The Liberal Democrats have pledged to implement buffer zones around abortion clinics, ensure there’s time for a vote on assisted suicide alongside appearing to support making extreme changes to abortion laws.
In the party’s manifesto, they pledged to “[p]rotect everyone’s right to make independent decisions over their reproductive health without interference by the state and ensure access to high-quality reproductive healthcare”.
Section 1(1)(a) of the Abortion Act allows abortion on mental health grounds. This is liberally interpreted by abortion providers to permit de facto abortion on demand –Â 98%Â of abortions performed in 2022 were on mental health grounds.
Abortions under Section 1(1)(a) of the Abortion Act are restricted to 24 weeks gestation. After 24 weeks, abortions are only allowed in limited circumstances.
This signifies that abortion is actually restricted by the “state” after 24 weeks gestation, and restricted before 24 weeks by quite a lot of other other restrictions provided by current abortion laws in England and Wales.
In their party manifesto, the Liberal Democrats pledge to “[p]rotect everyone’s right to make independent decisions over their reproductive health without interference by the state”.
If the reference to reproductive health includes access to abortion, to understand their pledge for everybody “to make independent decisions over their reproductive health without interference by the state”, current abortion restrictions, equivalent to the 24 week cut-off date or the grounds-based restrictions in current laws which the Government has said makes sex-selective abortion illegal, would should be removed.
If these restrictions were removed, abortion can be available on demand, for any reason, as much as birth.
Polling shows the overwhelming majority of the general public don’t support introducing abortion as much as birth or sex-selective abortion.
Polling undertaken by ComRes, who’ve undertaken polls for the BBC, ITV, The Independent and Sky News, shows that only one% of girls support introducing abortion as much as birth and 70% of girls would support a discount within the cut-off date from 24 weeks to twenty weeks or below. Ninety-one per cent of girls also oppose sex-selective abortion.
The same polling showed 65% of Liberal Democrat voters were in favour of a discount within the abortion cut-off date to twenty weeks or below.
Enforce buffer zones around abortion clinics
In the manifesto, they’ve also pledged to implement buffer zones around abortion clinics and hospitals.
This manifesto commitment is available in the wake of laws, passed in April last yr, which makes it a criminal offence to “influence” any person in search of to access abortion services inside 150m of an abortion clinic. MPs did not pass an amendment to this laws that may have explicitly shielded from prosecution those engaged in praying inside their very own mind and people offering help and knowledge about abortion.
Apart from the passing of this national buffer zone laws, which has yet to be implemented, there have been quite a lot of instances by which individuals have been charged for silently praying near abortion clinics within the UK under local Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs).
At the identical time as restricting offers of help to women outside abortion clinics, the Liberal Democrats have also pledged to double statutory maternity and shared parental leave, in addition to “[e]nsure that every one parents can access childcare that’s flexible, inexpensive and fair”.
The party has also pledged to remove the 2 child profit cap which currently limits certain state advantages to a lady’s first two children.
In 2020, a survey found that 59% of respondents said that their abortion decision was influenced by the two-child profit cap. Of those in receipt of tax credits or universal credit, and due to this fact almost definitely to be affected by the two-child profit cap, 57% “said that the policy was necessary of their decision-making around whether or to not proceed the pregnancy”.
A vote on assisted suicide
Alongside the leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, the Liberal Democrats have also pledged to have a free vote on assisted suicide. However, they’ve also made a commitment to chop suicide rates by specializing in suicide prevention and improving training for NHS staff.
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has consistently voted against pro-life laws. In the last five years, he has voted to force abortion on Northern Ireland, introduce buffer zones around abortion clinics aiming to forestall silent prayer and offers of help, and voted to make at-home abortion legal, where there is no such thing as a requirement for a face-to-face appointment with a medical skilled prior to an abortion, a everlasting feature of the law in England.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “There were a record 252,122 abortions in England and Wales in 2022, however the Liberal Democrats determined that no woman is obtainable help to think about an alternative choice to abortion outside an abortion clinic.
“By pledging to ‘protect everyone’s right to make independent decisions over their reproductive health without interference by the state’, the party also appears to be calling for the removal of abortion restrictions set out in our current abortion laws, which would come with our 24-week cut-off date. If these restrictions were removed, abortion can be available on demand, for any reason, as much as birth.
“Polling shows the overwhelming majority of the general public don’t support introducing abortion as much as birth or sex-selective abortion. Only 1% of girls want the abortion cut-off date to be increased all through to birth and 91% of girls also oppose sex-selective abortion”.
“If the LibDems did make this variation to the law, we can be left with probably the most extreme abortion laws on this planet. The change would further position England and Wales drastically away from most countries within the European Union, where probably the most common abortion cut-off date amongst EU countries is 12 weeks.
“Without a touch of irony, the Liberal Democrats are also pushing for a vote on assisted suicide making it more likely that the practice will change into legal, and in addition pledging to scale back suicide normally. Assisted suicide is a form of suicide though and shouldn’t be a part of the party’s manifesto”.
© Right to Life UK
