Popular ‘gender critical’ campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen (aka Posie Parker) has spoken out against the right of children to access contraceptives and abortion.
In this unabashed attack on women’s reproductive autonomy, Keen calls for the principle of ‘Gillick competence’ to be revisited. This principle allows minors to consent to medical treatment where it can be shown that they fully understand what the treatment involves, as we all as its potential consequences.
Keen claims that the principle of consent underlying Gillick competence has been at the heart of the ability of minors to access other healthcare, for example gender-affirming care in the form of puberty blockers or HRT.
Keen then ties this to the use of Gillick competence to access reproductive healthcare for minors such as contraceptive medication and abortion. The principle of Gillick competence initially arose in a case where a mother protested against the ability of doctors to prescribe contraceptives without parental consent.
Keen argues that the access of children to ‘dangerous contraceptives’ and to ‘abortion’ requires a ‘rethink’. Presumably this would involve forcing children to carry pregnancies to term, posing a significant risk to their mental and physical health.
Such an attack on reproductive autonomy is unacceptable, and requires condemnation in the strongest terms from all feminist groups.
This speech has formed part of the publicity for Keen’s Australia tour, in which she is set to appear alongside prominent Australian anti-abortion campaigner Kirralie Smith.
The comments made by Keen in the video and her choice of co-speakers are perhaps unsurprising given that Keen’s Australia tours is being funded by CPAC - the Conservative Political Action Coalition.
CPAC has recently been the subject of much discussion, given the call made at their conference by one speaker, Michael Knowles, for the ‘eradication’ of ‘transgenderism’. It is the honestly held opinion of researchers at the Trans Safety Network that no meaningful line can be drawn between ‘transgenderism’ and the lives, freedom, and flourishing of trans people. In our view, this amounts to an effective call for trans genocide.
This is merely another episode in Kellie-Jay Keen’s long-established relationship with the far right. A recent rally in the centre of Glasgow drew one of the largest crowds that have turned out to see Keen, and among that group were a number of figures from the far right, including numerous white nationalists and anti-abortionists.