What we can learn from anti choice narratives

Chair of Abortion Rights, Kerry Abel writes

We have just wrapped our Summer School series of panel events concluding with a session on anti-choice narratives. In recent years we have been able to run a much more front-footed campaign aimed less at just defending our existing rights and more on improving abortion access, as free, safe, legal and local. We have made the case for telemedicine this year and pointed out the benefits of decriminalisation, which I know will happen sooner rather than later. 

But, because abortion is about controlling women, there will always be a disproportionately vocal and well-funded anti-choice contingent and we will always have to be wiley in our attempts to out-wit them. As Polly Jackman, a campaigning lawyer and Sister Supporter activist pointed out last night, the antis have three things in their arsenal: “money, branding and buying into a misogynist narrative that already exists”. 

It’s therefore our role to take these on board so that we shape our campaign to pre-empt the antis arguments and make sure the effects of their narratives damage less.

We know that anti-choice activists exist in a murky world and use a range of methods ranging from encouraging a culture of shame and stigma regarding sex and abortion to pedalling misinformation and disinformation and co-opting feminism. They are not beyond below-the-belt tactics of hypocrisy, or hi-jacking the care sector by masquerading as crisis pregnancy centres and now advertising so-called ‘abortion reversal’ pills.

The lowest of all is effectively giving up on having the debate in the mainstream media – where they would have to use facts and reason – or lobbying Parliament, which is increasingly more pro-choice, so now they are door-stepping clinics to whisper in women’s ears and grabbing their cuffs. Antis presume to have the moral highground, whilst operating in a completely amoral way. They lie, cheat, harass. 

The problem with the ‘regret’ narrative if given over to the antis is how they weaponise genuine emotional reactions. This means feeling regretful about your abortion makes you feel even more guilty. If we want to be a movement for solidarity and human empathy then we must stand in solidarity with all facets of the experience and take that emotional field away from the antis. Regret is not an end-point as the antis would have it be; it’s a part of the process. 

Despite this barrage – we have been successful. In 1979 the trade union movement banded together and marched in solidarity against the proposals in the Corrie Bill to reduce the time limit for abortion. In 2008 I stood with hundreds of others on the green outside Parliament reminding those inside that salami slicing our abortion rights was not in the name of the pro-choice majority. And in the face of underwhelming political support at first, Abortion Rights campaigned to defend abortion in the face of sex-selection accusations (aimed mainly at South Asian women based on some outdated assumptions about their submissiveness). 

But it is not enough to just defend abortion law. We can’t rely on the law alone, lessons from the USA which has the right to abortion protected in Roe v. Wade, but abortion clinics are put under more and more restrictive rules, putting many out of business. So the ability to afford, travel to, get time off and get childcare is made more and more difficult. 

Poland, as pointed out by by Dr Pam Lowe, was once a destination for women across Europe to travel to for their abortions. But with a swift change of government, the law can be whipped out from under us, even in the face of huge opposition from the people – around 80% of the population is opposed to a harsher abortion law.

And in Italy, which has had legal abortion since 1978, yet people often have to travel to other regions or even other countries to acquire services. Italy’s legally protected right to access abortion is flailing against a surge of far right ‘pro-family’ propaganda. Last year we saw a story emerge from Italy where antis are burying foetuses in graves marked with the names of the women who underwent the abortion, without the women’s consent. This is a huge violation of privacy, and deters women who fear that if they had an abortion, they might be ‘outed’ in this way. Italy had their own version of Savita: Valentina Milluzzo died of septicaemia after she was refused a termination at 19 weeks. That life-saving action was not taken due to the doctor using the conscience clause, and still 69% of doctors in Italy invoke the opt-out which means they have the longest waiting period in Europe and the requirement of multiple medical appointments and mandatory counselling.

We rightly cheered when we heard that Northern Ireland had decriminalised abortion in 2019, but during 2020, in a global pandemic 371 people still had to travel to England for their abortions because Health Boards in Northern Ireland are under-resourced and overwhelmed. Campaigning for legal, safe, free and accessible abortion is a constant battle.

Anti choice tropes perpetuate a fantasy of abortions being capricious acts carried out by irresponsible women who will not submit to the consequence of their sinfulness. The line that gets doled out over and over again is, “She should have kept her legs shut”. This also speaks to a culture of sexual repression and moralising that still have a major influence over people’s everyday lives.

We also see antis now co-opting feminism. One of the arguments against the decrim bill proposed recently in Malta was, “If we really cared about women, we would let them be born.” It’s a clever strategy because globally the feminist cause is gaining ground. The antis need to spin their argument to appeal to would-be feminists. The problem here lies in the fact that their definition of womanhood is very narrow – they celebrate those women who occupy traditional gender roles and happily erase the experiences of those who don’t – or condemn them to be shamed and punished. 

And shame and stigma are very effective tactics. We know it doesn’t stop abortion from happening, but it cuts the person off from all their support networks and makes sure that people don’t speak up. As Davinia Hamilton, our Abortion Rights Secretary who has recently been researching experiences of abortion in Malta for a play, pointed out in the discussion – “People who have had abortions in Malta do not realise there are thousands just like them. A conservative estimate is that 400 Maltese women and pregnant people per year access abortion either through pills online or by travelling, so the argument that Malta is unanimously against abortion is an outright lie”.

The antis are working from a handbook and it’s essential that we understand these tactics so we know how we can respond to them. There needs to be a pincer movement, we need to be campaigning for decriminalisation, but also for access for everyone, because good laws are worth nothing if there is no access. 

Silence is also a strategy employed by the antis. I am often introduced in the media as one side of a controversial subject. But one in three women have abortions. Abortion be only be considered controversial if real women don’t talk about their experiences. We all know someone who’s had an abortion. Some of us have given them a lift to the clinic, or looked after their kids, or lent them money to travel. If we want to challenge the anti choice activists we need to talk about why people have abortions and why we need to normalise them as healthcare as well as making it easier to access and a better experience.

• Abortion Rights wants to have more discussions, to include more experiences and different voices, to shape the campaign please join today. 
• To read more on rights-based claims made by UK anti-abortion activists read Pam Lowe’s research.
• If you see anti-choice activity, you can take photos or details and report it to Sister Supporter.
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