Pro-choice protest Cardiff 4th March

I went along to the Pro-Choice protest in Cardiff this month. I was pleased to see loads of protesters, women of all ages and men protesting against Anne Widdecombe and co. who are trying to rally support for anti-abortion legislation.

They are seeking partly to block ammendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill which aim to make abortion easier for women. These ammendments include: dropping the requirement of two doctors signatures to certify abortion and removing the right of doctors to object to arranging abortions on moral grounds.

If they get their way the legal limit for abortion will also be dropped from 24 weeks to 20. They claim that children born prematurely at 24 weeks are increasingly surviving due to new medical advances and that aborting foetuses at that point is simply murder.

Anne Widdecombe herself says: "If you are born you have full civil rights...it would be a criminal offence to kill you. But just before birth when you are the same person you have no civil rights at all and you can be taken from the womb and destroyed."

And what about women's civil rights? What about the quality of life these premature babies have, many disabled or brain damaged? Widdecombe also ignores the fact that abortions which take place at this late stage account for only 2% of all abortions. These women are usually extremely vulnerable, victims or rape or domestic violence or very young and in denial about their pregnancy. Others need abortion at this stage because severe birth defects become apparent or they did not realise they were pregnant at all. In short, these are the women who most critically need access to abortion. It could be any one of us in that position. If there was no legal abortion option for women they would either be forced to continue an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy or undergo a life threatening illegal abortion.

There really is no choice. Women must be allowed access to safe, legal abortion. Public opinion supports the time limit, medical science have no findings to suggest foetuses at this age can feel pain - one argument anti-abortionists continue to voice. The time limit is set at 24 weeks for a reason.

I heard one man, attending the 'Passion for life' meeting, a christian and opposed to abortion, questioning a pro-choice supporter. She told him, "I prefer to base my opinions on medical fact and rationality, not on abstract ideas. Legislation should be based on fact. Women should have the right to choose." He continued to ask: "What if your mother had chosen to abort you?" she replied, "If it was endangering her health then she should have had the choice to end her pregnancy."

One protester told me: "The Tory's seem much more worried about the people they can't see - the foetuses - than the people they can see - the women already here"

During the peaceful but highly emotionally charged protest Pro-Choice supporters chanted slogans as anti-abortion groups entered the venue. "Our bodies, our lives, a woman's right to choose" they yelled and at elderly religious parties they asserted "keep your rosaries off our ovaries."

People are entitled to their opinion on abortion, and if they are against abortion for whatever reason they do not have to choose it for themselves. But should they be allowed to inflict their minority opinions on all women?

The heart of the issue is that women should have the right to choose. That is what feminists fought long and hard for and women should continue to have control of their bodies, the rights won by women should be safeguarded and are essential to women's liberation.

Here's my video from the protest: