“There was a fear they would be forced into doing things they weren’t really comfortable with.
The result is that despite having the some of the most permissive legislation in Europe – on paper abortion is legal up to 24 weeks in Northern Ireland – access to care is fragmented, forcing many women to travel to England. Figures provided to The Irish Times by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service , which acts a central access point for women in Northern Ireland seeking abortions, estimate that 15 to 20 women are travelling to England each month .
Amid the continuing Stormont deadlock and looming pre-Christmas election, is there confidence in the UK government’s ability to deliver on fully funded abortion care? ‘People are entitled to protest, but last week a coffin was placed outside the Causeway clinic in Coleraine. It’s so traumatic’ “I think it’s so important to say that while we come from two different positions, we both recognise the reasons why women turn to abortion,” she explains.
“This needs to stop, this is not protest as I understand it,” she told MLAs before the passing of the bill prompted a round of applause in Stormont’s public gallery.by Northern Ireland’s attorney general, Brenda King.