“Outraged” – Pressing abort on abortion rights?

If someone told me a woman was handed a suspended prison sentence for her abortion, I would be outraged. Today in our supposedly evolved and forward-thinking society such a thing has happened to a 21-year-old woman. This sentence is disgraceful and enraging.

For external forces to still interfere with women’s bodies is an archaic violation. Northern Ireland has refused to accept the Abortion Act of 1967. Legal abortion is possible in Northern Ireland only via an NHS clinic or a private clinic, both of these options can only be pursued if certain criteria are met and if a fee ranging between £400 to £2,000 can be sourced.

In the rest of the UK, the Abortion Act of 1967 was implemented with certain criteria, time constraints and the approval of at least two doctors. Many think gratitude for this is in order, and yes, we should be grateful to those who fought for women’s rights before us.

Many think gratitude for this is in order, and yes, we should be grateful to those who fought for women’s rights before us.

However, this gratitude should be limited to these fighters alone because in today’s society women deserve this inherent right – we will not accept anything less. As a woman, I owe nothing to anyone if I choose to have an abortion. An abortion shouldn’t be considered a privilege that has been bestowed upon women, it is a choice concerning their bodies and for anyone to try and interfere and shame them is disgusting.

In 2008 still, MPs tried to shorten the window in which women could get abortions. A parliament that would have been male-dominated still meddling with matters of the female body, matters they know nothing about and should not be meddling with in the first place.

As a woman, I owe nothing to anyone if I choose to have an abortion.

The NUS has published motions this year that prove there is still a need to defend women having abortions. Most alarming are the pro-life groups who have started aggressive “’US-style tactics’, including bullying and intimidation outside abortion clinics”. USA presidential candidate Donald Trump has gone as far as expressing a desire to illegalise abortion, and retracted a statement whereby he voiced that women who got abortions should receive some sort of punishment.

Restricting access to abortion is a form of violence to women. A violent stripping of basic rights and control over one’s own body. The battlefield for the right to abortion is a woman’s body. This is the violence of imposing someone else’s will and a violence of forcing silence.

Restricting access to abortion is a form of violence to women.

It is violent to remove the choices one can take with one’s body one and reduce it to nothing. It is violent to make a woman’s body her prison. Abortion is an invasive process, to add on top of that trauma the violence of people casting judgement and often shame, is abhorrent. It seems rape is the only acceptable reason for an abortion and restrictions on this force further violence upon the victim, where they are forced through an assessment of their consent. It ties into the damaging culture society upholds of slut shaming and victim shaming.

Rape cases aside, stigmatising abortion only feeds this oppressive need society has to shame women for having bodies and for daring to have sexual experiences. Some women, such as Girls actress Jemima Kirke, decide to have abortions because it is in the best interest of the unborn child.

It ties into the damaging culture society upholds of slut shaming and victim shaming.

Why are people so obstinate to deny the fact the pregnant woman will know what is best for herself and the child? What foundation is there for someone to declare they know what arbitrary conception of ‘right’ should be applied to someone else’s body? Women are equally criticised for having children they know they cannot provide for.

What other options do they have but to abort? As is the pattern for women, all options lead to heavy criticism. Kirke had her abortion without anaesthesia due to cost. It demonstrates universal treatment of abortion as a luxury. Access is difficult and costly, and this is incredibly unfair. Abortion shouldn’t be dangled just out of reach – it should be accessible to anyone who makes this life-altering and often traumatising decision.

Women are equally criticised for having children they know they cannot provide for.

A woman should not be punished for her decision; abortion should be an uncontested right to choose what one’s body undergoes and the path one’s life takes. According to the NUS, one in three women have an abortion during their lives. Inevitably, this means that some students will have made the difficult choice to have one. Yet, there is very little information openly available about this on campus and even if it is out there, access is still convoluted and difficult. Abortion is still being treated as a privilege we should feel lucky for, rather than the right that it is.