Abortion in NI: Three Years on From Decriminalisation
Flavia Gouveia
Saturday, 22 October 2022 marked the three-year anniversary of the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland. On 22 October 2019, Westminster passed legislation to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland at a time when Stormont was collapsed. On 31 March 2020 a new framework for lawful abortion services came into effect.
On the three-year anniversary, abortion services were yet to be fully commissioned in NI. According to polls only 10% of women know how access abortion services and women in their hundreds report having to travel outside of Northern Ireland to access abortion services.
To mark the anniversary and to call for further action on the commissioning of abortion services, activists organised a protest on 22 October 2022 outside Belfast City Hall.
Representatives from Queen’s University Belfast’s Project Choice and Ulster University’s Project Choice organised the event, with various speakers. A small crowd gathered in solidarity, undeterred by the steady rain.
Speeches were punctuated by the chant of the day “Abortion is healthcare!”.
People Before Profit Councillor Fiona Ferguson, addressed the current political instability in Northern Ireland and in Westminster and highlighted concerns that “yet again Stormont may be defunct before the full commissioning of services”.
However, the event was most poignant when speakers shared their lived experiences. Personal stories which open a window of insight into the reality of the lack of commissioned services.
Jess Crips, Co-Chair of the QUBSU Project Choice recalled her family history of difficult births, she said “my mom nearly died twice in childbirth. Her mom had multiple miscarriages, and her mother before her, also nearly died in childbirth”.
Jess reflected how an unplanned pregnancy at the age of 22 for her had meant health risks. She shared how she had to travel to England to access the procedure.
Addressing anti-choice activists and campaigners Jess said, “if you’re anti-choice, you will make an active decision to force young people like me to risk complicated pregnancies.”
Representative of Project Choice UU, Tara, fought back tears and shared a story which in many ways was the perfect case study, setting out the many barriers facing people seeking abortions. The social and cultural stigma, the barriers to local access in Northern Ireland, the complicated and sometimes abusive personal relationships which all conspire to make access to abortion services that much more difficult, if not impossible.
Human Rights lawyer, Sarah Kay, issued an eloquent call for action. She said “human rights are not handed to you by governments. Human rights are not handed to you by single party”.
She added “Human Rights are yours; they have always been and will always be yours, and if they are not given to you, you take them for yourself”.
A protestor, Eilish Smyth, recounted her personal experience with abortion and the emotion was clear. She said “I had an abortion when I was a student at Queens. Alliance for choice was able to point me in the right direction”
Praising the support she received from Alliance for Choice, she reflected “I would have a child now with an abusive boyfriend. My life would be completely different. I would not be able to live my life the way that I want to live my life and I want every other woman to have that choice.”
Eilish she added “I don't want any woman to feel like she's criminal and to feel shame”.
When I first stood outside City Hall on that rainy Saturday, I had intended to document the events of the day.. An aspiring journalist, I aimed to be impartial. But, as the day progressed and one statistic lingered in the back of my mind, that changed.
One in three women will have an abortion in their lifetime.
I thought about all the people I knew and cared about. I wondered how many of them had gone through an abortion alone. I hoped that if in the future any of them wanted an abortion, that I would stand by their right to choose. That I would support them.
On 24 October 2022, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris, made the announcement that all those standing outside Belfast City Hall on that rainy Saturday had been waiting for. Mr Heaton-Harris announced that “UK Government [would] commission abortion services in Northern Ireland, following continued inaction from [the Department for Health]”.
The move has been widely praised, another success on the long journey to securing a full and unobstructed right to choose. Too late for many, but just in time for many more.
Featured images and video courtesy of Flavia Gouveia.
Flavia Gouveia is The Scoop’s Environment and Science editor and a Journalism MA student at Ulster University.