‘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/

Full abortion services may not be ready in six months, doctor says

4 Dec 2022

A doctor has said she does not think abortion services will by fully developed in Northern Ireland within the next six months.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris announced on Friday he had written to the Department of Health to instruct them to formally commission abortion services in the region.

While Mr Heaton-Harris said he anticipated services becoming available in the coming months, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Laura McLaughlin, who co-founded Doctors For Choice NI, a group which has campaigned for the provision of abortion services, said there were a lot of pathways which had to be established.

Continued: https://www.derrynow.com/news/northern-ireland/979596/full-abortion-services-may-not-be-ready-in-six-months-doctor-says.html

04.12.2022

Featured

News

Chris Heaton-Harris

Doctors for Choice NI

UK ministers face legal action over lack of abortion services in Northern Ireland

Exclusive: government accused of failing to ensure access more than a year after terminations legalised

Alexandra Topping
Sun 10 Jan 2021

Northern Ireland’s human rights commission (NIHRC) has launched a landmark legal action against the UK government for its failure to commission safe and accessible abortion services more than a year after abortion was made legal in the country, the Guardian can reveal.

The Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, is accused of unlawfully denying the rights of women in the country, who experts warn are being forced to use unregulated services and to travel to high-risk areas during the pandemic. The NIHRC is also taking action against the Northern Ireland Executive and the country’s Department of Health.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/10/uk-ministers-face-legal-action-over-lack-abortion-services-northern-ireland

Doctors accused of blocking abortions in Northern Ireland despite legalisation

Doctors accused of blocking abortions in Northern Ireland despite legalisation
Patients forced to buy pills online or go overseas for terminations

Lucy Mansfield
Published on Sat 13 Jun 2020

Women seeking abortions in Northern Ireland are still struggling to access services. Although abortion was legalised more than two months ago, claims persist that healthcare professionals are refusing to treat patients.

A leading reproductive rights group and a doctors’ organisation say that GPs are refusing to refer pregnant women to hospital services so they can access the tablets needed to undergo a medical abortion. They are also aware of midwives and nurses refusing to care for patients before and after the procedure.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/13/doctors-accused-of-blocking-abortions-in-northern-ireland-despite-legalisation