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Global Safe Abortion Conference Attracts Top Level Speakers

2007-09-14 09:28 627

LONDON, Sept. 17 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The Marie Stopes International Global Conference on Safe Abortion: Whose Right? Whose Choice? Who Cares? which takes place in London in October has attracted some extremely high-profile speakers, including DfID's new Under Secretary of State for International Development, Baroness Shriti Vadera, and Bert Koenders, the Minister for Development Cooperation in the Netherlands.

"This is the first-ever global conference dedicated specifically to this critical issue in women's reproductive health and rights, and is therefore significant for both political and programmatic reasons," says Dana Hovig, Chief Executive of Marie Stopes International. "For the conference to be a success, it is essential to have strong participation from speakers and delegates who are prepared to carry the information and messages home and can provide leadership to expand women's access to safe abortion in their own countries. We are fortunate enough to have attracted exactly that sort of representation."

Other key plenary speakers include Christine McCafferty MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Population; Prof. Fred Sai of Ghana; Gill Greer, Director-General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation; Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, Former Minister of Health of Ghana and Ipas Vice-President for Africa; Jon O'Brien, President of Catholics for a Free Choice; and Dr. Akinrinola Bankole of the Guttmacher Institute.

The 40th anniversary of the British 1967 Abortion Act takes place just a few days after the conference. Organisers have also lined up an impressive range of domestic speakers, including Lord David Steel, who as a young British MP introduced the private member's bill which became the 1967 Act; Marie O'Riordan, Editor of the influential Marie Claire magazine and Barbara Hewson QC, a top barrister who has represented clients in a number of important abortion-related court cases.

The Conference, in association with Ipas and Abortion Rights, will be at the QEII Conference Centre in London on 23-24 October. For more information and registration, please visit http://www.globalsafeabortion.org .

Source: Marie Stopes International
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