Thursday 29-08-2019 - 15:48

Durham SU is proudly a pro-choice students’ union. When you asked us to commit to this position, you also asked us to ensure that students’ right to access an abortion was upheld, and that we help pregnant people understand how to do so while at University. 

You can find information on accessing safe and legal abortions from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service here and the Abortion Rights campaign here.* We also aim to publish easily accessible information about abortion access on the Durham SU website soon. 

Durham SU’s Student Officer team wholeheartedly support each individuals’ right to access free, safe and legal abortion. Access to abortion is a fundamental right, and the Officer team and I strongly oppose any attempt to attack, weaken, or undermine this fundamental right, including campaigning based on anti-choice rhetoric and scaremongering. 

Everybody deserves to be trusted to make the decision that is right for them and no one’s health or body should be subject to the prejudices others’ carry. The belief that a pregnant person’s agency over their own body and healthcare should be subservient to anyone else is fundamentally misogynistic. Attacking the right to an abortion also jeopardises the safety of trans men and some non-binary people who can also get pregnant, which worsens their already poor access to reproductive justice and healthcare.

Everybody deserves to be trusted to make the decision that is right for them and no one’s health or body should be subject to the prejudices others’ carry. 

Anti-choice rhetoric is an attack on the rights of every one of us, and we are collectively committed to keeping Durham pro-choice, and working with local, national and student campaigners to improve information and access to safe abortions in Durham and across the whole of the UK. 

Durham SU will continue to campaign for abortion access, champion pro-choice principles, and provide information on safe, free and legal abortions to all students.

Read Durham SU’s pro-choice policy here.

Links to information and advice relating to abortion access*: 

www.abortionrights.org.uk/pregnant/

www.bpas.org/

 

*Please note: some gendered language is used in the information we’re signposting to.