Women in Northern Ireland Still Struggle to Access Abortion More Than 2 Years After Decriminalization

BY KRISTEN CHICK/BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND
JUNE 30, 2022

When Katie Boyd decided to have an abortion in November, she thought the process would be smooth. She had celebrated when abortion was decriminalized in Northern Ireland two years earlier, in October 2019, and two years on, it seemed logical that abortion care would now be readily available.

Boyd, 40, called a hotline intended to connect those seeking abortion with care, and was told she’d receive a call within five days from a clinic that could provide an early medication abortion. But five days went by with no call. Her follow-up calls begging for direct contact information for the clinic got her nowhere. As the days turned into weeks, Boyd began to panic.

Continued: https://time.com/6192022/northern-ireland-abortion-access/

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

Northern Ireland abortion service facing axe if funding not secured

Charity’s plea for help and says messages to Health Minister have gone unanswered

Lisa Smyth
June 22 2021

Early medical abortions look set to be axed in Northern Ireland, meaning women will have to travel to England, pay for the service, or access the treatment over the internet.

In the latest blow for the campaign for safe and equitable healthcare for women, Informing Choices NI (ICNI) has said it will be forced to withdraw the access system if funding is not made available by this October.

Continued: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/northern-ireland-abortion-service-facing-axe-if-funding-not-secured-40565900.html

22.06.2021

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22 abortions carried out in Northern Ireland in year, new figures show as MP claims 100 refused

Government says further legislation could be proposed

Jonathan Bell
January 20 2021

An MP has claimed over 100 women in Northern Ireland have been refused an abortion with some turning to the internet for pills.

It comes as new Department of Health figures show there were 22 abortions carried out in Northern Ireland during the financial year of 2019/20.

Continued: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/22-abortions-carried-out-in-northern-ireland-in-year-new-figures-show-as-mp-claims-100-refused-39990069.html

20.01.2021

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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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