Anti-abortion movement

Anti-abortion movements, also referred to as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the legalization of elective abortions.

"Pro-life" redirects here. For the right to life as a concept, see Right to life. For the person formerly known as Marvin Richardson, see Pro-Life (politician).

Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus.[note 1]

Movements by country

Europe
Main article: Abortion law
Each Life Matters demonstration in Madrid, Spain, on 17 October 2009

In Europe, abortion law varies by country, and has been legalized through parliamentary acts in some countries, and constitutionally banned (or heavily restricted) in others. In Western Europe this has had the effect at once of both more closely regulating the use of abortion, and at the same time mediating and reducing the impact anti-abortion campaigns have had on the law.[1]

France
Main article: Abortion in France

The first specifically anti-abortion organization in France, Laissez-les-vivre-SOS futures mères, was created in 1971 during the debate that was to lead to the Veil Law in 1975. Its main spokesman was the geneticist Jérôme Lejeune. Since 2005, the French anti-abortion movement has organized an annual March for Life.[2]

The 1920 abortion laws of France have not been entirely repealed leading to ambiguity in the nation's policies.[3] By 1975, Simone Veil, the minister for health, introduced legislation that specifically in cases of distress "tolerated" abortion up to ten weeks.[4] Abortions after this date are only cleared by the government if the pregnancy endangers the health of the woman or will result in the birth of a child with a severe and incurable disease.[4] After twelve weeks, abortion, except for "therapeutic abortion, under the terms of Article 317 of the Criminal Code, is a crime, punishable by 6 months to 10 years in prison, a fine of between 1800 and 250,000 Francs, and loss of professional license."[4]

Catholics and right-wing political groups continue to protest abortion. The Front National, an extreme right-wing anti-immigration party led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, has attempted to decrease to funding of abortions unsuccessfully even though they have around 10% of the French electorate.[3]

Ireland
Main article: Abortion in the Republic of Ireland

There are several major anti-abortion groups in the Republic of Ireland, Pro Life Campaign, Youth Defence and Iona Institute. Despite the 1967 Abortion Act which was a significant landmark for women in the UK, it did not apply to Northern Ireland. These women either had to travel to the mainland to receive medication or face criminal charges for purchasing abortion pills illegally.[5] The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland (2018) provided for legal abortion in Ireland, but several anti-abortion parties still campaign, including Aontú.[6][7]

Liechtenstein
Main article: Abortion in Liechtenstein

In Liechtenstein, an application to legalize abortions was rejected by a slim majority in a referendum in 2011. The opponents, which included Prince Alois, got 500 votes more and eventually settled at 52.3 percent compared with 47.7 percent.[8]

Prince Alois had announced the use of his veto in advance if necessary to prevent the introduction of abortion.[9]

Spain
Main article: Abortion in Spain

In Spain, over one million demonstrators took part in a march in Madrid in October 2009 to protest plans by the government of José Luis Zapatero to legalize elective abortions and eliminate parental consent restrictions.[10]

In 2010 1,067,315 Spaniards signed a petition against the liberal abortion policy of the government. The petition was launched by the organizations "Derecho a vivir" (right to life) and "Hazteoir" (make yourself heard).[11] Hazteoir is connected to the right-wing party Vox, whose leader Santiago Abascal is a Hazteoir member.[12]

Ukraine
Main article: Abortion in Ukraine

Gift of Life is a medical and anti-abortion charity in Ukraine.[13]

United Kingdom
Main article: Abortion in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the most prominent anti-abortion organization is the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. It was formed at the time of the passage of the 1967 Abortion Act which liberalized abortion law. The group campaigns against abortion, often using questionable claims,[14] and supports protests at pregnancy clinics.[15] The Anti-Abortion Act of 1967 had significant effect in Britain (excluding Northern Ireland). Rather than overturning the existing law, the act states that if at least two doctors deemed the reasons for abortion in alignment with the Act, it could legally be performed. This still meant that the punishment for women who obtained abortions contrary to the act were faced with potential life imprisonment. Doctors too could be prosecuted if they were found administering abortions without reasonable cause.[5] To this day, there are many clinics in the UK that anti-abortion activists routinely stand outside; their goal being to discourage the women entering from having their abortions. This is through two processes known as "prayer vigils" which are sometimes whispered quietly and other times said aloud to actively dissuade, and "pavement counseling" where activists approach entering women to persuade them to continue with their pregnancies. This is a practice held in low regard by women who seek abortions and the organisations providing the service as it has been known to cause anxiety and distress.[5]

Middle East and North Africa

Israel
Main article: Efrat (organization)

In Israel, the major anti-abortion organization is Efrat.[16] Efrat activists primarily raise funds to relieve the "financial and social pressures" on pregnant women so that they will not terminate their pregnancies. However, this activity is only carried out in the Jewish sector in Israeli society, as Efrat officially views abortion among Jews as a demographic threat to the Jewish people.[17]

Americas

United States
Protest outside clinic in the Bay Area, 1986.
Main article: United States anti-abortion movement

The United States anti-abortion movement formed as a response to the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court decisions, with many anti-abortion organizations having emerged since then. There is also a smaller consistent life ethic movement, favoring a philosophy which opposes all forms of killing, including abortion, war, euthanasia, and capital punishment.

The current movement is in part a continuation of previous debates on abortion that led to the practice being banned in all states in the late 19th century. The initial movement was led by physicians, but also included politicians and feminists. Among physicians, advances in medical knowledge played a significant role in influencing anti-abortion opinion. Quickening, which had previously been thought to be the point at which the soul entered a human was discovered to be a relatively unimportant step in fetal development, caused many medical professionals to rethink their positions on early term abortions.[18] Ideologically, the Hippocratic Oath and the medical mentality of that age to defend the value of human life as an absolute also played a significant role in molding opinions about abortion.[18]

Meanwhile, many 19th-century feminists tended to regard abortion as an undesirable necessity forced upon women by thoughtless men.[19] The "free love" wing of the feminist movement refused to advocate abortion and treated the practice as an example of the hideous extremes to which modern marriage was driving women.[20] Marital rape and the seduction of unmarried women were societal ills which feminists believed caused the need to abort, as men did not respect women's right to abstinence.[20]

Canada

A Conservative MP, Cathay Wagantall, introduced a bill in 2020 seeking to ban abortions for the purpose of choosing a child's sex.[21] Abortion in Canada is legal at all stages of pregnancy and funded in part by the Canada Health Act.[22] In 2013, the Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, barred the members of Parliament from discussing the matter in the Commons. Harper's move was linked to his repeated declarations that he wouldn't allow the abortion debate to be re-opened.[21] Since the 1980s, at least forty-three private member bills that are against abortion have been sent to the House of Commons yet none of them have been passed.[3] Canadian anti-abortion discourse increasingly "aims at changing cultural values more than legislation; is explicitly framed as 'pro-woman'; largely avoids appealing to religious grounds; and relies on a new 'abortion-harms-women' argument that has supplanted and transformed traditional fetal personhood arguments".[23]

There have been two national anti-abortion March for Life rallies that have gathered over 10,000 protesters at Parliament Hill.[23] At these protests, thousands gathered in attempts to create enough commotion to enact change. In addition to the national protests, anti-abortionists still protest abortion clinics across the nation in attempts to stop abortions from continuing.[23]

Chile
Main article: Abortion in Chile

The Chilean movement is called Siempre por la Vida.[24]

Africa

South Africa
Main article: Abortion in South Africa

In South Africa there is an anti-abortion organization called Pro-Life Generation.[25]

Australia
Main article: Abortion in Australia

In Australia, the anti-abortion movement is represented by a number of organizations including Cherish Life, Right to Life Australia, and Australian Christian Lobby. These organizations undertake various campaigning actions including political campaign fundraising.[26]

When considering the anti-abortion laws of Australia, it is important to look with an international lens as a large portion of Australian law is derived from the British law.[27] Until 1967, British law states that "an induced abortion is unlawful in all situations save the (probable) exception of situations where it is necessary to save the life of the mother."[28] Australia partook of this law until Britain changed it in 1967 towards a more liberal standpoint.[28]

About twenty-two per thousand women aged between fifteen and forty-four have an abortion each year which causes great unrest with the anti-abortionists of Australia.[27] Throughout Australia, specifically in Victoria and Queensland, numerous anti-abortions lobbying and protesting took place. In Brisbane in 1985, the police raided an abortion clinic and successfully took the records of the women being treated there.[28] With this breach of privacy, many gathered in attempt to gain political support to end the raids. Within the government there is also said to be seen a loosely banded group of anti-abortion politicians that attempted to deny government rebates for terminations but was denied due to its need of clarification.[28]

Russia
Main article: Abortion in Russia

Abortion is legal in Russia as an elective procedure up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and in special circumstances at later stages.[29] The abortion issue gained renewed attention in 2011 in a debate that The New York Times says "has begun to sound like the debate in the United States".[30] Parliament passed and President Dmitri Medvedev signed several restrictions on abortion into law to combat "a falling birthrate" and "plunging population".[30] The restrictions include requiring abortion providers to devote 10% of advertising costs to describing the dangers of abortion to a woman's health and make it illegal to describe abortion as a safe medical procedure. Medvedev's wife Svetlana Medvedeva has taken up the anti-abortion cause in Russia in a weeklong national campaign against abortion called "Give Me Life!" and a "Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness" by her Foundation for Social and Cultural Initiatives in conjunction with the Russian Orthodox Church.[30]

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See also

Notes
  1. Definitions of abortion, as with many words, vary from source to source. Language used to define abortion often reflects societal and political opinions (not only scientific knowledge). For a list of definitions as stated by obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) textbooks, dictionaries, and other sources, please see Definitions of abortion.

References
  1. Outshoorn, Joyce (1996). "The stability of compromise: Abortion politics in Western Europe". In Marianne Givens; Dorothy M. Stetson (eds.). Abortion politics: public policy in cross-cultural perspective. Routledge. p. 161. ...parliamentary decision are sustained by political parties which, in comparison to the United States, are deeply rooted in European society. The political parties have managed to regulate and pacify the political reform process, which in the decision-making stage marginalized opposition outside parliament.
  2. "Thousands take part in Paris anti-abortion march". Euronews. 19 January 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  3. "Abortion Debate". BMJ: British Medical Journal. 299 (6703): 814–816. 1989. ISSN 0959-8138. JSTOR 29705487.
  4. Gaudry, D.; Sadan, G. (1989). "France: late abortion". Planned Parenthood in Europe = Planning Familial en Europe. 18 (1): 6–8. ISSN 1017-8538. PMID 12315825.
  5. Low, Pam; Page, Sarah-Jane (May 2018). "Anti-Abortion Activism in Britain".
  6. "Protest rally in Limerick as abortion figures are revealed". www.limerickleader.ie.
  7. https://www.irishcatholic.com/6666-abortions-in-ireland-not-treated-as-a-big-story/
  8. "In Liechtenstein bleiben Abtreibungen verboten". Focus. 18 September 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  9. "Radikal für das Leben!, 08 September 2012". Zukunft CH. 28 September 2012. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  10. "Agence France Presse, 17 October 2009". 17 October 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  11. "Spanien: Mehr als eine Million unterschreiben gegen Abtreibung, 23 February 2010". Blaue Narzisse. 23 February 2010. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  12. Bastante, Jesús (7 December 2018). "Las conexiones de Vox con HazteOir, los 'kikos' y una docena de obispos españoles". eldiario.es (in Spanish).
  13. "Gift of Life website". us.giftoflife.org. 10 June 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  14. Vasagar, Jeevan, ed. (23 March 2012). "Revealed: what children are being told about abortion". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  15. Quinn, Ben (13 March 2012). "Anti-abortion activism escalating, warns clinic targeted by vigil". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  16. "Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life". Friendsofefrat.org. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  17. "How Efrat Saves Lives". Friendsofefrat.org. Archived from the original on 14 December 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  18. James C. Mohr (1978). Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy. Oxford University Press/. pp. 35–36.
  19. Mohr, James C. (1978). Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy. Oxford University Press. p. 110.
  20. James C. Mohr (1978). Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy. Oxford University Press/. p. 112.
  21. Levitz, Stephanie (27 February 2020). "Scheer appears to backtrack on commitment not to allow debate on abortion". The Canadian Press. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  22. J. Cherie Strachan; Lori M. Poloni-Staudinger; Shannon Jenkins; Candice D. Ortbals (2019). Why Don't Women Rule the World?: Understanding Women's Civic and Political Choices. SAGE Publications. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-5443-1727-4.
  23. Saurette, Paul; Gordon, Kelly (2013). "Arguing Abortion: The New Anti-Abortion Discourse in Canada". Canadian Journal of Political Science. 46 (1): 157–185. doi:10.1017/S0008423913000176. ISSN 0008-4239. JSTOR 43298127.
  24. "Bachelet to Redact Chile's Abortion Prohibition before End of 2014". PanAm Post. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  25. "ProLife Generation Archived 2018-08-06 at the Wayback Machine". ProLife Generation
  26. Allan, Lyle (30 November 2010). "Margaret Tighe. The most powerful woman in Victoria". Tasmanian Times. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018.
  27. "Abortion Laws Around the World". Pew Research Center. 30 September 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  28. Warhurst, John; Merrill, Vance (1982). "The Abortion Issue in Australia: Pressure Politics and Policy". The Australian Quarterly. 54 (2): 119–135. doi:10.2307/20635163. ISSN 0005-0091. JSTOR 20635163.
  29. "Федеральный закон "Об основах охраны здоровья граждан в Российской Федерации"". Российская газета.
  30. Sophia Kishkovsky, 15 July 2011 Nytimes.com Russia Enacts Law Opposing Abortion
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