Northern Ireland's abortion laws are
outmoded and oppressive
It’s madness
– and maddening – that women in Northern Ireland still don’t have access to
free, safe and legal terminations, says Lucy Fisher
Wednesday 14 May 2014 – The Guardian
My heart rate spiked when I read last week’s High
Court ruling forcing Northern Irish women to pay for NHS abortions sought in
England. It’s madness – and maddening –
that female British citizens living in Northern Ireland still don’t have access
to free, safe and legal terminations like their compatriots.
The reiteration of the fact that
in Northern Ireland – and the Irish Republic for that matter – women are forced to cross
the Irish Sea and head to another country to seek a termination, whether free
or paid for, should have us all clamouring once again for the overhaul of
medieval abortion laws.
In 2012 more than
4,850 Irish and Northern Irish women had to make the tumultuous journey to
England or Wales, many of them likely in a
state of emotional and physical distress, in pursuit of terminations.
And that’s before you consider
the added stress for many women of stumping up the cash – around £900 – for the
travel, accommodation and procedure.
The point is this: whether you
agree with the ethics of abortion or not, you cannot stop women having them in
modern times – that’s the acknowledgment needed in Northern Ireland.
Once that reality is accepted, it
seems a smaller step to the acknowledgement that making an abortion as
traumatic and difficult as possible for a woman – forcing her overseas – is
simply perverse.
Only 35 abortions took place in
Northern Ireland in 2012. The nation’s draconian ban on abortions, which
carries a life sentence for transgressors, permits scarce exceptions. No
allowance is made for women carrying babies with fatal foetus abnormalities.
Nor do the authorities relent simply because a woman has become pregnant by,
say, rape or incest.
Technically the only exceptions are
to save a woman’s life, or if there is a risk of permanent and serious damage
to her mental or physical health. Whether that sounds reasonable or still too
illiberal, in reality these so-called exemptions to the rule are granted at a
pitifully low rate.
The British Abortion Act of 1967 was never extended to Northern Ireland; instead the country
clings to an archaic 1861 law regarding Offences Against the Person to maintain
its current outright ban. It is a crying shame that the issue was never brought
up during the Peace Process.
After all, it is a jarring
anomaly that terminations are a fundamental right in one part of the UK and a
crime in another. As Genevieve Edwards,
director of policy for Marie Stopes UK,
has noted, abortion cannot be allowed to continue as a postcode lottery in
Britain.
It seemed telling that the
spokesperson offered up for comment on the High Court ruling by the
provocatively named Society for the Protection of Unborn Children was a man,
Liam Gibson. He even had the temerity to pronounce that the opposite ruling
would have been “a bad thing for both women and children.” Thanks for that
Liam.
The
national imposition of such outmoded and oppressive laws as those of Northern
Ireland on abortion have no place in the modern world, let alone in the UK. The
fight now should not simply be about whether Northern Irish women should, as
tax-paying UK citizens, be entitled to free abortions if they come to England.
It should be about them gaining this fundamental right on home soil.
Northern
Ireland’s abortion laws are outmoded and oppressive
To spike : monter en flèche
A ruling: une décision de justice
To clamour: vociférer
An overhaul: une révision / un remaniement
To stump up (cash) : casquer / raquer/ (argot: allonger/cracher de
l’argent)
Accommodation : hébergement
Overseas: à l’étranger
A ban: une interdiction
Scarce exceptions: peu d’exceptions
No allowance: aucune concession
To relent: céder
A rape: un viol
A jarring anomaly: une anomalie discordant/choquant
The NHS stands for the
National Health Service, which provides healthcare for all UK citizens based on
their need for healthcare rather than their ability to pay for it. It is funded
by taxes. It was founded in 1948 .
What is the difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain, and
England?
The United Kingdom is a country that consists of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. In fact, the official name of the country is "United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."
Great Britain is the name of the island northwest of France and east of Ireland that
consists of three somewhat autonomous regions: England, Wales and Scotland.
Therefore, England is part of Great Britain, which is part of the United
Kingdom. The U.K. includes England,
Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. England, Wales, Scotland, and
Northern Ireland are not independent countries but the United Kingdom is.
The remaining portion of the island of Ireland
(that which is not the U.K.'s Northern Ireland) is an independent country
called the Republic of Ireland (Eire).
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