‘This is not the endgame’: abortion clinic buffer zones come into effect in Northern Ireland

‘I’ve been spat on, I’ve been abused,’ says former Green Party leader Clare Bailey, who used to volunteer at a private Belfast clinic

Seanín Graham
Sat Sep 30 2023

On one of Belfast’s busiest streets, Clare Bailey is blinking away tears. Looking up at signage attached to a lamp-post around the corner from an NHS clinic providing abortions, she breaks into a smile. Her daughter, Jude, insists on taking her photograph.

It is seven years since Bailey, a former Northern Ireland Green Party leader and Assembly member, tabled a Private Members’ Bill at Stormont calling for the introduction of so-called buffer zones to prevent anti-abortion protests and harassment outside healthcare facilities offering terminations.

Contiuned: https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2023/09/30/this-is-not-the-endgame-abortion-clinic-buffer-zones-comes-into-effect-in-northern-ireland/

Northern Ireland – Abortion clinic buffer zones to start from Friday

Sept 25, 2023

Exclusion zones set up to block anti-abortion protests outside health clinics in Northern Ireland will be introduced on Friday. The "safe access zones," will be in areas across the five health trusts.

Legislation to set up the zones at clinics where abortions are carried out was passed at Stormont last year. The Department of Health said they are to "protect women and girls accessing abortion services, information, advice and counselling, and protect staff".

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66917236

25.09.2023

News

Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023

anti-choice protesters

N. Ireland – Supreme Court says bill to ban anti-abortion protests at clinics is lawful

Dec 7, 2022
By Jayne McCormack, BBC News NI political correspondent

A bill to ban anti-abortion protests at Northern Ireland health clinics does not "disproportionately interfere" with protesters' rights, the Supreme Court has ruled.

Former assembly member Clare Bailey developed the bill to set up so-called safe access zones outside clinics where abortions are carried out.

It was voted through the assembly in March by a majority of parties. It was delayed from becoming law after the attorney general intervened.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-63886414

Northern Ireland bill banning some anti-abortion protests challenged

By Jayne McCormack, BBC News NI political correspondent
July 19, 2022

Legislation to ban anti-abortion protests at health settings in Northern Ireland will not "go back to square one", the Supreme Court has been told.

In March, the Stormont Assembly voted for a bill to place "buffer zones" outside abortion clinics.

It is being challenged by NI's attorney general, Dame Brenda King.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-62212011

N. Ireland – Enforcement of abortion clinic safe access zones ‘must balance competing rights’

Chief Superintendent Melanie Jones spoke to Stormont’s Health Committee on the proposed new legislation.

By Rebecca Black
Jan 11, 2022

A senior police officer has said that competing human rights must be balanced in the enforcement of proposed safe access zones around abortion clinics in Northern Ireland

Green Party MLA Clare Bailey proposed the legislation, describing a “campaign of harassment and intimidation” outside facilities by anti-abortion campaigners as having “escalated” in recent months.

Continued: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/stormont-green-party-ireland-canada-australia-b976137.html

Abortion in NI: Westminster directs Stormont to set up services

By Jayne McCormack, BBC News NI political correspondent
July 22, 2021

Westminster has directed Stormont's Department of Health to set up full abortion services in Northern Ireland by no later than next March.

The government has intervened with a formal direction requiring Stormont to act.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-57921537

Call for abortion protest ‘exclusion zones’ in Northern Ireland

By Jayne McCormack, BBC News NI Political Reporter
March 31, 2021

Exclusion zones should be introduced outside sexual health clinics and pregnancy counselling centres in NI to protect staff and women accessing services, a report has said.

Protests and demonstrations would not be allowed within the zones.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-56578466

Northern Ireland’s women won abortion rights but its politicians won’t accept that

After Stormont voted to restrict abortion rights, Westminster is intervening to secure the services women are legally entitled to

Susan McKay
20 Mar 2021

Northern Ireland is no country for young women. Out of 87 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) at Stormont last week, just 12 voted to allow women the right to choose abortion in line with international human rights standards. These are built into a law smuggled into NI while the institutions in Belfast were collapsed in acrimony in 2019, following an inspiring collective effort by local feminists and the British Labour MP Stella Creasy. Jubilant, proud, relieved and tearful, women stood at Stormont with banners that said, simply, “Decriminalised”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/20/northern-ireland-women-abortion-rights-stormont-westminster

Abortion: Assembly backs change in NI abortion law

March 15, 2021

A bill which seeks to amend the law in Northern Ireland to prevent abortions in cases of non-fatal disabilities, including Down's Syndrome, has been backed by a majority of MLAs.

The Severe Fetal Impairment Bill, brought by DUP MLA Paul Givan, passed its second stage by 48 votes to 12.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-56404024

Abortion to be decriminalised in Northern Ireland

Abortion to be decriminalised in Northern Ireland
Much to the chagrin of the DUP, Northern Ireland will be brought into regulatory alignment with the rest of the UK.

Oct 21, 2019

Women in Northern Ireland will have a legal right to safe abortions from midnight local time (23:00 GMT) on Monday, after a last-ditch bid to maintain the illegality of terminations fell apart in the regional legislature.

MPs at Westminster successfully amended a bill in the summer to include measures to end the near-blanket prohibition on abortion and introduce same-sex marriage, bringing Northern Ireland into regulatory alignment with the rest of the United Kingdom.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/abortion-decriminalised-northern-ireland-191021163130462.html