Students gathered to discuss the “We are a pro-choice union” policy on November 27 at the first Union Assembly of the academic year.
Taking place at least 3 times a year, the Union Assembly is a chance for students to submit policy proposals to then be debated by SU members.
One of the policies that lapsed on November 10 2024 was the previous commitment of the SU to being a ‘pro-choice’ union.
In response to this, the November 27 Assembly focused on the “We are a pro-choice union” policy, introduced by Aisha Akram, the Students’ Union Wellbeing and Liberation Officer.
Policy documents describe the “right to accessing reproductive healthcare services including abortion” as a “fundamental right that we need to protect and maintain, especially due to the rise in far-right rhetoric”.
Notes published by the Students’ Union highlight the legal precedence of the Abortion Act 1967, the Equality Act 2010 as well as the Union’s code of conduct (2.d) “’right to freedom of speech and to protest’ as long as it does not (under 2.(d)(i)), threaten or harass any person, ‘physically or verbally’”.
The Students’ Union website describes the Union Assembly as a chance to “enhance the educational experience” where students can “discuss and debate social issues that matter most to a section of students”.
Union Assembly started with a list of lapsed policies (such as the flexibility of exams for international students and the release of early exam dates) as well as a mention of the upcoming lapse of the “Palestine Solidarity” policy, due to expire February 3 2025.
Prior to discussions on the policy, five out of eight of the Student Executive Officers gave brief reports on what they had been working on.
This included updates on the Fallowfield redevelopment project, a relaxed graduation focus group and their work on Reclaim the Night.
Whilst there was time to ask the officers about their work, no questions were asked by the audience.
Full reports from each Executive Officer are available online.
Tables were given 20 minutes to discuss the proposed policy as well as any amendments they wished to raise.
There was a noticeable influx of attendees who joined the discussion portion of the event.
Mediators addressed the room asking all students to sign in and made participants aware that only University of Manchester students were allowed to vote on SU policies.
One out of the five proposed amendments passed. This was the addition of SU support for individuals or societies discriminated against or experiencing hate speech due to a protected characteristic (in this case, gender).
Some members asked for an amendment that withdrew “Strand 2: Implementation” points one and two as shown below:
- The Union will take steps to support students who choose to access healthcare services including abortions, with key information to be uploaded onto the website about services around Manchester.
- The Union will place resources from organisations such as “Brook” within their Advice Service to support students undergoing abortion and signpost students to external support.
This amendment received only seven votes, failing to reach the required 2/3 majority needed to pass.
The Assembly ended around 16:15 with final comments including information on online voting and outlining the minimum number of 500 votes needed for the policy to pass.
Voting on the proposal to renew the policy (with the additional amendment) will be open for 7 days for all University of Manchester students. This will be sent via student email.
