It's My Life
Nicola Biggerstaff
We are entering a crucial time in the global campaign for reproductive rights. Almost eighteen months on from the Dobbs v Jackson decision, which overturned the constitutional right to access abortion services in the United States, leaving it to individual states to roll out their own legal restrictions, Alabama has this week ruled that frozen embryos should be granted the same protections as people. This has caused massive setbacks for reproductive healthcare in the state, which had already imposed a total ban on abortion at any stage of gestation with no exemptions prior to the Supreme Court ruling, and has now led to a pause on all IVF procedures in the state.
This confusing legislative process of rule now, ask questions later has left fertility clinics in limbo, unsure if they will be liable for murder during perfectly normal steps in the IVF process, from embryo screening and selection to unsuccessful transfers. In arguing that they’re ‘saving the children’, state legislators have shot themselves in the foot, as this would mean less children being born in the state. Currently, around two per cent of children born in the United States are conceived through IVF.
This came about following an incident in a fertility clinic in the town of Mobile, in which a patient managed to gain access to their specialist freezers and accidentally damaged a number of frozen embryos. The law was amended in order to allow the affected couples to sue for wrongful death of a minor.
This is the path we could be heading down if we do not ensure that access to reproductive healthcare in Scotland is protected.
We are now in the middle of 40 Days for Life, a Christian, global, anti-choice movement which commenced in mid-February and will run until 24th of March this year. Originating in Texas, this annual harassment campaign aims to ‘end the injustice of abortion’ through protests outside healthcare facilities, including but not limited to abortion providers.
Last year, their rally outside the QEUH in Glasgow drew significant attention on social media thanks to the words of a healthcare provider who challenged them. Our healthcare staff have been through hell and back these last few years, and continue to work under extraordinary pressure. The last thing they want on their way to and from work is to be confronted by protestors who are completely ignorant to the services they provide, whether life-saving or not, who think they are murderers for simply providing the best treatment to their patients, including those not even seeking abortion services.
Some local churches have even been implicated in organising the Scottish chapter of this hate campaign. Churches in Edinburgh, St Andrews, Rutherglen, Newton Mearns, and Paisley have all encouraged their members to participate in these protests this year and/or in previous years, and these are just those with information publicly available online. They do this because they think their scripture says abortion is wrong. Spoiler: it doesn’t.
And it’s not just churches who have been joining this movement to roll back our rights to access healthcare. The Scottish Family Party, formed in 2017 by Richard Lucas, former UKIP member and man, last year organised a protest outside the Sandyford clinic in Glasgow, a facility which provides all manner of reproductive healthcare, including abortions. While a previous, legitimate threat to ‘brick up’ the clinic doors turned out to be a mock stunt with cardboard boxes, which became vastly outnumbered by counter protestors in support of the clinic, it does point to a worrying climate we’re creating in Scottish politics where an extremist fringe party is free to spend years spreading misinformation on women’s and children’s healthcare.
This was never about protecting the children. If it was, there wouldn’t be thousands of children in foster care. They would help the increasing number of families using foodbanks through donations and help in the community. They would never even consider protesting outside a facility which unwell children need to access for lifesaving treatment, like hospitals.
But bans on protest are morally wrong and do not work, as is the nature of protest. The continuous efforts of the UK government to impose restrictions on them are farcical yet ominous. However, the lack of humanity shown by these protestors for those seeking abortion-based healthcare shows how irresponsible it is to consider free speech a right which is wholly free of consequence. They are affecting all patients seeking treatment in healthcare facilities, not just their intended targets.
Of course people should be free to express and practice their religious beliefs. It is the fundamental concept of a free society that people should be free to do this. I will keep saying this: if you are against abortion, don’t get one. But when those beliefs begin to infringe on others’ unwillingly, whether through being exposed to ignorant protest in public or having beliefs forced upon them through legislation, we run the risk of increasing hostility and restrictions on everyone’s freedom overall as a result of the downward spiral to impropriety.
Just like that, our basic rights are up for debate once again. Freedom to shout about religion clashes with our freedom to not be shouted at about religion. Our freedom to access basic healthcare, to express our bodily autonomy, clashes with the freedom of others to express their disdain at us for doing so. I’m not here this week to justify the existence of abortion healthcare, I’ve already done this. This is an appeal to anyone who will listen that our right to access healthcare must be protected, and the government must publicly reaffirm their commitment to this during such a crucial time.
Increasingly influenced by the polarising of the debate in the United States, and empowered by the rolling back of protections over there, anti-choice campaigners are gaining a wider public profile in the UK, but particularly in Scotland thanks to the progression of the buffer-zone Bill. We were one of the first to introduce what was such a radical step in the right direction. Now, thanks to delays through the parliamentary process, we will be the last in the UK to enact it.
The Abortion Services (Safe Access) Bill tabled by Gillian Mackay MSP entered its evidence gathering phase this week, hearing evidence from abortion campaigners and opposers alike on the feasibility of imposing so-called ‘buffer zones’ around healthcare facilities which provide abortions, preventing protestors from harassing patients and staff within a proposed 150-metre safe zone.
Responses to the consultation on the Bill also paint a good picture of the current climate. While it’s encouraging to see over 56% of respondents were in support of the legislation, and that, despite appearances, religious influence is split fairly evenly between support and opposition to the Bill, some of the responses highlight the uphill battle we’re facing in enshrining protections for reproductive healthcare, including from those who believe these protests actually provide ‘support’ and ‘comfort’ for women.
I don’t have the complete solution here, but this Bill appears to be a step in the right direction. As a very real, viable-outside-the-womb person, I take comfort in knowing that I still have all these choices available to me should I ever need to use them. No one should be afraid of being intimidated for making these choices for themselves.