PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Today, representatives from 25 organisations, including the Muslim Women’s Network, The Hindu Council, Sikh Council, Sikh Women’s Alliance, Imam Ajmal Masroor, Sharan Project, Jeena International and Karma Nirvana sent a letter to every MP in the House of Commons urging them to back the sex-selection abortion amendment proposed by over 100 MPs, led by Fiona Bruce MP.
The letter expresses regret at the unwillingness of parties on both sides to see beyond pro-life, pro-choice rhetoric, and addresses directly some of the concerns which have been voiced about the amendment.
The letter says
‘Our experience tells us that practical help is needed in areas where women are sometimes devalued and degraded to the extent that people try to stop them from being born. Not enough is being done. We believe the Government can and should play a part. This amendment provides that opportunity’.
Report Stage of the Serious Crime Bill, when the amendment will be debated, is likely to be on 23 February.
ENDS
NOTES
Please always describe as ‘xxxx, spokeswoman for www.stopgendercide.org’
To speak to one of our spokeswomen, contact info@stopgendercide.org
9 February 2015
We support women who have been or are in danger of being coerced into sex-selective abortion in the UK, particularly in communities where there still exists a preference for a son.
Since news broke of the sex-selective abortion amendment to the Serious Crime Bill, we have been concerned by how much airtime has been given to radical voices opposing the initiative.
Their principal argument is that the www.stopgenderide.org campaign is disingenuous and that it is merely a ‘Trojan horse’ for pro-life activity.
We would like to set the record straight.
We work with women who are dealing with sex-selective abortion in the UK. Most of us are pro-choice, though some of our number believe that abortion should only be available in limited circumstances. We are all united in the belief that sex-selective abortion must end. We were campaigning for this long before Fiona Bruce or anyone else became interested. We are delighted that so many MPs have responded positively to our efforts.
We know that this amendment will help because we see first-hand that mixed messages about the law are causing confusion in communities. We are confident that this contributes to complacency in the minds of those who, for whatever reason, do not want a girl.
If the current framing of the law allows the British Pregnancy Advisory Service to argue that sex-selective abortion is not illegal because “the law is silent on the matter”, or Professor Sally Sheldon – the lead signatory of a letter to the Telegraph protesting the amendment – to argue that the unlawfulness of the practice is “far from clear”, or the British Medical Association to say that aborting for fetal sex is permissible in some circumstances, then the law requires clarification.
To be clear: the amendment does not change the grounds of the Abortion Act. It does not – indeed could not – ‘criminalise’. It merely makes explicit something which is already unlawful.
It does not preclude abortion where there is a sex-linked disability in the fetus. It does not require ethnic profiling. It is limited to the issue of sex-selective abortion.
Our experience tells us that practical help is needed in areas where women are sometimes devalued and degraded to the extent that people try to stop them from being born. Not enough is being done. We believe the Government can and should play a part. This amendment provides that opportunity.
We implore you to assess the amendment on its own merits, and to resist being drawn into a debate about who is proposing it.
This initiative is a good first step to helping those living with sex-selective abortion.
We urge you to support it.
