Siege days are over: how Northern Ireland came to lead the UK on abortion

The chilling atmosphere of pickets and protests at clinics has given way to a new ‘gold standard’ of care

Rory Carroll, Ireland correspondent
Thu 21 Mar 2024

The family planning advisers at Shaftesbury Square still remember the days of siege when anti-abortion protesters staked out the front and rear entrance of their office in central Belfast.

Some pickets would splash holy water on the doors and daub salt crosses on the pavement while others would thrust leaflets with pictures of babies and foetuses at woman entering or leaving the building, and sometimes follow them.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/21/how-northern-ireland-came-to-lead-the-uk-on-abortion

Sinn Féin welcomes call for progress on Northern Ireland abortion services

DUP and Ulster Unionist opposition to 2019 legislation is ‘shameful and disgraceful’, says Michelle O’Neill

Lisa O'Carroll
Thu 28 Oct 2021

Sinn Féin has welcomed a demand by the British government for progress on the introduction of abortion services in Northern Ireland, as the party denounced Democratic Unionist opposition to the provisions as “shameful and disgraceful”.

Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, Michelle O’Neill, accused the DUP and the Ulster Unionist party of trying to reverse legislation imposed by Westminster in 2019, which provided for terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/28/sinn-fein-welcomes-mps-call-for-progress-on-northern-ireland-abortion-services

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

N.Ireland – Early abortion service ends in Northern Health trust

Access to abortion services will end in the Northern trust from this Monday

Seanín Graham
03 October, 2020

ABORTION services in one of Northern Ireland's biggest health trusts will stop this Monday due to limited resources.

In a statement to The Irish News, the Northern health trust confirmed access to its Early Medical Abortion (EMA) provision will cease, six months after it was first introduced.

Continued: https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2020/10/03/news/early-abortion-service-ends-in-northern-health-trust-2086253/

‘Women must not be refused’ – abortion services cut in a third of local areas in Northern Ireland over lack of resources

Ellen Coyne
October 02 2020

Abortion services have been cut in over a third of local areas in Northern Ireland due to a lack of resources.

It comes after the Department of Health failed to fund and commission abortion services in Northern Ireland. Amnesty International and Informing Choices NI (ICNI), a reproductive health charity, said they were aware that the Northern Health and Social Care Trust had stopped accepting referrals for early medical abortion services from 5pm on Friday. The trust had been funding abortion services itself for over six months, and in a statement it said that it "does not currently have the resource to continue to provide the service."
Continued: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/women-must-not-be-refused-abortion-services-cut-in-a-third-of-local-areas-in-northern-ireland-over-lack-of-resources-39583222.html

02.10.2020

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Amnesty International Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland abortion: Westminster inquiry mounts pressure on UK Government to reform law

Northern Ireland abortion: Westminster inquiry mounts pressure on UK Government to reform law
Women and Equality Committee report makes clear UK Government responsible for addressing breach of women’s rights in Northern Ireland

25 Apr 2019

The Women and Equalities Committee have today (25 April) published their inquiry report on abortion in Northern Ireland. Amnesty International UK and the Family Planning Association have welcomed the report and called on the UK Government to take immediate action.
The report identifies serious concerns with the abortion law and makes a series of important recommendations on the law, policy and practice governing abortion access for women in Northern Ireland. Critically, it calls on the UK Government to address the rights breaches found by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/northern-ireland-abortion-westminster-inquiry-mounts-pressure-uk-government-reform