WRH 2020: Politics, the law and the right to choose
On Demand Now
Abortion is one of the only aspects of healthcare reliant on specific legislation, case law, and political support. Providing high quality care for women and clients relies not only on clinical best practice, but on ongoing work in parliament and the courts. 2020 has seen huge changes to abortion law and provision across the UK – this session will talk about how these changes happened, the impact they have, and the work that is done to protect, defend, and advance reproductive health and rights.
Our speakers
Rachael Clarke, BPAS
Rachael works with clinicians, advocates, and politicians to campaign for reproductive health and rights across the UK. She has a background in politics – working in and around Westminster for six years before joining BPAS. She has written parliamentary bills and amendments, briefed parliamentarians, worked with journalists, helped change the law in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Guernsey, and run the campaign to introduce buffer zones around abortion clinics.
Jude Bunting, Doughty Street
Jude specialises in judicial review, human rights and media law. He is an expert in arguing novel and high-profile points of law and has acted in 15 cases before the Supreme Court. In 2020, Jude was named "Public Law Junior of the Year" at the Legal 500 Bar Awards and "Lawyer of the Week” in The Times. He is called to the bar of Northern Ireland and a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission panel of counsel. He has acted in many of the recent abortion rights legal claims.
Stephen Hall, RCOG
As the lead for abortion care at the RCOG, Stephen is responsible for advocating for high-quality services and a legal framework consistent with the RCOG’s ambition to decriminalise abortion. This involves working closely with clinicians, governments, politicians, advocates and journalists to address the many challenges to abortion in the UK. He also works closely with RCOG’s Centre for Women's Global Health.