Douglas, Isle of Man, Jan 17, 2017 / 08:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A member of the Isle of Man's legislature and a pro-choice campaign group are aiming to reform the island's abortion laws, but are receiving push-back from a local right-to-life group.
“Our current law has at least done a good job of maintaining general right-to-life protections for unborn children, and safeguarding Manx women from the worst effects of the system of abortion-on-demand in the UK,” Hannah Grove, spokesperson of Humanity and Equality in Abortion Reform, said Jan. 15.
“The Island has an abortion rate that is at least a third of England and Wales, and that is because of the wise strictures in our native 1995 legislation. We are way ahead of the UK, and adopting anything like their outdated and failed 1967 Act would be a regressive and hopeless folly.”
Though abortion is not illegal on the Isle of Man, a crown dependency located between England and Northern Ireland, its current law – the Termination of Pregnancy Act 1995 – allows for abortions only if the pregnancy was a result of rape or on grounds of harm to the mother or fetal disability.
Manx women seeking abortions currently travel to the United Kingdom for a surgical abortion, or illegally purchase medication online to induce abortion early on in pregnancy.
Alex Allinson, a member of the House of Keys, the lower branch of the Manx parliament, is expected to introduce a bill to expand abortion access on the island later this month.
Humanity and Equality in Abortion Reform considers the proposal a regression, saying it “ignores the humanity of the unborn child,” and warning it would “open the system up to abuses” and lead to a culture of “abortion on demand,” citing the abortion of 550 children daily in England and Wales.
HEAR have defined themselves as “the progressive campaign for abortion reform to be carried out on the Isle of Man in line with a recognition of the equal humanity and dignity of all members of the human family.”
The group wants to improve pregnancy support, reform prenatal care, improve mental health care, and increase transparency about abortion on the island.
HEAR also wishes to abolish disability discrimination, saying that “such an informally eugenic approach to prenatal disability is completely out of place in the 21st century, and our common commitment to human equality.” Its final aim is to secure conscience protections for medical professionals on the island.
Grove commented, “Let Tynwald reject the inhumane permissive proposals of the abortion lobby, and instead embrace reforms that truly respect the dignity and equality of every member of the Manx and human family.”
Allinson's proposal is backed by the Campaign for Abortion Law Modernisation. They hope to bring Manx law into line with British law, noting that women from the UK can have abortions funded by the
National Health Service, while Manx women must pay for their abortion.
In 2015, 105 Manx women travelled to England for abortion.
HEAR has called on the House of Keys “to reject any proposal that would deny the human rights and dignity of unborn children, an unjust and false solution to the issues of unplanned pregnancy.”
Article Archive
The fight over abortion law on the Isle of Man
Related Articles • More Articles
Facade of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons / EEJCCACI Prensa Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).One year after the Spanish newspaper El País published the report "Diary of a Pedophile Priest," which recounted the sexual abuse of minors committed in Bolivia by the deceased Jesuit priest Alfonso Pedrajas, journalists from ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, went to the South American country to look into the political implications of the case, how the scandal has affected the Church's image in Bolivia, and the response of the civil justice system.Pedrajas, better known as "Padre Pica," arrived in South America in the early 1960s as part of his formation process with the Jesuits. For 10 years he lived in Peru and Ecuador, where he allegedly committed his first abuses while still a seminarian, and in 1971 he settled permanently in Bolivia.There the Society of Jesus appointed him assistant principal of the John XXIII Insti...
The members of the general board of directors of the Regnum Christi Federation, before its first general convention from April 29 to May 4, 2024, in Rome. / Credit: Regnum ChristiACI Prensa Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).The Regnum Christi Federation will hold its first general convention in Rome from April 29 to May 4, the first such assembly since its statutes were approved in 2019 after a long process of listening, purification, and a hopeful look toward its future.The ecclesial movement was shaken to the core by the revelation of numerous cases of sexual abuse and abuses of power primarily involving Father Marcial Maciel, the deceased founder of the Legionaries of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement.The Regnum Christi Federation is comprised of four vocations: the Legionaries of Christ (priests), Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi, Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi, and lay members.Regnum Christi is now defined as an apostolic body and spiritual family led by ...
Gia Chacón (right), founder of March for the Martyrs, said the plight of the tens of thousands of Christian Armenians pushed out of their homes in the disputed Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh region hash been "completely overlooked by the mainstream media." / Credit: EWTN News Nightly / ScreenshotCNA Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 09:20 am (CNA).Marchers are setting out in the nation's capital on Saturday to call attention to the plight of persecuted Christians throughout the world.Gia Chacón, founder of For the Martyrs and the March for the Martyrs, said the event aims to highlight often "overlooked" victims of persecution. This year's march will focus on the persecution suffered by Armenian Christians as well as those in Nigeria and Iran.In an interview with "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Tracy Sabol, Chacón said she started the initiative to both increase awareness and provide aid for persecuted Christian communities throughout the world.Chacón explained that the decades-long conflict ...