We've defended reproductive rights from religiously motivated restrictions since our founding.
Religion should not stand in the way of reproductive healthcare.
A desire to restrict reproductive rights, and to control women's bodies, is a hallmark of religious fundamentalism. We strongly support the right of women to have legal and safe abortions and access to emergency contraception.
Since its founding the National Secular Society has supported reproductive rights. In 1878 our founder and vice-president were prosecuted for making information about birth control accessible to working class women.
Throughout the world, reproductive rights are still under threat from theocrats. While individual religious people hold diverse views on abortion, every stage of progress in reproductive healthcare has been fought by religious organisations. Often these have involved virulent campaigns of intimidation and misinformation.
84% of people in the UK believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. This includes 76% of religious people and 94% of nonreligious people.
In the UK, emergency contraception can still sometimes be difficult to obtain. Some religious pharmacists have defied General Pharmaceutical Council guidance by refusing to sell it or even to dispense a prescription given to a woman after a consultation with her own doctor.
People of all religions and beliefs can have disagreements on the boundaries of bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. However, religious beliefs should not be used to restrict the bodily autonomy of other people.
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Latest updates
Peer: conscientious objection bill is “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”
Posted: Fri, 26 Jan 2018 14:01
A peer has described a bill that would extend medical practitioners' rights to refuse to carry out their duties on religious grounds as "a wolf in sheep's clothing".
Baroness Thornton, a National Secular Society honorary associate and Labour peer, said the bill represented "a new front in the attempt to undermine our equalities laws".
The Conscientious Objection (Medical Activities) Bill, tabled by life peer Baroness O'Loan, proposes to "clarify the extent to which a medical practitioner with a conscientious objection may refrain from participating in certain medical activities; and for connected purposes".
The current law allows medical practitioners to object on conscientious grounds to participate in the process of treatment which results in the termination of a pregnancy, or technological procedures to achieve conception and pregnancy.
But if the bill is passed it would mean medical staff with religious objections could refuse to participate in any provisions of the Abortion Act 1967, including activity required to prepare for or support abortions. It would also extends rights for medical practitioners to refuse to participate in any aspect of IVF treatment, and the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment as part of end of life care.
Under the bill, employers who dismiss or restrict promotion, transfer or training opportunities to staff who object to these treatments on religious grounds would be breaking the law.
The bill was tabled in response to a Supreme Court ruling that found conscientious objection rights do not extend to those who "delegate, supervise and support" staff who are involved in abortions. The midwives at the centre of the case had claimed that "being forced to supervise Glasgow health board staff taking part in abortions violated their human rights," despite not being directly involved in abortion procedures.
One of the midwives, Mary Doogan, is now a spokesperson for the 'Free Conscience Campaign', an initiative that supports Baroness O'Loan's Bill.
However, Lord Dubs warned that the bill would significantly widen the scope of conscientious objection and "tip the balance away from the rights of patients".
Lord Cashman, also an NSS honorary associate, said he found the bill "deeply worrying and troubling" and saw it as "an attempt to rewrite laws which respect conscientious objection and which…have been working well". In his speech, Lord Cashman expressed his fears over the extent to which it would reduce patient options and quality of healthcare.
"I respect and defend the right of religion and belief to freedom, but I do not, my Lords, respect the right to impose religion and beliefs upon others who do not share them and by so doing diminish the rights of others," he said.
"I believe if this bill were to become law we would see conscientious objection so widened…as to make services such as IVF treatment, end of life care treatment and abortions difficult to access and sustain nationally. And we would witness the imposition of belief to curtail the legal choices and options of others."
Speaking from the bishops' bench, the Bishop of Peterborough said he "strongly supported" the extension of the conscience clause – including to pharmacists.
Lord Singh of Wimbledon expressed support, arguing that "the requirement to be true to our conscience is embedded in our Sikh scriptures" and insisted "we must have the right to object and not take part in what we consider to be the unnecessary taking of human life." Abortion, he said, had become "just another method of contraception", contrary to the ethical teachings of most religions and beliefs".
Stephen Evans, the NSS's CEO, said the bill was a further attempt to impose religious values into the field of heathcare.
"The law as it stands already provides healthcare workers the right not to participate in abortions and the Supreme Court has clarified what constitutes participation," he said.
"Extending the right to conscientious objection to supporting staff would make a staffing a hospital impossible and adversely affect patient care, and impede the ability of women to access their legal right to end a pregnancy.
"Those with strong objections to carrying out their jobs in full should responsibly choose to work in a speciality which does not bring their personal views into conflict with patient care."
The bill will now be debated at committee stage.
UPDATE: The Catholic Church in Scotland has responded to the bill by renewing calls for similar legislation north of the border. Anthony Horan, director of the Catholic Parliamentary Office, said: "While the bill only applies to England and Wales, its progress should be of interest to people in Scotland, where hopefully a similar bill could be presented to the Scottish Parliament."
Ireland to vote on liberalising abortion and blasphemy laws
Posted: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 13:22
Ireland is to hold referenda on changing its laws on abortion and blasphemy next year.
Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister (pictured), has confirmed that a ballot on abortion will be held in May or June 2018, and another on blasphemy in October 2018. They are part of a wave of seven referenda which will take place in the next two years.
One vote will propose repealing the country's near-total ban on abortion. Currently the eighth amendment to the Irish constitution gives 'equal right' to the life of a mother and an unborn child. A woman convicted of having an illegal termination can face up to 14 years in prison.
Thousands of Irish women travel abroad, mostly to England, for terminations each year, and many more cannot afford to do so. Health authorities also say increasing numbers of Irish women are buying illegal abortion pills online. Such alternatives are potentially very dangerous.
Some women have died after being refused abortions in Ireland. In one high-profile case in 2012 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar died after being denied a termination at Galway University Hospital because a foetal heartbeat was still present, despite the fact she was miscarrying at the time.
In recent years opinion polls have consistently indicated strong support for reform. In 2013 public pressure helped to relax restrictions for women who are suicidal or whose lives are at risk.
Mr Varadkar has criticised the eighth amendment as "too restrictive" and said that it has a "chilling effect" on doctors.
The terms of the vote on blasphemy have not yet been finalised. Currently Article 40.6.1 of Ireland's constitution says the state guarantees citizens' right 'to express freely their convictions and opinions'. But it also specifies: 'the publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law'.
This gained public attention earlier this year when Stephen Fry was investigated for blasphemy. In an interview in 2015 Fry had asked: "Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?"
Atheist Ireland, a group which lobbies for change to the law, said it had "discussed several possible approaches" to reform with Department of Justice officials in 2015.
The National Secular Society played an active role in the abolition of the UK's blasphemy law, which happened in 2008. But the global trend is regressive: last week Indonesia's government rejected suggestions by UN member states that it should "introduce legislation to repeal the blasphemy law".
Ireland's decision is the latest sign of secularisation in the country. A minister recently said there would be "no religious involvement" in a new children's hospital in Dublin.
NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood welcomed the latest news from Ireland.
"Five years ago these votes would have been unthinkable," he said. "There could be no more reliable indicator of the declining power of the Catholic Church in Ireland, particularly in urban areas. This has largely been the result of disgust at the scale of child abuse and the failure to tackle it.
"More now realise that the Church has no legitimate right to tell people what to do with their bodies or restrict what they can say. Let us hope the final outcomes of the referenda reflect this."
The NSS campaigns for an end to blasphemy laws and against religious restrictions on women's reproductive rights.
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