As socialists we support abortion on demand. We fight as women to control our lives, and this means controlling our bodies. countries where abortion is available on request up to 12 weeks, the proportion of late abortions is considerably less than in Britain. Abortion should be considered like any other medical procedure. It should be safe, free, legal and avallable to all women who want it.
We want more resources put into the health • service to avoid There should be free pregnancy testing facilitles in doctor's surgery, hospital and clinic. Day care clinics for abortions should be established in every area. Health authorities should have a statutory duty to provide abortions, based on the numbers required. Women should be able to refer themselves for that many of the delays caused by anti-abortion doctors could be avoided.
We want better sex education in schools so that all women - particularly young women - are aware of safe, effective contraceptive methods and can spot the early signs of pregnancy. Young men should be educated in these matters too. The new earlier methods of diagnosing some fetal abnormalities must be available on demand on the National Health Service. We want to create the kind of society - a socialist society - in which all women really can 'choose' about abortion, We want to make our choice in the context of free 24-hour a day childcare, in a society which provides proper resources for those with mental in a society which outlaws racist or physical disabilitles, policies in state services. The responsibility for the physical and emotional well-being of children should be borne by the whole of society. Women should be able to choose to work and have children, without any penaltles.
We want control over our bodles, an end to forced sterilisation and the use of contraceptives without our informed consent. contraceptives refused by women in the advanced capitalist countries should be exported to the Third world.
If all the above measures were taken, the need for late abortions would be drastically reduced. But abortion must always be available to women as a last resort. In order to control our own Ilves, we must be able to control our own bodies. This is only possible in a society geared to our needs, a socialist soclety.