- Conference
- 2017 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 12 October 2016
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the 1967 Abortion Act will be 50 years old in 2017.
Prior to 1967 around 100,000 illegal abortions were carried out each year in Britain and it is estimated that 35.000 women were hospitalised each year due to botched back street abortions. No one really knows how many women actually died but one estimate is that 15% of all maternal deaths were a result of botched backstreet abortions.
The 1967 Abortion Act gave women limited access to safe abortions but that right has had to be defended many times since 1967 and our Trade Union movement has always been central to that defence. We recognise abortion is a class issue. Rich women always have the money to access safe abortions it is working class women who died in the back streets and suffer disproportionally when abortion is restricted.
That the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland and that a woman was recently sentenced to prison (sentence suspended) for using the abortion pill purchased over the internet due to non-availability in Northern Ireland.
In October 2016 women in Poland took to the streets in huge numbers to prevent the total banning of abortion in their country organising a ‘women’s strike’ that tens of thousands took part in.
The fight for a woman’s right to choose is a global fight.
Conference further notes the Abortions Rights Campaign (UK) will be actively celebrating the 50th anniversary and using the event to raise the profile of the Abortion Rights movement and campaign to extend the right to Abortion beyond the 1967 Act.
Conference calls on the National Women’s Committee to:
1) Publicise the anniversary events widely within our union
2) Encourage Regions, Branches, Branch Equality Officers to hold events, and
3) To promote the 50th anniversary of the Act and to raise the profile of the Abortion Rights Campaign (UK) in any way that they can.
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