By Dr. Rebecca Steinfeld, special projects leading to BPAS and Chiara Capraro, Director of the Gender Program in the International Kingdom of Amnesty
A month ago, US President Donald Trump was inaugurated again. The tornado of executive commands and statements in the four short weeks that have followed have let many of us feel understandably terrified and overwhelmed. Clearly, the task of abolishing access to abortion is in complete change: Trump’s administration has already removed information from the abortion from the website of the Ministry of Health and Human Services, closed Reproductivatorights.govreleased a executive order Targeting trans people who defined life as a principle from arrest and reinstated the Global rule of gagwhich restricts US foreign assistance to organizations that provide, consult or support legal abortion services.
But as American feminist writer Jessica Valenti she says “We can’t sit with the horror for a long time. We can’t let it overcome or immobilize us – because this is exactly What do they want. “That is why we at the British Pregnancy Counseling Service, the BPAS, the top of the UK abortion care of the UK has worked with International Amnesty in the United Kingdom to accommodate a sales of a strong documentary screening films Zurawski v texas On the day of Trump’s inauguration. More than 130 people watched and took advantage of the opportunity to raise money to support the work of both BPAS and Brigid AllianceAn US -based organization that provides basic logistical support and financial support to pregnant women and people who need abortions.
As the attack on our reproductive rights reaches new heights, we want to share the ideas of our participants for action in order to inspire and equip us. Here are our first five things you could do:
- Share the human impact of restrictions on abortion Bring to life abstract discussions about rights, pointing out the lifelong physical and mental trauma to women, refused to take care of abortions when needed. As explained by film producer Amy Flanagan, movies such as Zurawski v texasThis is followed by a group of women with desired pregnancies who go wrong and then cannot receive the health care they need, can make a huge difference. Stories and narrative are powerful tools.
- Don’t mourn, organize! This is the biggest struggle for the rights of the abortions of our lives – whether we resist repetitions in the US or push for decriminalization in the United Kingdom. US against abortions encourage and fund activists against the choice here in the United Kingdom, as Stella Creasy told us. And are directly involved-US Vice President JD Vance has recently used a high profile speech at the Munich Security Conference to attack safe access to the UK clinic. In response, we must renew our efforts for organization, strategy, coordination, recruitment and funding.
- Be bold. We need to be ambitious and radical in our demands, and not just respond to attacks, as Dr. Sonia Adesara, a NHS GP and doctors spokesman for selection, said. This boldness is required in the United Kingdom as well as in the US. As Eszter Kismödi, the CEO of sexual and reproductive health, reminded us, while bans in the US are extreme, closer to home in Europe and the United Kingdom, access to abortion becomes difficult to make unnecessary and restrictive regulations related to conscientious regulations. With this in mind, we urge you to support efforts to decriminalize abortions for pregnant women and people here in the United Kingdom and removing all the necessary obstacles to access to safe abortion services that are contradictory to evidence of health and human rights. Women should have the power to take control of their body and lives, and those who seek abortions should always be treated with compassion not criminalization.
- Take back control of human rights language and framework. Young, British anti -abortion activists relieve the language of human rights to create new support for their cause. Chiara Capraro, who is leading the gender justice program in the United Kingdom of Amnesty, says we must call and challenge those who turn human rights protections to tighten reproductive rights. In international law, it is clear that human rights begin only at birth and that the right to abortion is inherent to the right to health and therefore critical to fully enjoy all our human rights.
- Continue to bend the arc of justice: The US president, Barack Obama, once said – “the arc of the moral universe can bend over to justice, but it does not bend on its own.” We must maintain this bow to bend so that we can ensure that it maintains the bending towards justice. Nothing can be taken for granted. The time for complacency is over. We must remain vigilant and continue to work together to secure the reproductive handling rights and to extend them further.
We hope that we provide you with energy and ideas to help you reach the huge challenges that will face us in the weeks and the coming months.
If you have any ideas – large or small – for organizations or individuals – please highlight us in social media.
Let’s fight together.
