Access to abortion is menstrual healthcare

Antonia Jenkinson 18/07/23

This article contains themes of sexual assault, domestic violence, and abortion. Please take care reading.

Arguably influenced by a post-Trump political climate in America, bodily autonomy and ethical enquiries into the right to seek abortion care has been a hot topic in the past decade globally. While the UK currently (2023) has universal access to abortions for pregnancies up to 24 weeks, there is a growing argument of morality brewing below the surface of UK politics.* This article will attempt to address this central question: should abortion care be considered necessary in the menstrual health system in the UK?

In short, yes. Without question, abortion care is an integral asset to not only menstrual healthcare in the UK, but also to the care of women and people who may need an abortion in general. However, the answer to this question is not necessarily the important part – it’s the reasoning behind that answer that reveals just how imperative maintaining abortion and autonomy rights is to the menstrual healthcare system.

Here at The SuPer Project, we believe that the only way of managing the period poverty crisis in the UK is making sure that everyone has access to comprehensive menstrual education and healthcare, and this includes abortion care.

UK government statistics for 2021 suggest that 214,000 legal abortions took place in Britain. An abortion is defined as:

‘A termination of pregnancy up to 24 weeks either by medically induced miscarriage or surgical procedure.’

Anyone can seek an abortion for free for any kind of reason, however it is not a rash decision. Seeking an abortion comes with pre-treatment discussions about the mental and physical health of the birthing person to ensure informed consent. Medical abortion is widely available throughout England, Wales, and Scotland, as an at-home treatment for the comfort and safety of patients, with post-abortion care taking place at GP surgeries or sexual health clinics. After the pandemic in March 2022, the UK government announced that at-home access to abortion medication would be continued outside of the pandemic. This seems to be a positive, particularly for people in vulnerable situations looking to have abortions.

So why is everyone talking about it so heatedly?

In 2018, the Irish government legalised abortion up to 12 weeks after a landslide referendum to reverse the nationwide abortion ban, predominantly under the guise of preventative care. However, this has led to harsh backlash in Ireland, with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar suggeting an increasing sentiment of disagreement has begun to seep into mainstream Irish media.

As well as this, in the past 2 years certain US states announced plans to make abortions after 6 weeks illegal. This has resulted in political uproar from both the left and right, and turned America’s healthcare system into a topic of global debate. This combination of tempermentality concerning the right to choose in the states and Ireland has brought the UK’s abortion healthcare into the spotlight, resulting in a miriad of questions about its relevance, necessity, and stability in contemporary society.

Your body, your choice.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has openly announced that abortion healthcare is a human right, and that decriminalisation is important.

The WHO states that approximately, whether legal or not, 73 million abortions take place in a year on average. Abortion is common, and a human right, so surely we should be making the healthcare around it more accessible for the safety of those accessing abortion services.

Abortion restrictions, like with many other sociopolitical regulations, impact the most vulnerable. For those who cannot afford to pay for access to safe abortion care, people seeking abortions are forced to search for illegal alternatives. Women living amongst conflict, whether domestic conflict or political conflict, are at an increased risk of sexual and domestic violence.

Under international human law, ‘denial of safe abortion care for women and girls raped in conflict amounts to a violation of their human rights.’

I want to make my position very clear on the subject: what you choose to do with your body is up to no one but yourself. The right to choose is a fundamental recognition of individuality and bodily autonomy. Whether or not you personally would have an abortion should play no part in whether or not someone else should be able to have access to one.

For health’s sake

To put it bluntly, better access to abortion care and abortion education means less women die in childbirth and miscarriage.

There are many reasons someone may choose to go through with having an abortion, including social or medical reasons. In some cases, someone simply may not want to have a child, while in others, medical conditions like ectopic pregnancies can make carrying to term extremely dangerous for the pregnant person. Luckily, citizens in the UK have access to abortion care without prejudice, meaning that whatever your reasoning, a person can have an abortion if they meet the right criteria. The deadly implications of carrying an ectopic pregnancy demonstrate the fundamental need for abortions in the general healthcare systems and that they are an indispensable tool in the care of patients.

Bad access to abortion care results in dangerous attempts at getting rid of a pregnancy. Reducing access to legal abortion does not in fact reduce the actual number of abortions, it simply instead increases the chances of an unsafe procedure being sought out. In countries with safe and widely accessible abortion serves, less than 1 percent of abortions are unsafe, however in countries with restrictive regulations, that number goes up to 31 percent. Complications from unsafe abortions account for between 4.7 and 13.2% of maternal deaths worldwide.

Better, more comprehensive and universal access to abortion care and education means less late term abortions, greatly reducing the risks associated with having one.

America versus the UK

While, in general, abortion restrictions have eased since 1990s globally, America is still an outlier in pattern, having installed highly restrictive laws around the practice in the past 2 years. The US falls behind other countries in many areas of healthcare, however new abortion restrictions will only exacerbate the already growing healthcare crisis in America.

Increasing education around menstrual health and emphasising that healthcare is often part of the safety of marginalised groups is the only way to effectively change the dangerous situation in the US for those seeking an abortion. The UK fortunately has access to at-home abortions, less discriminatory laws around who can access an abortion, and better post-abortion care. Continuing the discussions about the necessary nature of abortions in the UK will prevent our healthcare system from slipping into dystopian Americanism. However, the autonomy of women is constantly under threat in UK parliament, with access to home medication for abortions being debated almost annually. Despite the UK’s improved abortion system in comparison to the US, there is still a serious gap between the obstetrics and gynaecological treatment of black, indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) compared to white people. In the UK, black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth, miscarriage, and abortion. This must change. Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk (MBRR) is currently campaigning in UK parliament for recognition of medical negligence and a need for systemic revolution in the healthcare system for people of colour in Britain. A spokesperson for the statistics department of MBRR states that:

‘[Speaking] out as early as possible’ is the most effective way currently for those seeking obs and gynae care, partners of those seeking care, and anyone invested in the betterment of the UK health system to achieve change, as well as including mandatory abortion care in educational curriculums for both students and medical professionals to ensure universal safety.’

I have frequently been criticised for my pessimism regarding the situation of abortion care in the UK. However, witnessing peers in neighbouring Ireland and across the Atlantic lose their human right, as defined by the United Nations, to abortion is a scary and far too close to home reality for me to feel comfortable in not talking about it. An ‘it could never happen to us’ attitude is a dangerous one, and often results in the passive complicity of silent, but gradual, subjugation of large groups of people. Therefore, it is of key importance that the UK public is educated objectively about the necessity of abortion care before the right to choose debate is brought across the pond.

My position on abortion care will never be the correct one, as there is no such thing; religious influences, personal lifestyle choices, and a multitude of other sociological factors play into people’s differing opinions on abortion. However, an opinion is just that - an opinion - and should not be used to limit safe menstrual care for people with periods in the UK. Your right to choose is something which is imperative in maintaining a functioning democracy, including the right to choose to have an abortion.

The bodily autonomy of women in the UK should not be up for debate – abortion healthcare is menstrual healthcare, and a human right.

*For references and statistics cited in this article, please visit the ‘References’ post in our blog for up to date and detailed information sources. The SuPer Project is committed to producing factually accurate data and reliable information in all content created.