Pro-Choice and Proud of it

Yesterday, the NUS Women’s Campaign held a Pro-Choice Day at Portcullis House, Westminster. Hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Choice and Sexual Health Group, we brought together a range of student activists, campaigners and organisations working in all areas of the pro-choice debate.

Our key-note speakers were Baroness Joyce Gould of Potternewton, Chair of the APPG and involved with numerous other sexual health, pro-choice and women’s organisations, and Anne Weyman OBE, Chief Executive of fpa.

We also had speakers from various organisations, including YWCA, Maternity Alliance, Daycare Trust, Interact Worldwide, and Abortion Rights, in addition to a student perspective from the VP Women for Oxford University Students’ Union.

We’re doing a review of the day in our forthcoming campaigns pack, so since this blog is meant to be about me, me, me (lol) I thought I’d put up a summary of the two speeches I gave yesterday about a woman’s right to choose.

If you want more information about our Pro-Choice and Proud of it campaign, please go to www.nusonline.co.uk/women

Opening Speech

Good morning everyone. Welcome to Portcullis House, welcome to the NUS Women’s Campaign Pro-Choice Day.

My name is Jo Salmon and I am the NUS National Women’s Officer. The NUS Women’s Campaign has been fighting for women’s rights for over twenty years, and the pro-choice debate has always been at the heart of our work.

It goes without saying that we believe in a woman’s right to choose. Every woman, regardless of her age, marital status, income, or background should have autonomy over her own body.

Today’s event is based on that theme. Who makes the decisions when it comes to our bodies? What are our sexual and reproductive choices?

On the surface, these questions appear easy to answer. Surely, we won the right to choose in 1967? Surely women are the sole decision makers over their bodies? We’ve got the pill, emergency contraception, more women are returning to work after having children than ever before - we’ve won. Haven’t we?

Yes, we’ve got better access to better contraception, but what’s the point when parents still have the right to opt their children out of sex education? Women, particularly young women, are under immense pressure to have unprotected sex. That old cliché, “if you really loved me, you’d do X, Y, or Z” hasn’t gone away. Women who are forced or sold into prostitution don’t have any rights when it comes to safer sex. And what power do victims of sexual assault or rape have when it comes to condoms, let alone over their own bodies?

Women do not have the right to a free abortion on request. If you can get the permission of two doctors, if you can prove that continuing a pregnancy would be more detrimental to your physical or mental wellbeing than ending it, and if you don’t live in Northern Ireland, then you can have an abortion.

And if you want proof that attitudes towards women haven’t progressed, think back to July 2004 and consider that immortal quote by UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom: “No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age”.

Childcare is limited, expensive and accessible only at a stretch for many women. There are 4.5 children aged under eight for every one space with a childminder. Women from the lowest income brackets have it harder than most, unable to afford so-called “luxuries” like healthy diets, childcare, a house in the best postcode so their children can go to the best school.

And young mums under 18 get it worse than anyone. Apparently nappies and prams and baby food are cheaper if you are under 18 - at least, that’s the only reason I can think of to explain why 16 and 17 year old mums are entitled to less per week than mothers aged 18 or over.

But that’s just the situation in the UK. Across the world, women’s reproductive rights are severely restricted. One woman dies every 6 minutes because of an illegal or unsafe abortion. Making abortion illegal does not stop women from having one. It just means their only options are those depicted in Vera Drake - the unsafe and potentially fatal backstreet abortions we stopped with the 1967 Abortion Act.

George Bush’s Global Gag Rule, imposed on his first official day in office, denies US funding to international family planning organisations that promote or perform abortions or that lobby to liberalise abortion law.

The impact of the gag rule has been devastating, particularly for millions of women in the poorest countries of the world. The Global Gag Rule has meant a drastic cut in services and programmes that help mothers to have safe deliveries, allow babies to survive, protect young people against HIV/AIDS and empower women to fight domestic abuse.

But it’s not just George W Bush. Attempts to promote safer sex are constantly threatened and undermined by the Vatican and other groups who helpfully spread propaganda saying that condoms don’t help prevent the transmission of STIs and HIV - they cause them.

Abstinence programs like the Silver Ring Thing are being imported to this country and have won the support of the right-wing press. I’d oppose it for that reason alone, but we know that they have a terrible record. Young people who sign up are denied access to information and education about sex and sexual health - so when they inevitably break their pledge, they are misinformed and much more likely to contract an STI or have an unplanned pregnancy.

And we’ve witnessed horrific situations such as the rape of children and babies because some people are told and believe that sleeping with a virgin will cure HIV or AIDS.

So, are women the decision makers when it comes to their own bodies? I don’t think so, and neither does the NUS Women’s campaign. That’s why we continue to fight for a woman’s right to choose. If a woman wants to end a pregnancy, she should be entitled to an abortion on demand from the NHS. If a woman wishes to continue a pregnancy, she should have the financial support to do so - as well as access to core services such as childcare, after school clubs, and the right to continue with her education.

And all children should have compulsory sex and relationships education long before they reach the age of consent. And yes, sex and relationships education should include information about sexuality. Section 28 has been repealed, let’s move on from those dark days. Young people need more than basic biology. And that has to include support and information for lesbian, gay and bisexual young people.

Across the world, we need to say no to the Global Gag Rule, no to organisations who deliberately misinform people about sexual health, and no to governments who continue to keep anti-abortion legislation on their statute books.

Instead, we need to say yes to support policies such as the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, adopted by the African Union in 2003 - a protocol that articulated a woman’s right to abortion for the first time in International Law.

Our policy is quite clear. We’re pro-choice and we’re proud of it. We won’t hide away from discussions and debates about a woman’s right to choose. We won’t allow women’s rights to be diminished because of the pro-life, anti-choice agenda. We won’t tolerate their lies and their propaganda any longer.

I hope you enjoy the NUS Women’s Campaign Pro-Choice Day. We’ve got some fantastic speakers who will cover a broad range of topics, from mothers in education and employment to women’s sexual and reproductive choices.

But before we continue, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-choice and Sexual Health Group for hosting today’s event. The APPG works hard to raise awareness in Parliament of the needs of women seeking abortion and the importance of improving all aspects of the sexual health of women and men in the UK.

I for one am grateful for our allies in Parliament, allies who care as strongly about the issues as we do, and I hope we can work together to defend and extend a woman’s right to choose.

Closing Speech

I have really enjoyed today’s event, and I hope that you all found it as thought-provoking, educational, and inspirational as I did.

But the question remains - where do we go from here? We have explored the pro-choice debate in great detail. We have talked about the role and experiences of mothers in education and employment. We have discussed women’s sexual and reproductive choices.

We know that women are disadvantaged in our society and across the world simply because we are women. And nowhere is this more clear than in our choices about sex, pregnancy and parenting. Young women having sex are somehow responsible for the rise of sexually transmitted infections. Mothers are either benefit scroungers if don’t return to work after having a baby, but uncaring and selfish if they do. Young women are stigmatised if they continue a pregnancy, but attacked if they access abortion.

Women will never be truly equal until we have full and complete autonomy over our own bodies, until our choices are valued and respected. If we do not wish to continue a pregnancy, then that should not lead to harassment and verbal or physical abuse or insidious attempts to make us feel guilty. And if we wish to continue a pregnancy, we should not be disadvantaged as a consequence.

It’s my body - it should be my decision. Not yours, not my doctor’s, not society’s. And that should apply across the world.

All women should have access to the sexual and reproductive services they need, regardless of who they are or where they live. No longer should we condone a situation where some women can access healthcare, information and medical services, but millions of others are denied the most basic services.

It’s a hard fight - and will be a long one. The first thing George W did when he was appointed to the White House was sign the Global Gag Rule. Kerry promised that the first thing he would do would be to repeal it. Research conducted during the American elections suggests that people didn’t decide how to vote based on the war on Iraq or terrorism or employment or the economy, but on so-called “values” - the differences between Kerry’s and Bush’s stance on issues such as abortion. Unfortunately, we know how the US elections played out, and the result was bad news for pro-choice campaigners in America - and for millions of women across the world.

I don’t intend to close today on a bad note, I just want to remind us all about what we are up against. Access to abortion in the UK is coming under close scrutiny and have to be prepared. If we do not work together, if we do not keep our goals clear in mind, if we stand by and fail to speak out, then our reproductive rights will be eroded. Anti-choice activists are getting cleverer - their tools are pictures of “walking” foetuses and mothers furious that their teenage daughters accessed abortion without their knowledge, and they hide behind respectable “family groups” and the Daily Mail. They are in our schools, whispering to our daughters.

We have to get clever too. We have to be clear that being pro-choice is just that - supporting women’s rights to choose, whatever they choose to do. We have to be ready to defend our rights - but we also need to get off the back foot, we need to be pro-active. It’s not just about defending a woman’s right to choose - it’s about extending it.

Over the next few weeks, the NUS Women’s Campaign will be sending out a campaigns briefing, packed with ideas about how you can fight for women’s sexual and reproductive rights on your campuses. You’ll receive a model pro-choice motion to put to your women’s groups and student unions. You’ll get information about tackling the bogus services and phonelines that claim to help pregnant women, but instead try to influence them. We are putting together a Student Carers’ Charter, which you can use to lobby your institution to get better access to childcare on campus.

Together, we will fight for the right to make the decisions about our own bodies. If we confront the issues, if we speak out against injustice, if we put together clear, coherent arguments, if we stand our ground, then we can win for ourselves, for our daughters and for the women we represent.

I know we can defeat the arguments put forward by the pro-lifers. Because our arguments are better and stronger, grounded in our commitment to equality and human rights, but also because we do not need to resort to their tactics of harassment, intimidation and violence. We do not need to send anonymous letters containing images of foetuses. We do not need to throw dolls covered in red paint, and we do not need to target clinics and hospitals, making threats against doctors who carry out abortions.

Just by looking around this room, by reflecting on the words of our speakers and the diversity of our movement, I know we can win. The pro-lifers claim that the pro-choice movement is invisible. Well I say to them here and now that they are wrong. We are here, we fought for a woman’s right to choose, and we will fight again and again, until every woman, everywhere, can make her own choice for herself.

The Blogs on this site represent the individual views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or practices of the National Union of Students.

All links in blogs will open in a new browser window.

The permanent URL for this specific blog entry is: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/josalmon/270410.aspx