abortions. The result was <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/137HNquSyyod7k2PJbWjGEmLLNvGS2ApC/edit">unanimous agreement</a> on two concrete policy recommendations: better, age-appropriate sex education in Kentucky schools, and long-acting reversible contraception that is free of charge for Kentucky residents, modeled after the Colorado <a href="http://www.larc4co.com">contraception program</a>, which reduced abortion rates by 60% and birth rates by 59% among teenagers aged 15-19 from 2009 to 2014.</p>
<p>The participants are now working to communicate their recommendations to state legislators, local pastors, the local health department and the news media.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman holds a toddler girl in a pink snowsuit and appears to talk in a heated manner with a middle aged woman wearing glasses and a black jacket." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An abortion rights activist argues with an anti-abortion advocate at a 1992 rally in Washington.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/prochoice-advocate-michelle-redstockings-holds-her-three-year-old-picture-id1231303438?s=2048x2048">Hai Do/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beyond these cases</h2>
<p>The empathetic dialogue strategies used in Massachusetts and Kentucky may work in the longer term to reduce polarization in other places, too, and build greater consensus on future policy.</p>
<p>Ireland, for example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/26/ireland-votes-by-landslide-to-legalise-abortion">voted in 2018</a> to roll back the country’s restrictive abortion law, replacing it with a new constitutional amendment that permits abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and later if a woman’s life or health is at risk or the fetus has an abnormality.</p>
<p>Just as the Kentucky group did with their shared readings before they met, <a href="https://www.irishamerica.com/2022/06/abortion-legal-ireland/">Ireland undertook</a> joint fact-finding before the amendment vote, via a 100-person constitutional convention. When it came time to vote, empathetic story sharing played a key role. Nearly <a href="https://www.irishamerica.com/2022/06/abortion-legal-ireland/">40% of those</a> who voted to remove the abortion prohibition said their vote had been influenced by hearing from a woman about her experience. </p>
<p>These same lessons could apply to abortion in the U.S.</p>
<p>John Wood Jr., chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, called for the same respectful type of conversation <a href="https://braverangels.org/a-hopeful-argument-for-choice-a-tearful-tale-in-favor-of-life/">in a story he told in July 2022 about</a> his long-ago teenage girlfriend’s abortion. </p>
<p>“I cannot hate my fellow Americans who have dedicated their lives to either side of this issue,” he wrote. “There is deep humanity on each side of this divide.”</p>
<p>The groups in Massachusetts and Kentucky show that dialogue works. They built personal connections that crossed their respective ideologies, showed respect for different opinions and pushed for change that they could all support.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate W. Isaacs is affiliated with Braver Angels as a volunteer facilitator. </span></em></p>When ideological enemies talk across their great divides, something good can happen – it reduces stereotypes and inflammatory language directed at people who don’t agree on the abortion rights issue.Kate W. Isaacs, Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1672412021-09-07T12:53:44Z2021-09-07T12:53:44ZWhen does life begin? There’s more than one religious view<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419172/original/file-20210902-27-p91yt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=99%2C0%2C5866%2C4010&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People protest in Texas after the governor signed a bill to outlaw abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-march-toward-the-governors-mansion-at-a-protest-news-photo/1233171885?adppopup=true">Sergio Flores/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The most restrictive abortion law in the country went into effect on Sept. 1, 2021, after the U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21053670-whole-womans-health-v-jackson">voted 5-4</a> to deny an emergency appeal. In Texas, abortions are now illegal as early as six weeks into a pregnancy — before many women and girls know they are pregnant.</p>
<p>To date, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-laws-government-and-politics-health-77c9ba98c4f4ab46fdbd5bcc47b5b938">13 other states</a> have passed laws establishing this six-week limit, but they face court challenges for state interference in women’s constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/18/texas-heartbeat-bill-abortions-law/">Texas got around that problem</a> by forbidding state officials from enforcing it. Instead, the state authorized private citizens to sue anyone who helps these women — family members, rape crisis counselors, medical professionals — and promises at least US$10,000 plus attorneys’ fees if they win. Opponents have dubbed it the <a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/planned-parenthood-seeks-immediate-restraining-order-against-texas-right-to-life">“sue thy neighbor”</a> law.</p>
<p>These so-called heartbeat bills outlaw abortion after an embryo’s cardiac activity can be detected – generally around six weeks – although <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/05/abortion-doctors-fetal-heartbeat-bills-language-misleading">many doctors</a> argue that <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/the-fetal-heartbeat-that-can-be-detected-at-6-weeks-isn-t-quite-what-we-think">the idea of a heartbeat</a> at this stage is misleading since the embryo does not yet have a developed heart.</p>
<p>In addition, these laws generally refer to the fetus as an “<a href="https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/bills/1.htm">unborn human individual</a>.” These are strategic choices designed to muster support for the idea of <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-personhood-movement-timeline">fetal personhood</a>, but they also reveal assumptions about human life beginning at conception that are based on particular Christian teachings.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/in-texas-reproductive-freedom-congregations-catch-on-as-new-abortion-law-looms/2021/08/25/851b2a78-05fb-11ec-b3c4-c462b1edcfc8_story.html">Not all Christians agree</a>, and <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/04/when-does-life-begin-outside-the-christian-right-the-answer-is-over-time.html">diverse religious traditions</a> have a great deal to say about this question that gets lost in the polarized “pro-life” or “pro-choice” debate. As an advocate of reproductive justice, I have taken a side. Yet as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9KgEkVUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar of Jewish Studies</a>, I appreciate how rabbinic sources grapple with the complexity of the issue and offer <a href="https://forward.com/life/faith/406465/what-youre-getting-wrong-about-abortion-and-judaism/">multiple perspectives</a>. </p>
<h2>What Jewish texts say</h2>
<p>Traditional Jewish practice is based on careful reading of biblical and rabbinic teachings. The process yields <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Halakha">“halakha,”</a> generally translated as “Jewish law” but deriving from the Hebrew root for walking a path. </p>
<p>Even though many Jews do not feel bound by halakha, the value it attaches to ongoing study and reasoned argument fundamentally shapes Jewish thought. </p>
<p>The majority of foundational Jewish texts assert that a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xh9vy_dvO6YC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=absence%20of%20the%20%22full%20person%22%20status&f=false">fetus does not attain the status of personhood until birth</a>.</p>
<p>Although the Hebrew Bible does not mention abortion, it does talk about miscarriage in Exodus <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/rsv/exodus/21.html">21:22-25</a>. It imagines the case of men fighting, injuring a pregnant woman in the process. If she miscarries but suffers no additional injury, the penalty is a fine. </p>
<p>Since the death of a person would be murder or manslaughter, and carry a different penalty, most rabbinic sources deduce from these verses that a fetus has a different status. </p>
<p>An early, authoritative rabbinic work, the Mishnah, discusses the question of a <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Oholot.7.6?lang=bi">woman in distress during labor</a>. If her life is at risk, the fetus must be destroyed to save her. Once its head starts to emerge from the birth canal, however, it becomes a human life, or “<em>nefesh</em>.” At that point, according to Jewish law, one must try to save both mother and child. It prohibits setting aside one life for the sake of another.</p>
<p>Although this passage reinforces the idea that a fetus is not yet a human life, <a href="http://traditionarchive.org/news/originals/Volume%2010/No.%202/Abortion%20in%20Halakhic.pdf">some Orthodox authorities</a> allow abortion only when the mother’s life is at risk. </p>
<p>Other Jewish scholars point to a different Mishnah passage that imagines a case of a pregnant woman <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Arakhin.1.4?lang=bi">sentenced to death</a>. The execution would not be delayed unless she has already gone into labor.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275207/original/file-20190517-69204-193eh8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275207/original/file-20190517-69204-193eh8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275207/original/file-20190517-69204-193eh8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275207/original/file-20190517-69204-193eh8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275207/original/file-20190517-69204-193eh8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275207/original/file-20190517-69204-193eh8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275207/original/file-20190517-69204-193eh8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Traditional Jewish practice, or halakha, is based on careful reading of biblical and rabbinic teachings, like the Talmud.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Talmud_Set.png">User:Magister Scienta</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>In the <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Talmud">Talmud</a>, an extensive collection of teachings building on the Mishnah, the rabbis suggest that the ruling is obvious because the fetus is <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Arakhin.7a?lang=bi">part of her body</a>. It also records an opinion that the fetus should be aborted before the sentence is carried out so that the woman does <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Birth_Control_in_Jewish_Law/ZWQ0iIOUnaUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=precedent-narrative">not suffer further shame</a> – establishing the needs of the woman as a factor in considering abortion.</p>
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<h2>Making space for divergent opinions</h2>
<p>These teachings represent only a small fraction of Jewish interpretations. To discover “what Judaism says” about abortion, the standard approach is to <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/58044.26?lang=bi">study a variety of contrasting texts</a> that explore diverse perspectives.</p>
<p>Over the centuries, rabbis have addressed cases related to potentially deformed fetuses, pregnancy as the result of rape or adultery, and other heart-wrenching decisions that women and families have faced. </p>
<p>In contemporary Jewish debate there are <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rIhh_Rx7utwC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=%22The+murder+of+an+unborn+child+is+classified+as+a+crime%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=GDVR3Ndm4V&sig=HIMz-n5TMbuAfO-joplDqYphCwc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk5aCm5YDcAhVkrlkKHU7yAy0Q6AEIKTAA">stringent opinions</a> adopting the attitude that abortion is homicide – thus permissible only to save the mother’s life. And there are <a href="http://rcrc.org/jewish/">lenient interpretations</a> broadly expanding justifications based on a women’s well-being.</p>
<p>Yet the former usually cite contrary opinions, or even refer a questioner to inquire elsewhere. The latter still emphasize Judaism’s profound reverence for life.</p>
<p>According to a 2017 Pew survey, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/22/american-religious-groups-vary-widely-in-their-views-of-abortion/">83% of American Jews</a> believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/abortion-in-jewish-thought/">All the non-Orthodox movements</a> have statements supporting reproductive rights, and even <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/abortion-in-jewish-thought/">ultra-Orthodox leaders</a> have resisted anti-abortion measures that do not allow religious exceptions. </p>
<p>This broad support, I argue, reveals the <a href="https://forward.com/opinion/393168/why-are-jews-so-pro-choice/">Jewish commitment to the separation of religion and state</a> in the U.S., and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0748081400001387">reluctance to legislate</a> moral questions for everyone when there is much room for debate.</p>
<p>There is more than one religious view on abortion.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-more-than-one-religious-view-on-abortion-heres-what-jewish-texts-say-116941">an article</a> originally published on May 19, 2019.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Mikva has contributed to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Planned Parenthood.</span></em></p>‘Heartbeat’ abortion laws like the one enacted in Texas are often based on particular Christian views, but there are many religious perspectives on abortion. What do Jewish texts say?Rachel Mikva, Professor of Jewish Studies, Interim Academic Dean and Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Chicago Theological SeminaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1425302020-07-16T18:45:28Z2020-07-16T18:45:28ZPro-choice movement’s big win at Supreme Court might really have been a loss<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347355/original/file-20200714-139969-1fxrjzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C5174%2C3465&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anti-abortion demonstrators pray outside the Supreme Court building on July 8, 2020, while they wait for a ruling.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/anti-abortion-demonstrators-pray-in-front-of-the-u-s-news-photo/1255027472">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Supreme Court handed down its ruling <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2019/18-1323#!">striking down a Louisiana law</a> that would have limited abortion access in that state, progressives celebrated. Their reasoning on June 29 was simple: By joining the court’s liberal justices, Chief Justice John Roberts had proven his commitment to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/how-supreme-court-could-overturn-roe/2020/07/01/51fe4a2c-bb1e-11ea-80b9-40ece9a701dc_story.html">principle of precedent</a>.</p>
<p>But the court had also sent several cases – all big wins for abortion rights – back to lower courts for <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/07/justices-grant-new-cases-send-indiana-abortion-cases-back-for-a-new-look/">reconsideration</a>.</p>
<p>Those moves, and a closer look at <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2019/18-1323#!">the decision in the Louisiana case</a>, called June Medical v. Russo, made it far less clear who won. In my recent book “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108653138">Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present</a>,” I explore the history of the incremental attack on abortion that June Medical has supercharged. People who object to the <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/70-18">landmark 1973 Roe ruling</a> legalizing abortion have long planned to deal the decision a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/opinion/brett-kavanaugh-abortion-rights-roe-casey.html">death of a thousand cuts</a>, and June Medical makes that much easier. </p>
<h2>What comes next</h2>
<p>There is no shortage of abortion cases that might well land at the Supreme Court next – at least 16 are already in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/us/june-medical-supreme-court.html">pipeline</a>. Let’s start with the ones that the court just sent back for reconsideration. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals now has to take a second look at its decisions striking down two restrictions in Indiana.</p>
<p>One required abortion providers to show a pregnant woman her ultrasound, let her listen to her fetus’s heartbeat and then wait 18 hours before having an abortion – unless the <a href="https://codes.findlaw.com/in/title-16-health/in-code-sect-16-34-2-1-1.html">patient</a> <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/399036-federal-court-upholds-ruling-that-blocks-indiana-ultrasound-abortion-law">refused in writing</a>.</p>
<p>The second state law beefed up the restrictions that applied to minors, requiring a judge to notify a young woman’s parents even when a court had already found that abortion would be in her best interests – or that she was mature enough to make <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/health/2019/08/28/parental-consent-abortions-minors-ruled-unconstitutional-indiana-law-planned-parenthood-aclu/2139648001/">her own decision</a>.</p>
<p>Telling the lower court to look again at the case and reach a better result usually means the court was wrong – signaling that the <a href="http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2020/07/scotus-abortion-gvrs-suggest-june.html">regulations are likely constitutional</a>. It also indicates that Chief Justice Roberts actually relaxed the rules governing abortion restrictions and just made it much easier for states to pass them. But the Indiana cases are not the only ones likely to land at the Supreme Court.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347357/original/file-20200714-54-6glzgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347357/original/file-20200714-54-6glzgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347357/original/file-20200714-54-6glzgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347357/original/file-20200714-54-6glzgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347357/original/file-20200714-54-6glzgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347357/original/file-20200714-54-6glzgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347357/original/file-20200714-54-6glzgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347357/original/file-20200714-54-6glzgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A 1992 protest on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. called for the Supreme Court to preserve women’s right to get an abortion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/elevated-view-of-attendees-at-the-march-for-womens-lives-news-photo/640033280">Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>The aftermath of June Medical</h2>
<p>Since the court’s 1992 ruling in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1991/91-744">Planned Parenthood v. Casey</a>, the ultimate question in abortion cases is whether any particular law unduly burdens a woman’s right to abortion. </p>
<p>Before this most recent decision in June Medical, courts answering that question had to <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/579/15-274/#tab-opinion-3590956">balance the costs and benefits of abortion restrictions</a>. That meant that useless laws often failed challenges in court. In 2016, for example, the court <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/15-274">struck down a law</a> requiring abortion clinics to meet the standards set for ambulatory surgical centers. </p>
<p>A Supreme Court majority saw no point to the law. After all, many early abortions required a woman to take pills, not have surgery. And even when a woman did suffer complications after an abortion, that usually happened much later, and well after she had left a clinic. The decision told legislators who wanted to restrict abortion they needed to prove that their laws served a useful purpose.</p>
<p>Roberts changed all that in June Medical. Now, the court will no longer consider whether a law has any benefit. And Roberts seems to have a very different – and much narrower – idea about what a burden is. </p>
<p>That may well mean that it will be harder for women to prove that an abortion restriction – rather than some other force – caused an abortion clinic to close and thereby caused an undue burden. It may mean that the court no longer cares if a woman has to travel hundreds of miles or leave the state to get an abortion, or if she receives a lower quality of care as the result of an existing law. Roberts has seemed skeptical that these burdens cross the line. As the court’s new <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/us/john-roberts-supreme-court.html">swing justice</a>, his opinion on the matter will be the one that counts.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347359/original/file-20200714-139820-18r1y6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347359/original/file-20200714-139820-18r1y6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347359/original/file-20200714-139820-18r1y6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347359/original/file-20200714-139820-18r1y6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347359/original/file-20200714-139820-18r1y6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347359/original/file-20200714-139820-18r1y6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347359/original/file-20200714-139820-18r1y6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347359/original/file-20200714-139820-18r1y6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The debate about abortion rights is both national and individual, as seen here in Jackson, Mississippi, on March 25, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Mississippi-Abortion/0836f0e902b544df887cce0a28a91769/9/0">AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis</a></span>
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<h2>Alternative anti-abortion strategies</h2>
<p>Several other restrictions bear watching. Seventeen states ban abortions after 20 weeks, based on the hotly contested theory that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/health/complex-science-at-issue-in-politics-of-fetal-pain.html">fetal pain becomes possible at that point in pregnancy</a>. Others outlaw dilation and evacuation, <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2017/02/de-abortion-bans-implications-banning-most-common-second-trimester-procedure">the most common procedure after the first trimester</a>. Both types of laws build on abortion foes’ last major win, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/05-380.ZS.html">Gonzales v. Carhart</a>, a 2007 decision upholding a federal ban on dilation and extraction, a specific technique that Congress called partial-birth abortion.</p>
<p>In Gonzales, the court claimed that whenever there was scientific uncertainty, lawmakers had more freedom to maneuver. Now, abortion foes use scientific uncertainty to justify much broader restrictions. That leeway could give Roberts the kind of cover he needs to chip away at abortion rights. Rather than ignoring precedent, the court could claim to extend it, all while continuing down a path to eliminating Roe.</p>
<p>Recently, states have bet on laws that bring together abortion politics and explosive questions about racial justice. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/mississippi-bans-abortion-based-race-sex-genetic-issues-71569004">Mississippi</a> and <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/19/tennessee-six-week-abortion-ban-fetal-heartbeat-down-syndrome/3214947001/">Tennessee</a> became the latest states to ban abortions based on the fetus’s race, sex or disability. The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2018/18-483">dodged considering the legality of one</a> of these laws, allowing the issue to percolate longer in the lower courts.</p>
<h2>Overturning Roe?</h2>
<p>It’s still possible that the court would uphold a far more sweeping ban. Last year, after President Donald Trump seemed to have created a conservative Supreme Court majority, states rushed to pass laws outlawing abortion <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/abortion-laws-states.html">at the sixth week of pregnancy</a>, when a doctor could detect fetal cardiac activity. </p>
<p>To uphold such a law, the court would have to overturn Roe and Casey, which both prohibit any abortion ban before viability. But red state lawmakers want to force the court to reconsider Roe. Roberts declined to overturn either one in June Medical, but he stressed that no one had asked <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/john-roberts-abortion-june-medical.html">him to</a>. He might be game if the question comes up directly. And I believe it’s only a matter of time until someone makes a specific request.</p>
<p>June Medical doesn’t look to me like a win for abortion rights. The fate of Roe is more uncertain than ever. In my view, the threats to abortion have hardly diminished, and John Roberts, the deciding vote in June Medical, may well be the one to carry them out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Ziegler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People who object to the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion have fought it for years. A recent Supreme Court decision makes the fight much easier.Mary Ziegler, Stearns Weaver Miller Professor, College of Law, Florida State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1260892019-12-15T15:27:54Z2019-12-15T15:27:54ZEven without Scheer, the right-wing values of the Conservatives run deep<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306930/original/file-20191214-85367-198yi4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C62%2C3825%2C1946&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Andrew Scheer rises to announce he's stepping down as Conservative leader in the House of Commons in Ottawa. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Andrew Scheer’s <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6288286/andrew-scheer-resignation/">resignation</a> as leader of the Conservatives came after months of avid speculation and mounting frustration on the part of those both inside and outside his party.</p>
<p>Scheer’s critics cite a variety of reasons for why he was unable to beat Justin Trudeau in the last election, such as his lack of transparency about his <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/10/03/conservative-leader-andrew-scheer-acknowledges-holding-us-citizenship.html">dual citizenship</a> and his allegedly false claims about working as an <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/election-2019/scheer-accused-of-breaking-law-falsely-claiming-he-was-once-an-insurance-broker">insurance broker</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306933/original/file-20191214-85381-f8anc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306933/original/file-20191214-85381-f8anc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306933/original/file-20191214-85381-f8anc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306933/original/file-20191214-85381-f8anc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306933/original/file-20191214-85381-f8anc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306933/original/file-20191214-85381-f8anc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306933/original/file-20191214-85381-f8anc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306933/original/file-20191214-85381-f8anc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">MacKay is seen in the House of Commons in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand</span></span>
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<p>But the reason critics cite most often is Scheer’s social conservatism which, as former Conservative cabinet minister Peter MacKay put it, hung around his neck like a “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mackay-scheer-conservative-leadership-1.5341633">stinking albatross</a>.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-andrew-scheers-days-are-numbered/">Media commentators</a> have suggested that if the Conservatives hope to win the next election, they must elect a leader who is capable of communicating a more convincingly centrist position on issues such as abortion and LGBTQ rights.</p>
<p>The commentators may well be correct, but their often exclusive focus on Scheer’s <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-scheer-argues-its-possible-to-be-prime-minister-while-holding/">political beliefs</a> — rather than on those of his newly elected caucus members — gives the impression that the party’s problem with social conservatism begins and ends with him.</p>
<p>Focusing exclusively on Scheer’s beliefs may lead some to conclude that all the Conservatives need to do to solve their problem is replace him with someone whose beliefs are more in line with <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-conservatives-cant-be-stuck-in-the-past-on-lgbtq-rights/">current social realities</a>. The facts, however, suggest otherwise.</p>
<h2>Social conservatism runs deep in party</h2>
<p>A careful inspection of the current Conservative caucus reveals that the party’s radical right-wing values run deep.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://pressprogress.ca/more-than-half-of-andrew-scheers-elected-conservative-mps-were-supported-by-anti-abortion-groups/">Campaign Life Coalition</a> — Canada’s biggest anti-abortion group — says that 46 out of the 121-member caucus is pro-life, which amounts to almost 40 per cent of the party’s sitting MPs.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.itstartsrightnow.ca/one_step_backwards_two_steps_forward">RightNow</a>, another anti-abortion group, goes further. It contends that 68 members of the Conservative caucus are pro-life, which works out to 56 per cent of those who recently took office.</p>
<p>RightNow’s <a href="https://www.itstartsrightnow.ca/one_step_backwards_two_steps_forward">post-election analysis</a> was emphatic: “The House of Commons is now more pro-life than before, the Conservative Party of Canada caucus is more pro-life than before, and some of the staunchest pro-abortion Conservative female (MPs) have been replaced by younger, more diverse, pro-life Conservative female (MPs).”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306932/original/file-20191214-85422-gqfrov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306932/original/file-20191214-85422-gqfrov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306932/original/file-20191214-85422-gqfrov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306932/original/file-20191214-85422-gqfrov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306932/original/file-20191214-85422-gqfrov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306932/original/file-20191214-85422-gqfrov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306932/original/file-20191214-85422-gqfrov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Anti-abortion activists march on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in May 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The anti-abortion beliefs of Conservative caucus members matter for reasons that go beyond reproductive rights. A recent <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/1646-supermajority-poll/de3b20e681bb995f3174/optimized/full.pdf">nationwide survey</a> in the United States found that “anti-abortion voters are among the most likely — if not the most likely — segment to hold inegalitarian views.”</p>
<p>In other words, those who agree that abortion should be illegal are less likely to be egalitarian — particularly when it comes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/22/a-new-poll-shows-what-really-interests-pro-lifers-controlling-women">to gender</a> — than those who agree that it should be legal.</p>
<h2>Anti-abortion vs pro-choice voters</h2>
<p>Anti-abortion voters tend to differ from pro-choice voters when it comes to their views on the <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/1646-supermajority-poll/de3b20e681bb995f3174/optimized/full.pdf">status of women</a>, according to the survey. </p>
<p>Only 23 per cent of anti-abortion voters believe that the lack of women in office affects women’s equality, compared with 70 per cent of pro-choice voters. Only 27 per cent of those who oppose abortion think access to birth control affects women’s equality, compared with 74 per cent of those who support abortion. And only 19 per cent of anti-abortion voters feel that society is systemically set up to give men more opportunities than women, compared with 66 per cent of pro-choice voters.</p>
<p>Anti-abortion voters also tend to differ from pro-choice voters when it comes to their views on <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/1646-supermajority-poll/de3b20e681bb995f3174/optimized/full.pdf">how women think and act</a>. Seventy-seven per cent of anti-abortion voters agree that women are too easily offended, compared with 38 per cent of pro-choice voters. Seventy-one per cent of voters who oppose abortion think that most women interpret innocent acts as being sexist, compared with 38 per cent of voters who support abortion rights. And 54 per cent of voters against abortion agree that men generally make better leaders than women, compared with 24 per cent of pro-choice voters.</p>
<p>What do these statistics say in the context of the Conservative Party of Canada?</p>
<h2>Anti-abortion views = inegalitarian views</h2>
<p>Given that being against abortion tends to be strongly associated with being inegalitarian, the significant number of anti-abortion MPs in the Conservative caucus should be cause for concern.</p>
<p>It should also indicate that the Conservative Party’s problem with its radical right wing will not be solved solely by electing a new leader.</p>
<p>The problem is at the very centre of the party, not its margins, and will not be solved over the course of one election cycle alone. An entirely new approach is required, one that must champion social justice for all and take aggressive action on climate change.</p>
<p>Neither of these things will be possible unless the party makes fundamental changes to how it conceives of itself, its members and its political operatives.</p>
<h2>Scheer not out of step with his party</h2>
<p>On both federal and provincial levels, Canada’s Conservatives seem unlikely to make these changes any time soon. Regardless of who replaces Scheer, the most public faces of conservatism in the country are unambiguously aligned with the radical right.</p>
<p>In Ontario, Doug Ford has made headlines for being photographed with far-right activist <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2018/09/24/whats-wrong-with-this-picture.html">Faith Goldy</a> as well as for his rollback of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/doug-fords-reboot-of-sex-education-in-ontario-same-as-it-ever-was-122299">sex ed curriculum</a>, his ongoing association with evangelical leader <a href="https://ipolitics.ca/2018/07/13/controversial-evangelical-leader-in-lock-step-with-ford-on-sex-ed-changes/">Charles McVety</a> and his private meetings with controversial public speaker <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/doug-ford-jordan-peterson-meeting-appointment-1.4992909">Jordan Peterson</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306931/original/file-20191214-85391-p5pyjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306931/original/file-20191214-85391-p5pyjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306931/original/file-20191214-85391-p5pyjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306931/original/file-20191214-85391-p5pyjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306931/original/file-20191214-85391-p5pyjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306931/original/file-20191214-85391-p5pyjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306931/original/file-20191214-85391-p5pyjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306931/original/file-20191214-85391-p5pyjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kenney speaks with reporters in following a speech in Ottawa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In Alberta, Jason Kenney has promised to remove “<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-sorry-jason-kenney-education-is-always-political/">political agendas</a>” from social studies through his party’s curriculum review, has been praised by groups with social conservative values for his “<a href="https://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/voting-records/view/mp/province/id/155/name/jason-kenney/">100 per cent voting record</a> on pro-life and pro-family issues” and has invested $30 million in an <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/jason-kenney-war-room-calgary-1.5167205">energy war room</a> aimed at undermining opponents of the oil industry.</p>
<p>While he may have lacked the strategic ability to keep his views from causing him problems on the campaign trail, Scheer’s beliefs are not out of step with those of the party he represents. So if the party wants to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/andrew-scheer-conservative-2019-election-1.5348891">shed the social conservatism label</a>, it has to do more than just replace him. It has to completely transform itself.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126089/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc Lafrance does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Conservative party’s problems with social conservatism will not be solved solely by electing a new leader. An entirely new approach is required.Marc Lafrance, Associate Professor of Sociology, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1219742019-08-21T19:54:13Z2019-08-21T19:54:13ZHow the US right-to-life movement is influencing the abortion debate in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288832/original/file-20190821-170918-168octv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The recent decriminalisation debates in Australia have included a new focus on partial restrictions on abortions – a strategy that has been very successful in many US states.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Carrett/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the abortion decriminalisation bill <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/aug/20/nsw-abortion-bill-delayed-until-september-amid-liberal-division">gradually</a> makes its way through the NSW parliament, opponents have been increasingly drawing on their long relationship with the right-to-life movement in the United States to lobby against the measure and try to push for more restrictive amendments. </p>
<p>This has been a trend in the anti-abortion movement in Australia for a while now. Activists have adopted some of the most successful elements of the US movement’s rhetoric and tactics in recent years in an effort to influence the debate in Australia.</p>
<p>The Australian public is strongly pro-choice. In a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1753-6405.12825">2018 survey</a> of NSW residents, 73% supported full decriminalisation of abortion. A <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/polling-shows-overwhelming-support-for-a-womans-right-to-choose-20150926-gjvfyu.html">2015 poll</a>, also conducted in NSW, indicated that 87% believe a woman should be able to have an abortion, with only 6% opposing abortion in all circumstances. </p>
<p>The Australian right-to-life movement is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1440783309335646">tiny</a> compared to the US, but their views have an outsized place in the abortion debate because of their vocal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10361146.2011.595387?src=recsys">political</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/04/nsw-abortion-law-reform-united-church-breaks-religious-ranks-to-back-decriminalisation">religious</a> allies. </p>
<p>Less understood is their successful borrowing from the examples and experiences of international right-to-life movements, particularly in the US. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288839/original/file-20190821-170906-17v4jd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288839/original/file-20190821-170906-17v4jd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288839/original/file-20190821-170906-17v4jd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288839/original/file-20190821-170906-17v4jd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288839/original/file-20190821-170906-17v4jd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288839/original/file-20190821-170906-17v4jd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288839/original/file-20190821-170906-17v4jd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anti-abortion activists protesting a bill to decriminalise the procedure in Queensland last year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peled/AAP</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Adopting rhetoric and lobbying techniques</h2>
<p>American abortion opponents have long positioned themselves as leaders in a global cause. They pursue both a national and international agenda, seeking to sharply limit access to abortion around the world, with the ultimate aim of banning the procedure. </p>
<p>At an international level, they advance this goal via measures such as the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-global-gag-rule-will-cause-more-abortions-not-fewer-71881">global gag rule</a>”, which prohibits international NGOs that receive American aid from providing advice, counselling, or information about abortion. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-why-there-should-be-no-gestational-limits-for-abortion-121500">Here's why there should be no gestational limits for abortion</a>
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<p>Australia is a part of this transnational network. Protest groups that target local abortion clinics, such as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/abortion-article/9035338">Helpers of God’s Precious Infants</a> and <a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/2019/05/31/adelaide-abortion-clinic-calls-for-safe-access-from-protesters/">40 Days for Life</a>, are chapters of US organisations. And for decades, even groups without direct ties to the US have hosted prominent American <a href="https://prolifeaction.org/joe/">opponents</a> of <a href="https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1153&context=theses">abortion</a>, seeking to learn from their example. </p>
<p>In 2015, Right to Life Australia made the controversial choice to invite prominent anti-abortion activist Troy Newman of Operation Rescue for a national lecture tour. He ultimately <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-01/troy-newman-detained-after-flying-to-melbourne/6819410">had his visa cancelled and was deported</a>, in part because his writings have questioned why abortion doctors are not executed. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"649859702960947201"}"></div></p>
<p>There have been some efforts to foster the polarised and divisive US style of abortion politics here, too. Religious historian Marion Maddox says that under Prime Minister John Howard, <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/academic-professional/politics-government/God-Under-Howard-Marion-Maddox-9781741145687">conservative politicians</a> tried to import the “family values” rhetoric and policies of the US Republican Party on issues like abortion and gay rights. </p>
<p>As decriminalisation efforts have progressed in Australia, these overseas connections have become quite explicit. </p>
<p>After South Australia Greens MP Tammy Franks <a href="http://hansardpublic.parliament.sa.gov.au/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-10-25583">introduced a decriminalisation bill</a> in that state’s Legislative Council last year, her staffers received verbally abusive phone calls and threats of rape from Canadian abortion opponents. According to her staff, all members of the Legislative Council were then spammed with over 4,000 right-to-life emails, which they suspected came from the US.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, <a href="https://thesoutherncross.org.au/news/2019/04/10/timely-visit-by-pro-lifers/">anti-abortion activists from the US</a>, including the chair of 40 Days for Life, also brought their lobbying efforts directly to Adelaide. They met with several MPs to discuss ways they might assist in the fight against a bill to fully decriminalise abortion in the state.</p>
<h2>Late termination of pregnancies</h2>
<p>The current decriminalisation debates in Australia have included a new focus on specific measures aimed at partial restrictions on abortions – a strategy that has been very successful in many US states.</p>
<p>In recent weeks, several high-profile politicians, including former <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/nsw-abortion-bill-death-on-demand-tony-abbott-tells-cpac-s-conservative-faithful">Prime Minister Tony Abbott</a> and <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/barnaby-joyce-blasted-for-antiabortion-robocalls/news-story/f50ddafa6dabfafd3ab13e95608d34e7">Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce</a>, have erroneously claimed that NSW is making abortion legal up to birth. <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dutton-comes-out-against-nsw-abortion-decriminalisation-bill-saying-22-weeks-is-too-late">Liberal MP Peter Dutton</a> and former Liberal candidate <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/crazy-lunatic-bill-mundine-lashes-nsw-liberals-on-abortion/news-story/cc74e59721f075ac281fd09df0cf9f6e">Warren Mundine</a> have further suggested that the proposed gestation limit is “too late”. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-119-years-nsw-is-set-to-decriminalise-abortion-why-has-reform-taken-so-long-121112">After 119 years, NSW is set to decriminalise abortion. Why has reform taken so long?</a>
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<p>In reality, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/aug/19/nsw-abortion-law-the-decriminalisation-reform-bill-explained">gestation limit</a> in the NSW bill is modelled on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/17/queensland-parliament-votes-to-legalise-abortion">legislation passed in Queensland</a> in 2018. It allows abortion up to 22 weeks, and after that with approval from two doctors. This is a lower cut-off than the laws in Victoria and the ACT.</p>
<p>The NSW bill is also more restrictive than the law in comparable Western countries. The <a href="https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/news/campaigns-and-opinions/human-fertilisation-and-embryology-bill/qa-the-abortion-time-limit/">gestation limit in Britain is 24 weeks</a>, with access available after that point for reasons of severe foetal anomaly or life-threatening risk to the mother. In the US, <a href="https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/roe-v-wade">Roe v Wade</a> prevents outright bans on abortion before foetal viability (interpreted as 24 to 28 weeks), while <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/abortion-access-canada-us-bans-1.5140345">Canada</a> has no upper gestation limit.</p>
<p>This focus on “late-term abortions” emerged as a strategy in the US almost three decades ago. </p>
<p>By the early 1990s, American right-to-lifers had failed in their primary goal of overturning Roe v Wade. So, they <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ourselves-unborn-9780195323436?cc=au&lang=en&">refocused</a> their energies, seeking first to outlaw a comparatively rare technique they dubbed “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/06/us/bush-signs-ban-on-a-procedure-for-abortions.html">partial-birth abortions</a>”. More recently, they have sought to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/us/politics/senate-abortion-ban-20-weeks.html">prevent terminations after 20 weeks</a> using the medically contested notion of foetal pain. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1162445809339621377"}"></div></p>
<p>Focusing on later terminations allows opponents of abortion to insist that the foetus possesses unique rights and subjectivity that override those of the pregnant person. Further, the gestational point at which an abortion becomes “late” is contested and ever-shifting terrain, allowing for opponents to push for a lower and lower limit. </p>
<p>When discussing these types of terminations, opponents also rely on <a href="https://www.northernstar.com.au/news/osullivan-hits-out-barbaric-abortion-bill/3077028/">emotive, inaccurate, and often disturbing</a> language and imagery. </p>
<p>Yet, only <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-why-there-should-be-no-gestational-limits-for-abortion-121500">1% to 3% of abortions</a> in Australia occur after 20 weeks, the majority of which are performed for reasons of severe or fatal foetal anomalies.</p>
<h2>Sex-selective abortions</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.catholicweekly.com.au/qld-abortion-law-will-allow-targeting-girls/">Queensland</a>, <a href="https://emilysvoice.com/abortion-for-any-reason-sa/">South Australia</a>, and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/finance-minister-to-move-amendments-on-sex-selection-abortions-20190815-p52hio.html">NSW</a>, opponents of abortion have also raised the spectre of sex-selective abortions. </p>
<p>This concern also originates from outside Australia. In the 2000s, the US right-to-life movement began framing <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/684239?mobileUi=0">abortion as a form of discrimination</a>, warning of abortions conducted on the grounds of sex, race, or disability. Eight states subsequently banned sex-selective abortions. </p>
<p>In the 2010s, this approach received further amplification after The Telegraph published a series of articles insisting the practice was <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9099925/Abortion-investigation-Available-on-demand-an-abortion-if-its-a-boy-you-wanted.html">rife</a> in the UK and that pro-choice feminists had turned a blind eye to a generation of “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5367570/">lost girls</a>”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-concise-history-of-the-us-abortion-debate-118157">A concise history of the US abortion debate</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In an attempt to appeal to critics in her own party, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has expressed a willingness to ban “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/berejiklian-backs-strengthening-of-abortion-bill-amid-pressure-from-conservative-mps-20190814-p52gub.html">gender selection</a>” abortions in NSW, though it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/15/nsw-abortion-law-backers-unlikely-to-support-calls-for-sex-selection-ban">appears unlikely</a> the bill’s supporters will agree to an amendment.</p>
<p>Studies in the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/456642/sex_selection_doc.pdf">UK</a>, <a href="https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2536&context=facpub">US</a>, and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30052991">Australia</a> have found no conclusive evidence that such abortions are occurring. </p>
<p>Rather, these campaigns work to stigmatise and vilify abortion care providers by accusing them of committing gendered acts of violence. And they suggest that medical professionals need to subject certain immigrant communities to more stringent forms of monitoring and surveillance. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288842/original/file-20190821-170922-brlk49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288842/original/file-20190821-170922-brlk49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288842/original/file-20190821-170922-brlk49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288842/original/file-20190821-170922-brlk49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288842/original/file-20190821-170922-brlk49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288842/original/file-20190821-170922-brlk49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288842/original/file-20190821-170922-brlk49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abortion rights supporters demonstrating earlier this year in New York against extreme anti-abortion laws passed in Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Justin Lane/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The subtle impact of these tactics</h2>
<p>Collectively, these more covert right-to-life strategies have been part of a massive erosion of abortion rights in the United States. </p>
<p>In an Australian context, they work in more subtle ways. They prevent abortion being treated as just another type of health care, one of the explicit goals of the current decriminalisation campaigns. </p>
<p>They require doctors to assess and judge a pregnant person to see if they really want an abortion. And they inject uncertainty and attach further stigma to the work performed by abortion care providers. </p>
<p>Unable to wind back the clock on decriminalisation, Australian activists still insist abortion is a problematic and exceptional procedure. And they are drawing from the US right-to-life movement to shape how it is culturally, medically, and legally understood in Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121974/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prudence Flowers receives funding from the South Australian Department of Human Services. She is a member of the South Australian Abortion Action Coalition. </span></em></p>The Australian right-to-life movement is tiny compared to the US, but its recent adoption of US-style campaign strategies has given it an outsize voice in the debate here.Prudence Flowers, Lecturer in US History, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1065962018-11-30T11:42:04Z2018-11-30T11:42:04ZDorothy Day – ‘a saint for our times’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251899/original/file-20181221-103649-1rhv4of.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dorothy Day with publisher Robert Ellsberg.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/27706385974">Jim Forest/Flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dorothy Day died 38 years ago. Her life followed an unorthodox path – moving from rejecting religion in favor of activism to embracing Catholicism and integrating it with social action through the Catholic Worker Movement. </p>
<p>A hero of the Catholic left, Day found an unlikely champion for her canonization in New York’s conservative archbishop, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, who hailed her as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/nyregion/sainthood-for-dorothy-day-has-unexpected-champion-in-cardinal-timothy-dolan.html">“the saint for our times.”</a> At their November 2012 meeting, the U.S. bishops unanimously supported her cause, and the Vatican accepted the recommendation, naming her “Servant of God.” If an investigation proves her life to be exceptionally virtuous, she will be declared “venerable.” </p>
<p>However, to declare her a saint, two miracles through her intercession will need to be proven. The process is long and complex, and only three other American-born Catholics, all women, <a href="http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/saints/american-saints-and-blesseds.cfm">have been canonized.</a> The Catholic Church remembers the life of saints at daily Mass on their feast day, usually the day of death. </p>
<p>What most appeals to me, as a <a href="https://ecommons.udayton.edu/rel_fac_pub/40/">scholar of Dorothy Day</a>, is her ability to discern beauty in the midst of her harsh and demanding life. In that, she has a lesson for the times we live in.</p>
<h2>An early radical life</h2>
<p>The arc of her early life followed an unconventional path. In her 1952 autobiography, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Long_Loneliness.">“The Long Loneliness,”</a> Day reveals her lifelong attraction to the radical life among anarchists, socialists and communists.</p>
<p>Dropping out of the University of Illinois in 1916, she followed her family to New York City and found work as a journalist and freelance writer. Living on her own, she spent much of her time among radicals like <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/passions-max-eastman-biography-review">Max Eastman</a>, editor of socialist newspaper “The Masses” and communist. As a journalist, she took up the cause of striking workers. She loved to read in her spare time and found especially inspiring the work of Russian novelist <a href="http://www.online-literature.com/dostoevsky/">Fyodor Dostoevsky</a>. </p>
<p>She was also an activist. In 1917, Day joined a friend in a suffragette protest which led to their arrest and incarceration at the notorious Occoquan work farm in Virginia. Day <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Long_Loneliness">describes in vivid detail</a> the guards’ brutality, grabbing her and dragging her to her cell. She subsequently participated in a hunger strike with her companions to protest against such treatment. </p>
<p>After her release, she returned to New York, working odd jobs and drinking until dawn with an assortment of friends in a bar nicknamed “Hell Hole.” <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Long_Loneliness">She recalls with fondness the playwright</a> Eugene O'Neill reciting Francis Thompson’s “Hound of Heaven.” As she wrote in her biography, the hound’s relentless pursuit fascinated her and caused her to wonder about her own life’s ultimate end. </p>
<p>She went through times of deep personal sorrow. Her granddaughter, Kate Hennessy, reveals in <a href="https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1501133985">“Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty”</a> Dorothy’s heartache of failed love affairs, including procuring an illegal abortion. The trauma contributed to her strong opposition to abortion after becoming Catholic. </p>
<p>The highs and lows of this life left Day unsettled, and she recalls <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Long_Loneliness">slipping into the back of St. Joseph’s Church, on Sixth Avenue,</a> taking solace in watching Mass as dawn broke over the cityscape. </p>
<h2>Becoming a Catholic</h2>
<p>Then, in 1925, Dorothy Day fell in love with Forster Batterham, the brother of a friend’s wife, a transplanted southerner, a lover of nature and, like Day, of opera. They shared her Staten Island cottage and conceived a child, Tamar Therese, born in 1926.</p>
<p>She <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Long_Loneliness">describes in loving detail</a> her life with Forster, “walking on the beach, resting on the pier beside him while he fished, rowing with him in the calm of bay, walking through fields and woods.” </p>
<p>It was the birth of her daughter that connected her to the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Long_Loneliness">beauty of the divine</a> in a deeply personal way. She wrote,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The final object of this love and gratitude is God.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She was moved to worship God with others. Even though the man she loved rejected all institutions, especially religious, Day had her daughter baptized a Catholic and herself less than six months later.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248005/original/file-20181129-170250-1afg1vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248005/original/file-20181129-170250-1afg1vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248005/original/file-20181129-170250-1afg1vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248005/original/file-20181129-170250-1afg1vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248005/original/file-20181129-170250-1afg1vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248005/original/file-20181129-170250-1afg1vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248005/original/file-20181129-170250-1afg1vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dorothy Day. A photo from 1934.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorothy_Day_1934.jpg">New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection, via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This ended her common law marriage, though in her memoir, her granddaughter, Hennessy, makes abundantly clear that her grandfather, Forster, remained a constant presence throughout her grandmother’s life. </p>
<p>About five years later, Day met Peter Maurin, a French immigrant who taught her about <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Breaking_Bread.html?id=AL00AAAACAAJ">Catholic radicalism</a>. They founded the Catholic Worker Movement and began publishing a newspaper by the same name in May 1933 to disseminate their radical Catholic vision as a counter to Communism. </p>
<p>That same summer a Catholic Worker Movement community formed and lived in what Maurin called a “house of hospitality,” a place of welcome to every person, especially the poor. Day <a href="https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1570755817">explains the gospel inspiration</a> for these houses of hospitality.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him. It is the only way of knowing and believing in our love.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.catholicworker.org/">The Catholic Worker Movement</a> continues to thrive through its newspapers and houses of hospitality. </p>
<h2>Saving beauty</h2>
<p>For Day, beauty appeared wherever God was present. This meant Day came to see beauty everywhere and in everything. </p>
<p>She believed Christ’s saving beauty appeared not only on the altar at Mass but also around every Catholic Worker Movement table. Jesus identified with the least, and so, for Day, Christ appeared in every poor person who came to share a meal at a house of hospitality. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1570755817">Her writings</a> make clear that she never wavered in this conviction.</p>
<p>This attentiveness to beauty translated to everything commonplace in her daily life. Another Day scholar told me of his vivid memory of an elderly Dorothy gazing intently at a jar of unkempt wild flowers that were quite unremarkable in their abundance and fleeting in their beauty. </p>
<p>Day’s keen sense of wonder at commonplace beauty remained a hallmark of being a witness to God’s love. Three years before her death, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1570755817">she wrote</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What samples of His love in creation all around us! Even in the city, the changing sky, the trees, frail though they be, which prisoners grow on Riker’s Island to be planted around the city, bear witness. People – all humankind, in some way.“</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In sharing with her readers the view from her Staten Island cottage, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1570755817">she wrote</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>"the bay, the gulls, the ‘paths in the sea,’ the tiny ripples stirring a patch of water here and there, the reflections of the cloud on the surface – how beautiful it all is.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Dorothy Day surrounded herself in the beauty of a loving God made manifest in the least – something contemporary culture could learn from.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106596/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra Yocum does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, Dorothy Day, led a life full of paradoxes. An expert explains how there’s much to learn from her life - especially how to see beauty in the least.Sandra Yocum, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/981752018-06-14T20:34:07Z2018-06-14T20:34:07ZExplainer: what are abortion clinic safe-access zones and where do they exist in Australia?<p>New South Wales recently became the fifth Australian jurisdiction to enact legislation that establishes safe-access zones around abortion clinics.</p>
<p>The legislation is a response to picketing of clinics by anti-abortion protesters for more than two decades. These protesters characterise themselves as “sidewalk counsellors” but their conduct has included verbal abuse, threats, impeding entry to clinics, displaying violent imagery and <a href="http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubPDocs_Arch.nsf/5da7442d8f61e92bca256de50013d008/ca257cca00177a46ca257ee500150c59!OpenDocument">acts of “disturbing theatre” such as</a> pushing a blood-splattered doll in a pram. </p>
<p>Safe-access zones are sometimes called bubble zones because they create a bubble around an abortion clinic in which certain conduct is prohibited. NSW will now impose safe-access zones of 150 metres around clinics that provide abortions.</p>
<p>Safe-access zone laws enable the state to fulfil obligations to respect and protect human rights under international law. They also protect women from conduct that has been recognised as <a href="http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/CEDAW_C_GC_35_8267_E.pdf">violence against women</a>.</p>
<p>Similar zones operate in Tasmania, the ACT, the Northern Territory and Victoria.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/state-by-state-safe-access-zones-around-clinics-are-shielding-women-from-abortion-protesters-51407">State by state, 'safe access zones' around clinics are shielding women from abortion protesters</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does the NSW legislation look like?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bills/Pages/bill-details.aspx?pk=3508">Public Health Amendment (Safe Access to Reproductive Health Clinic) Bill</a> 2018 was introduced by <a href="http://www.pennysharpe.com/womenneedsafeaccesszones">Labor MP Penny Sharpe</a> and co-sponsored by Nationals MP Trevor Khan. The NSW Parliament passed the law <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/abortion-clinic-safe-access-zones-become-law-in-nsw-20180607-p4zk18.html">last Friday</a> after Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who supported the bill, granted Liberal MPs a conscience vote.</p>
<p>The legislation prohibits conduct that includes interfering with any person accessing or leaving a clinic, filming without consent and communicating about abortions in a manner that is reasonably likely to cause anxiety or distress.</p>
<p>People who engage in prohibited conduct inside the zone may be fined up to A$5,000 and/or imprisoned for up to six months for a first offence. A subsequent offence can have them fined up to A$10,000 and/or imprisoned for up to 12 months.</p>
<p>Like NSW, the laws enacted in Tasmania and Victoria create safe-access zones of 150 metres around clinics. In the ACT, the health minister determines the radius of the zone but it must be at least 50 metres.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223162/original/file-20180614-32319-1wsq8s3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223162/original/file-20180614-32319-1wsq8s3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223162/original/file-20180614-32319-1wsq8s3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223162/original/file-20180614-32319-1wsq8s3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223162/original/file-20180614-32319-1wsq8s3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223162/original/file-20180614-32319-1wsq8s3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223162/original/file-20180614-32319-1wsq8s3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223162/original/file-20180614-32319-1wsq8s3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Safe-access zones protect women from harassment by anti-abortion protesters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/15736332884/in/photolist-pYyPwd-qCtPPV-qBQsjA-qD2cs2-9YRXgB-8JZTQR-7Qj7Z1-qCZYE1-bFByeR-8JZTJR-qUSSUr-qCjCNf-qV4Qx6-qSDitC-qSCBBo-dQV7YH-dQV7Xe-91mJ3-5gwTEd-js3XwH-qBLnNN-qUKkCZ-dW1k13-qRjpiF-pXprEV-dQXuFs-js6auh-qCnsHE-ZvS6qF-qCS8ts-4dtKJ4-qVryQe-qT8bVS-8XEt8-qCTeuA-8XEtc-qCY8se-qT9y1f-qUPFVA-qVnETw-26rhGfN-qD3xfz-qCZXwg-8SzRS-8XBtH-qCiupb-qUVCEi-qVyoAt-qCqj8M-pYaEAy">Elvert Barnes/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similar laws don’t operate in Queensland, South Australia or Western Australia. Queensland’s abortion laws (which only allow abortion when the continuation of the pregnancy poses a serious risk to a woman’s physical or mental health) are <a href="https://www.qlrc.qld.gov.au/current-reviews">under review</a>. The review will look at how the laws should be amended, as well as whether to include safe-access zones.</p>
<p>The NSW legislation does not decriminalise abortion. This remains in the NSW Crimes Act but is subject to exceptions on grounds of physical or mental health, with reference to economic or social factors. So it’s important to note that the safe-access laws are somewhat independent of the legality of abortion itself.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-is-abortion-legal-in-australia-48321">Explainer: is abortion legal in Australia?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>High court challenges</h2>
<p>The Victorian legislation has been challenged in the High Court by Kathleen Clubb, an active member of the anti-abortion group known as <a href="http://www.helpersbrooklynny.org/">Helpers of God’s Precious Infants</a>. Founded in the US, the group picketed the Fertility Control Clinic in East Melbourne for more than two decades and has been actively engaged in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/09/women-seeking-abortions-harassed-by-protesters-to-point-of-suicide">anti-abortion protests in Albury, NSW</a>. </p>
<p>Last October, Clubb was <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/ginarushton/an-abortion-protester-has-lost-her-case-despite-australian?utm_term=.xwv8jkQnQ#.nu32zdLgL">convicted</a> of communicating about abortions in a manner reasonably likely to cause anxiety or distress within the safe-access zone around the East Melbourne clinic. In her challenge to the legislation, Clubb has <a href="http://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/cases/06-Melbourne/m46-2018/Clubb-Edwards_App.pdf">submitted</a> that Victoria’s law infringes on freedom of political communication implied in the Commonwealth Constitution.</p>
<p>Tasmania’s safe-access zones are also the subject of a <a href="http://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/case_h2-2018">challenge</a> brought on the same constitutional grounds. This one was brought by Graham Preston, a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-27/fine-for-anti-abortion-protester-over-tasmanian-protest/7665776">Queensland-based anti-abortion protester</a>, who has been convicted of breaching the Tasmanian legislation.</p>
<p>These challenges have important ramifications for the NSW legislation. If the Tasmanian or Victorian laws are found to be constitutionally invalid, a challenge to the NSW legislation would yield a similar outcome.</p>
<h2>Why are these laws important?</h2>
<p>In her <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/'HANSARD-1820781676-76349'">second reading speech</a>, NSW MP Penny Sharpe said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>No person seeking lawful medical advice and care should be forced to run a gauntlet of abuse. Every person has the right to expect their government to protect them from being intimidated and harassed. We have an obligation to provide that protection…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Safe-access zones protect individuals from intrusions into privacy by strangers who seek to interfere in deeply personal decisions. They protect the rights to health-care services, the right of women to decide the number and spacing of their children, the right to security of person, as well as equality and freedom from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/some-women-feel-grief-after-an-abortion-but-theres-no-evidence-of-serious-mental-health-issues-95519">Some women feel grief after an abortion, but there's no evidence of serious mental health issues</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The rights of patients and others who need access to clinics in which abortions are provided cannot be safeguarded while protesters retain a presence and attract a captive audience. Those who wish to vocalise their opposition to abortion remain free to do so, but at a distance that protects the rights of others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98175/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tania Penovic does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Laws providing for safe access protect the dignity and safety of staff who need access to their workplace and women who need access to health-care services without harassment and intimidation.Tania Penovic, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/903712018-02-13T11:02:24Z2018-02-13T11:02:24ZWhy buffer zones around abortion clinics do not threaten the right to protest<p>Ealing council in West London could soon <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/16/abortion-clinic-one-step-closer-getting-anti-protest-buffer-zone-7235078/">set up a buffer zone</a> to limit the harassment faced by patients of a local abortion clinic. The clinic is run by the reproductive health charity Marie Stopes, one of many abortion providers across the UK regularly targeted by anti-abortion protestors. In mid-January, councillors voted to launch a public consultation about the creation of a Public Space Protection Order, or buffer zone, around the clinic. </p>
<p>Common forms of anti-abortion protest include <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/11/anti-abortion-protesters-could-banned-standing-outside-marie/">public prayer</a>, hymns, and <a href="https://www.birminghampost.co.uk/news/news-opinion/comment-time-move-anti-abortion-13779420">chanting</a>. Protesters also distribute leaflets exaggerating the <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-abortion-activists-take-a-worrying-new-approach-to-clinic-campaigns-67174">risks of abortion</a>, display posters including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/26/jeremy-corbyn-backs-call-for-abortion-clinic-buffer-zones">images</a> of aborted foetuses, strew <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-health/11260391/Abortion-protesters-Our-presence-outside-UK-clinics-empowers-women.html">plastic foetuses</a> across walkways, and verbally harass patients and health professionals.</p>
<p>Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, Rupa Huq, has called for a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/26/abortion-clinics-uk-mulls-tougher-laws-to-protect-women">150m radial</a> “buffer zone” around the clinic, within which all forms of anti-abortion protest would be outlawed. Councils in <a href="http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/health/moves-ban-anti-abortion-protesters-14034688">Birmingham</a>, <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-council-ban-abortion-protests-14195314">Manchester</a>, and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-41990010">Portsmouth</a> are considering similar measures. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"953522544874844160"}"></div></p>
<p>In late 2017, the home secretary, Amber Rudd, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/review-into-harassment-and-intimidation-near-abortion-clinics">called for</a> a review of intimidation and harassment of patients outside abortion clinics nationwide in response to rising concerns. The review could result in widespread curbing of anti-abortion action around clinics in England and Wales, which would remove the need for piecemeal interventions by councils.</p>
<h2>A right to protest?</h2>
<p>Opponents of buffer zones around abortion clinics often cite the importance of <a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/abortion-buffer-zone-clinics-protesters-yvette-cooper">freedom of speech</a> and the right to protest. But while protest activity is a sign of democratic health, the right to protest is not boundless. </p>
<p>Consider an analogy: I am opposed to the existence of private education, and would like to see the private education sector abolished. However, loitering outside private schools attempting to rouse feelings of guilt or fear in children and their parents is morally problematic, even though I maintain that their choices are morally troubling. The most effective place to take those grievances is to those with the power to determine whether or not private schools exist: politicians, or the independent schools association.</p>
<p>Protest action is necessarily defiant and disruptive; its objective is to be difficult to ignore. It is distinguished from harassment by its focus on influential individuals and institutions, whose power renders them reasonably invulnerable to intimidation, and makes them good strategic targets for demanding change. Alternatively, protests may have a more nebulous target: a march or a stall which is designed to raise awareness within a community, or generate press coverage, but which has no specific group in mind.</p>
<p>The staple tactics of anti-abortion activism fit neither of these models. Their target is specific: they seek interactions with individual pregnant patients or health professionals. In December, MPs on the home affairs committee <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/12/mps-call-buffer-zones-around-abortion-clinics-women-told-will/">heard how</a> patients attending clinics had been referred to as “mum,” and chided by protestors that they would die of cancer, while clinic staff had been called “murderers”. In the US, several abortion providers have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/29/us/30abortion-clinic-violence.html">murdered by activists</a>. </p>
<p>Abortion stigma is still <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2011.02604.x/full">widespread</a> in the UK. Combined with the inevitable distress of an unwanted pregnancy, this makes abortion patients vulnerable. Intimidating them and their caregivers is not protest, it’s bullying.</p>
<p>Anti-abortion protests outside clinics change nothing but the emotional state of the targeted individual. There is no evidence that they have any appreciable effect on the decisions of patients. Researchers in the US <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010782412008153">have shown</a> that while women seeking abortions find the presence of protesters upsetting, they do not harbour long-term feelings of guilt regarding their abortions. Making abortions harder to access <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/women-in-countries-where-abortion-is-illegal-just-as-likely-to-have-one-as-countries-where-it-is-a7025671.html">does not reduce</a> their incidence – it merely increases the number of unsafe abortions.</p>
<p>If they’d like to see reform, anti-choice protestors should focus their efforts on lobbying those who hold power: the government, medical professional bodies or the offices – not clinics – of major abortion providers.</p>
<h2>Protecting patients</h2>
<p>All patients ought to be able to access medical treatment without intimidation, and with their confidentiality upheld. Without these guarantees, healthcare delivery would be severely undermined. In England, Scotland, and Wales, an abortion is a legal medical procedure, signed off by two doctors who are required to consider the individual context of the pregnancy. </p>
<p>Anti-abortion protestors harass patients attending medical appointments, hoping that they can summon sufficient guilt and repulsion to deter patients from seeking treatments that they and their doctors believe to be necessary. There are repeated reports of women being <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/pregnant-women-so-distressed-by-antiabortion-protesters-they-refused-to-leave-clinic-in-fire-alarm-a3717811.html">filmed</a> entering or leaving clinics. This is a patent violation of confidentiality, and has been cited by patients as the <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/devolution/2015/11/should-we-have-buffer-zones-around-abortion-clinics">primary reason</a> why they oppose the presence of anti-abortion protestors outside facilities.</p>
<p>The tactics of anti-abortion activists should not be classified as protest – rather they are intent on capitalising on vulnerability. It may be that anti-abortion protestors recognise their poor odds in lobbying a <a href="https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/elhvsdm1iw/YG-Archive-150917-BPAS.pdf">government</a>, the majority of which is pro-choice, elected to represent a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/12/anti-abortion-feelings-declining">public</a> that is majority pro-choice, served by <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/27/abortion-should-decriminalised-say-doctors-back-call-law-change/">doctors</a> who are also overwhelmingly pro-choice. </p>
<p>If buffer zones are introduced, they will not affect anti-abortion activists’ right to protest. They remain welcome to take their fight to Westminster, the Medical Royal Colleges, or the General Medical Council. Their platforms on radio stations and in newspapers are not under threat, and they will continue to be supported by influential <a href="https://www.indy100.com/article/seven-things-you-should-know-about-britains-prolife-movement--eJhZh2BZKe">religious lobby</a> groups. Buffer zones around abortion clinics would remove rights they never had to start with: to intimidate patients, and to treat women as incapable of making decisions about their own bodies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arianne Shahvisi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some UK councils are considering setting up buffer zones around abortion clinics, to protect patients from anti-abortion protestors.Arianne Shahvisi, Lecturer in Ethics, Brighton and Sussex Medical SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/594782016-05-16T15:40:34Z2016-05-16T15:40:34ZGrowing pro-life movement presents a challenge to defenders of abortion rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122736/original/image-20160516-15920-f2btck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jamie Lowe</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Birmingham hosted the fourth annual <a href="http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/watch-angry-scenes-anti-abortionists-11332807">March for Life</a>, bringing together “pro-life” campaigners from across the UK (and further afield, including Ireland, France, Spain, Mexico, Slovakia).</p>
<p>The event was much bigger than last year. We counted around 1,000 participants in all, double the number attending in 2015. And this was a much slicker operation than what has been seen before. </p>
<p>Crash barriers and professional security cordoned off space in Victoria Square. Entrance was controlled by the organisers and the speakers and musicians had a professional PA, stage, and big screen. There were even merchandise stalls and face-painting.</p>
<p>The event marketing seemed designed to appeal especially to a youth demographic. We saw the slogan “Life from Conception, No Exception!” printed on wristbands, hoodies and t-shirts. One participant told us: “It’s got a kind of a Glastonbury feel about it!”.</p>
<p>Last year, it took just a line of police to separate marchers from abortion rights campaigners, who were able to disrupt the closing rally, drowning out the PA system. </p>
<h2>Changing approach</h2>
<p>On this evidence, the anti-abortion movement, if still very small, is growing in mainland Britain.</p>
<p>But that growth could cause dilemmas. The marchers seemed united against abortion but less in agreement about what should actually be done about it.</p>
<p>Some argued: “We’re not here to change the law, we’re here to save lives,” while others spoke of closing down “the abortion industry”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122737/original/image-20160516-15899-pkmeso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122737/original/image-20160516-15899-pkmeso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122737/original/image-20160516-15899-pkmeso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122737/original/image-20160516-15899-pkmeso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122737/original/image-20160516-15899-pkmeso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122737/original/image-20160516-15899-pkmeso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122737/original/image-20160516-15899-pkmeso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The group travels down New Street.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jamie Lowe</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For some, pro-life activism is a personal commitment to make a difference as an individual, offering what they see as support to other women, through and after pregnancy. Others told us that getting an abortion in Britain is currently “too easy”. The wish to provide support is very different from making it harder for women to get an abortion by changing the law. </p>
<p>Every participant we spoke to defined abortion as the murder of human life (several told us their belief that life begins at conception was supported by science). But again, they struggled to reach a definitive conclusion on how this should be handled. </p>
<p>One student activist suggested abortion should be considered infanticide before backtracking and agreeing that women should not be prosecuted for having an abortion. This may be only a personal view but it points to an absent common position on how women who have abortions should be treated.</p>
<p>How to represent abortion at events of this kind is another crucial issue. Last year, organisers stressed that participants should not display graphic images of aborted foetuses. This year, the official position was left unspoken, publicly, at least.</p>
<p>The question is important if the march is to bring together activists from often diverse groups. Abort67 – which has <a href="http://thetab.com/uk/bristol/2012/11/06/abort-67-giving-pro-lifers-a-bad-name-1396">courted controversy</a> for its use of graphic images – ran a stall at this year’s event; but, unusually, did not openly display its signs. The march’s official signs carried slogans, whilst banners showed images of babies. The event avoided the issue by not representing abortion in images at all.</p>
<p>Familiar Catholic iconography was on display, including a Cross of Life, where participants could place prayers, and a Mercy Bus – a sort of mobile confession box.</p>
<p>But we saw more secular elements being woven into proceedings this year. Ryan Bomberger, of the pro-life Radiance Foundation, claimed abortion is “the social injustice of the day” because it implies that “somehow, some lives are more equal than others”.</p>
<p>Bomberger even co-opted celebrity, encouraging demonstrators to wave their iPhones in the air. The logic here seemed to be that Apple founder Steve Jobs, like Bomberger, had been adopted – proving that great opportunities can be missed because of abortion.</p>
<p>Following the march, Canadian pro-life activist Stephanie Gray, gave a contrasting talk. Where Bomberger was upbeat and motivational, Gray was careworn and emotional as she described a “broken culture”.</p>
<p>She said we must “learn how to weep for the 200,000 little children who die every year in the UK”. Asking the crowd to treat activism as a daily event, Gray steeped her talk in messages of good and evil, and the need to pray for abortionists’ souls, as they have “followed the father of lies and the prince of darkness”.</p>
<p>The event culminated with a vigil led by one of three Bishops, who offered prayers to all constituents in the abortion debate, from pregnant mothers to medical practitioners, and a minute’s silence “to pray for the victims of abortion”.</p>
<h2>A changing response</h2>
<p>The changing nature of this march over the years, particular in terms of scale, reveals subtle shifts in its ambitions and its target audience. By bringing in secular elements and branding, it is clearly trying to appeal beyond its core supporters, into the wider public.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122738/original/image-20160516-15899-1rmd37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122738/original/image-20160516-15899-1rmd37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122738/original/image-20160516-15899-1rmd37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122738/original/image-20160516-15899-1rmd37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122738/original/image-20160516-15899-1rmd37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122738/original/image-20160516-15899-1rmd37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122738/original/image-20160516-15899-1rmd37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pro-choice counter demonstrators greet the march.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jamie Lowe</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But from our observations, it looks like the anti-abortion movement remains some way from its goal of appealing beyond a limited strain of committed Catholicism.</p>
<p>There is also still a reliance on speakers from North America and Africa, where the anti-abortion movement is more developed. This is perhaps a reminder that it has had a harder time gaining traction in Britain’s broadly liberal secular landscape.</p>
<p>That said, it’s clear that the event’s increased professionalism also poses questions for abortion rights activists in the UK. Faced with an evolving British pro-life movement, they will have to think carefully about how to react, and how to defend access to abortion in Britain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59478/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pam Lowe is a member of Abortion Rights. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah-Jane Page is a member of the Labour Party. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graeme Hayes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The fourth annual march for life was bigger than in previous years – but it still seems fragmented.Graeme Hayes, Reader in Political Sociology, Aston UniversityPam Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Aston UniversitySarah-Jane Page, Lecturer in Sociology, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/277312014-06-23T05:05:57Z2014-06-23T05:05:57Z‘One of Us’ petition marks a sinister mobilisation of the pro-life movement in Europe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51657/original/6hxcv42v-1403175551.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One of us: an exclusive club.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lilongd/5627197631/sizes/l/in/photolist-9zfRNP-g5QkGF-8faC9b-9kCVBV-8E7ChA-bheo7a-9ePNaj-88WZV9-7X1XUC-dbqu4V-cskfgQ-dPhRVp-wmmfW-9Fhzcf-5yY9Sr-ejGr7Q-6tzuft-4ym6Gt-9N7nr8-aF7qr6-6ubx2s-5HVNqb-wBC9c-4Mt8dp-8frxSf-aK8Qgt-5AXtkS-fe3WvH-jZmwrE-8mbr5L-aApyDi-fzKLAt-iiyfT-AeEcr-aurEYh-bRNLtx-3jVPDK-fr5Z2g-iZJ9e-8zcdNj-8XTmfL-6L7pbV-2SmfSo-hTZ2xz-6o8UHa-nmWQg5-k4oqaT-9XiLqb-hBu5d-bZqqQy-8YafFR/">Lilongd</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the European Union, the European Citizen’s Initiative was set up with the aim of bringing the activities of the European Parliament closer to the citizens of Europe. If a petition can achieve 1m signatures from across at least seven member states, the European Commission, which devises common policies, is obliged to consider the proposal and a legal framework to allow it to happen.</p>
<p>One of the most successful of these ECIs achieved the requisite 1m signatures late last year under the tagline of “a beautifully simple step but could help save millions of lives.” But this ECI was anything but beautiful and <a href="http://www.euractiv.com/sections/development-policy/uk-warns-meps-against-evangelical-attack-eu-development-aid-301614">threatened to endanger the lives</a> of thousands of women worldwide. </p>
<p>As we wrote, when it first <a href="http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/2012/10/Eroding-womens-basic-freedoms-Current-trends-to-reduce-access-to-abortion.aspx">appeared in 2012</a> the ECI said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The human embryo deserves respect to its dignity and integrity. This is enounced by the European Court of Justice in the Brüstle case, which defines the human embryo as the beginning of the development of the human being. To ensure consistency in areas of its competence where the life of the human embryo is at stake, the EU should establish a ban and end the financing of activities which presuppose the destruction of human embryos, in particular in the areas of research, development aid and public health.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If successful the ECI had the potential to severely restrict human embryonic stem cell research within the EU. But more worrying is the impact that it could have had on the lives of women in countries in receipt of EU development aid; the countries where <a href="http://gamapserver.who.int/maplibrary/files/maps/global_mmr_2013.png">maternal mortality and morbidity are higher</a> than those we consider acceptable within the EU, and where access to safe and legal abortion <a href="http://unfpa.org/public/home/sitemap/icpd/international-conference-on-population-and-development/icpd-summary">is a basic health need</a>. </p>
<p>If successful it would have directly challenged fundamental rights of women and been in direct conflict with the aims of UN Millennium Development Goal five: <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/maternal.shtml">to improve maternal health</a>.</p>
<p>“One of Us”, the name of the campaign behind the proposal, was able to harness the infrastructure of the Roman Catholic Church, complete <a href="http://www.oneofus.eu/pope-benedict-xvi-supports-the-one-of-us-campaign-in-favour-of-human-life/">with an endorsement</a> by Pope Benedict XVI, to gather signatures from across ten member states. Other Christian groups also back the campaign.</p>
<h2>Weak legal basis</h2>
<p>In early April this year the co-ordinators of this ECI had the opportunity to present their arguments to Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and Andris Piebalgs, the EU commissioners for research and development aid repectively. A month later the commission officially responded to the ECI and – thankfully for women’s and human rights – rejected the premises upon which it was based and declined to consider a legislative proposal that might give effect to it.</p>
<p>As noted in the response, the legal basis for this ECI was weak from the start. It purported to draw from the decision in <a href="http://kslr.org.uk/blogs/europeanlaw/2012/07/13/oliver-brustle-vs-greenpeace-how-to-read-the-moral-compass/">the case of Oliver Brüstle v Greenpeace</a> in defining the human embryo as existing from the moment of conception for the purposes of legal protection. This case required the court to consider how embryos are defined in a commercial setting for the purposes of patenting and intellectual property.</p>
<p>But this claim deliberately overlooked the fact that the decision in the Brüstle case was concerned solely with the issue of patentability. As such it specifically did not, and was not an attempt to, provide a precedent for a more wide-ranging definition of legal personhood or serve as a comment on whether human embryonic stem cell research is permissible or something that should be funded.</p>
<h2>Europe’s very own ‘gag rule’</h2>
<p>“One of Us” is modelled on a restriction, introduced by the Ronald Reagan in 1984, often called “<a href="http://populationaction.org/topics/global-gag-rule/">the global gag</a>.” This is a prohibition on organisations that receive US government funding from facilitating access to abortion services or any advocates for the liberalisation of domestic abortion policy. This restriction applies even if the organisation provides a broad range of sexual and reproductive health services and obtains its funding for abortion services from another source. </p>
<p>The “global gag” has been endorsed by every Republican president since Reagan and rescinded by every Democratic president. The gag applies in countries where abortion is legal (neither US nor EU development aid is used to fund access to abortion where the procedure is illegal). The impact of the global gag <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/04/3/gr040301.html">has been measured</a> by several organisations including the World Health Organisation, the Guttmacher Institute, and Population Action International and, unsurprisingly, they’ve found that it has increased the number of unplanned pregnancies and abortions because of the impact it has had on family planning and contraceptive care more generally. </p>
<p>It has also had significant and negative impact on the lives of real women in countries where access to safe abortion is a legal <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/16/3/gpr160309.html">and necessary part</a> of abortion care.</p>
<p>Campaigns like One of Us are not a “beautifully simple step” to saving millions of lives. They are moves intended to disadvantage and marginalise women; sadly often those most in need of assistance – women in developing countries are “one of us” and should be treated as such.</p>
<p>It also highlights the potential negative impacts for which the seemingly benign citizen’s initiatives, like popular petitions, can be co-opted by other interested groups. Importantly it is a mechanism that some believe <a href="http://www.euractiv.com/sections/development-policy/uk-warns-meps-against-evangelical-attack-eu-development-aid-301614">will be used again</a> in the furtherance of conservative aims.</p>
<p>It was always likely that this initiative would fail from a legal perspective, however, a primary objective was not success <a href="http://www.oneofus.eu/faq-2/">but the creation</a> of “a new Europe-wide mobilisation of the pro-life movement.” It is for this reason that it’s important to pay attention to the success of the initiative – in its own terms even if it did not formally succeed. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the European Union, the European Citizen’s Initiative was set up with the aim of bringing the activities of the European Parliament closer to the citizens of Europe. If a petition can achieve 1m signatures…Sheelagh McGuinness, Birmingham Law Fellow, University of BirminghamHeather Widdows, John Ferguson Professor of Global Ethics, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.