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
Catholic Church intervenes in NI abortion court case to restrict access to abortion for rape victims
Posted: Fri, 8 Jan 2016 10:56
The Catholic Church in Northern Ireland is pressing the attorney general to appeal the 2015 High Court ruling that allowed abortion in cases of incest, rape or fatal foetal abnormalities.
The Guardian has reported that the Northern Ireland attorney general is "considering whether to appeal against the judgment" made in November 2015 by the High Court that Northern Ireland's abortion law is "incompatible with human rights", and that the Church has now been acknowledged as an "interested party" – allowing its complaints to be heart in court.
Tim Bartlett, secretary of the Catholic Council for Social Affairs, said that while rape was "the most heinous of crimes", that abortion in such cases was not right because "the answer is not to take the life of an innocent third party. The challenge is to give that person every possible support and care."
He also stated that "the right to life of an innocent person is always inviolable, and that is a fundamental moral principle on which society and human rights should stand. That right begins from the moment of conception, and science affirms that."
Bartlett said that abortion could not be justified even in cases of fatal foetal abnormality. "In the church, we work with women whose babies have life-limiting conditions, and these children can live for minutes, hours, days, weeks and in some cases years. The child is still technically, clinically and in every sense alive as a human person, and is entitled to have their life protected."
Amnesty International has said that Northern Ireland's abortion laws need to be brought "out of the 19th Century and into the 21st."
Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty said that the High Court's "landmark ruling" last year was a "damning indictment of the Northern Ireland Executive's failure to prioritise women's healthcare. That must end. It is now up to the new First Minister to lead that change."
Meanwhile in Scotland the devolution of abortion-related matters to Holyrood has prompted the formation of a new anti-abortion campaign called "Don't Stop a Beating Heart". The head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, said he "wholeheartedly" supported the campaign's aims to resist any extension of abortion time limits. Nicola Sturgeon however has said there will not be any changes to the current time limit for abortions.
Concerns after protests force closure of abortion clinic
Posted: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 16:24
The National Secular Society has joined others in expressing concern after an abortion clinic was apparently forced to close after "intimidating protests."
In an open letter to Jeremy Hunt, campaigners, including a number of MPs, have called on the Secretary of State for Health to outline the steps being taken by the Government to support those providing and accessing abortion services.
On 21 July the Times reported that "intimidating protests" were to blame for seeing the clinic close, which is thought to be a first in Britain.
The letter to the Health Secretary states:
"It is not acceptable for any part of our National Health Service to be held hostage by a small number of protesters who are preventing women accessing, or getting information about, services.
"We believe that the NHS should be able to ensure that staff can work free from harassment, that patients can access services, and that no appointments are cancelled, or clinics closed, as a result of such disruptive actions."
The letter notes that within the 1967 Abortion Act it is "surely the Government's responsibility" to "ensure that there is provision for access to safe, legal abortions for women regardless of where they live."
NSS president Terry Sanderson commented: "These disgraceful tactics have been imported from America where the anti-abortion movement has become fanatical and lethal.
"If these people feel this strongly about abortion, they should make their case through the lobbying channels that we all have to use.
Mr Sanderson called the harassment of women going to abortion clinics "shameful".
"The Government must ensure that staff can work free from harassment, and that patients can access services without intimidation" he added.
The closure of the centre has prompted renewed calls for "buffer zones" around abortion clinics so that protesters are excluded from the immediate vicinity of the centres.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service has said "desperate attempts" are being made to prevent access to services.
