Engender blog
Have your say on the future of remote abortion care in Scotland
One of the (very) few positives from this year has been seeing how, when pushed, changes can be made to make people's lives easier. Workplace flexibility which disabled people's organisations have been demanding for years, priority shopping times for older people or those who experience sensory overload, and massive efforts to provide accommodation for those in need.
One of those changes has been a shift in how women (as well as trans men and non-binary people) have been able to access abortion care. We saw the start of this change back in 2017 when the Scottish Government enabled women to take one of the two pills needed to have an abortion (mifepristone and misoprostol) at home. This was already a big improvement for women, meaning they didn't need to travel to a clinic twice in a few days, with all of the childcare, work arrangements, travel costs and other inconveniences that created.
F-words: the language of abortion
Dr Carrie Purcell is a Research Fellow in the Complexity in Health Improvement Programme, at the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at the University of Glasgow. Carrie also leads the Sexuality and Abortion Stigma Study (SASS).
Head to Twitter to follow Carrie and the SASS project.
As a sociologist, and a researcher who works on abortion, I spend a lot of time thinking about the language that’s used around abortion in everyday, medical, academic, media and advocacy contexts. This blog presents some of my reflections on that language.
GUEST POST: Decriminalisation of Abortion for a Modern Scotland
Following the passing of a motion in support of decriminalisation of abortion during the Scottish Youth Parliament's virtual motion debates this spring, MYSP's Emily Harle and Erin Campbell have written for us on why access to abortion is an important issue for Scotland's young people.
Emily Harle (she/her) is a Trustee and member of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYP) for Glasgow Kelvin, and Erin Campbell (they/them) is an MSYP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, and the Deputy Convenor of SYP’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee. The Scottish Youth Parliament is the democratically elected voice of Scotland’s young people, aged 12-25. You can read more about SYP here, and follow them on Twitter @OfficialSYP. You can also follow Emily @EmilyMSYP, and Erin @syperincampbell.
In 1861, the Offences Against the Persons Act passed and abortion became a criminal offence in the UK, with women facing a penalty of life imprisonment for terminating a pregnancy. This outdated law was never overturned. The 1967 Abortion Act, which is commonly said to have legalised abortion, did not fully decriminalise it. Instead, the law provided an extremely strict set of criteria under which the procedure would be permissible, including a requirement for two written doctor’s signatures to confirm that continuing the pregnancy would severely damage either the mother or child.
Abortion, rights, and representation
Attempts to erode women's reproductive rights have been seen this week in England and at Holyrood; here Engender's Policy Manager, Jill Wood, sets out why we must challenge misinformation to defend women's rights.
The vast majority of people in Scotland believe in a women’s right to choose. But periodically we are reminded of the mindset of the small majority waging anti-choice campaigns.
Guest Post: Contraception information and consent - two sides of the same coin?
As discussions around schemes which offer women support on the condition they utilise long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) continue, we'll be hosting a series of blogs by Elspeth Wilson discussing her research into how LARC has historically been - and continues to be - used to control the fertility of marginalised people. Read Elspeth's previous blog here.
In her second blog, Elspeth discusses ideas around informed consent.
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"… they did not mention any of the side-effects nor provide any kind of informational material about what the injection does." [quote from research participant]
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Engender Briefing: Pension Credit Entitlement Changes
From 15 May 2019, new changes will be introduced which will require couples where one partner has reached state pension age and one has not (‘mixed age couples’) to claim universal credit (UC) instead of Pension Credit.
Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and Sexism
Engender welcomes this Scottish Parliament Debate on Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and Sexism and the opportunity to raise awareness of the ways in which women in Scotland’s inequality contributes to gender-based violence.
Gender Matters in Social Security: Individual Payments of Universal Credit
A paper calling on the Scottish Government to automatically split payments of Universal Credit between couples, once this power is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Gender Matters Manifesto: Twenty for 2016
This manifesto sets out measures that, with political will, can be taken over the next parliamentary term in pursuit of these goals.
Scottish NGO Briefing for UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women
Joint briefing paper for the UN Rapporteur on Violence Against Women.
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