New 'Life' attack on women
Socialist Organiser1983 1983-03-24Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 7 →
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ORNEL MARITOSH Stoung Not Clos court ontar CONDONE DRISION "RANCH LON THE Director of Public Prosecutions is considering whether to prosecute the British Pregnancy Advisory ervice for supplying the 'morning-after' pill. This follows complaints made to the Sheffield police by the anti-abortion 'Life' group.
A successful prosecution could make the 'morning after' pill illegal and have far reaching consequences.
At the moment, scientific opinion takes pregnancy to start from the time the fertilised egg is implanted in the womb. So the morning-after pill, which stops the egg being implanted, is counted as a contraceptive measure not as an But 'Life' believes that life starts from the moment of conception -. the moment the egg is fertilised. If the DPP and then the courts accept this view, then thé morning-atter pill will be subject to the same legal controls as There are also implications for women using the 'Intra-Uterine Device (IUD) as a method of Jenny Contact:
National Campaign, 374, Gr London contraception. This methoc relies on inserting a 'coil into the womb, to prevent the fertilised egg being implanted.
Medical research would also be affected. Doctors check that fertilised eggs haven't been damaged before they implant them in the mother' womb for test tube' babies.
Damaged eggs: aren't implanted.
If it were decided that a fertilised egg is a 'life' then not implanting an egg would be murder.
Doctors researching into infertility and genetic disorders would also be affected. Their research depends a lot on being able to fertilise eggs and then see what's wrong.
Life's argument puts pseudo-scientific speculations above women's real, immediate rights. For the woman who has been raped, whose contraception has failed, or who has had sexual intercourse without contraceptive protection, it is a much better alternative to take the 'morning after' pill than to wait to see if pregnancy is confirmed, and then make the choice between abortion or carrying on with the pregnancy:
And there are 250,000 women in Britain using an IUD for contraception. Many of these use the IUD because medical reasons prevent them using the pill on a daily basis.
We need to defend the partial rights we have at the moment, and fight to extend them to a right to abortion on demand.
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