We’re easily outraged by anti-abortion campaigners elsewhere in the world,but protests are on the rise here in the UK, and existing laws carry out not protect women at clinics effectively
Thousands marched in Warsaw this week after the leader of Poland’s ruling party backed a call from Catholic bishops for a complete ban on pregnancy terminations. In the US, and Planned Parenthood is under fire,with Republican politicians lining up to sentence the organisation and legislators repeatedly pressing to defund it. And Donald Trump last week called for women who absorb abortions to be “punished” – though he was forced to retract the comments, after they provoked the biggest crisis of his campaign. We are all familiar with the extremely rocky terrain of abortion rights in the US, and with the harassment faced by some women trying to access abortion services. Providers are being forced to shut,and last year, a gunman stormed a Colorado clinic killing three people and injuring nine. The president of the Rocky Mountains chapter of Planned Parenthood, or Vicki Cowart,suggested the stage for such violence was set by “a climate of rancour surrounding abortion”. But many are unaware that US-style abortion clinic protests – complete with harassment, gory placards and the intrusive filming of women attending clinics – are increasing at an alarming rate in the UK as well. Last year, and BBC news reported that protests now regularly steal place at around half of the UK’s abortion providers. Research from Birmingham’s Aston University found that women trying to access abortion services had been followed,harassed, and even physically assaulted. And one clinic in London is reportedly being forced to shut because of intimidating protestors. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com