To not know abortion is still illegal in Northern Ireland...

[sevendwarves]

unless the pregnant woman's life is in danger?

Am I just being ignorant? I know they're Catholic but come on, it's 2011, I assumed it was legal but frowned upon!

I needed an abortion age 24 whilst living in NI. It cost me close to 1k to fly to Liverpool to get it (all the costs). It is wicked that NI are screwd if they can't afford to do this (though apparently some low key organisations do exist to lend desperate women the money). It is totally wrong.

women in NI are screwed

karmabeliever - but NI is not part of Britain is it!!!

I'm despairing at the conflation of United Kingdom/Britain/British Isles on this thread...

More evidence that we need compulsory geography and history at school.

I live in NI and I'm glad it's not legal. I don't think I know a single person who would like it legalised here.

Laws passed in the the House of Commons do not automatically become law in NI. They have to be passed by a separate NI bill. Normally this is done as a matter of course (though obviously with the Stormont government more areas are reserved for NI representatives)

But abortion was viewed as not being something that was wanted in NI for various historical and religious reasons. This was never actually tested with the people so it's all a bit 'patriacrchy making the decision for you, wee Norn Iron women'. So the appropriate bill was never introduced.

OP - did you know that private ownership of handguns is still permitted in NI too? And that "personal protection" is considered a valid reason for firearms ownership?

Calling the OP ignorant is a bit uncalled for. Not knowing about a law in a country you don't live in is something every single one of us is 'guilty' of. Hardly crime of the century.

In countries where abortion has not been normalised by law and practice, there is little to no support for it. For Ireland to legalise abortion would require an external force (EU?). Those who want it are hardly going to be vocal about it whilst they think they are the minority. When your worldview dictates that a foetus is a baby in utero, you will have a hard time getting your head around the logic of the abortion laws in more permissive states.

toddlerama - she's talking about northern ireland.

@bubblymummy

Why's that? If you find yourself pregnant in an unfortunate situation (eg rape, being married to a violent twat, discovered a birth defect you felt you couldn't cope with) it's your choice to continue with the pregnancy. The same option isn't available to women who don't wish to continue their pregnancy in similar circumstances, without paying several hundred £ to travel to the mainland.

I find that lack of choice discriminatory to women in NI who don't wish to continue with their pregnancy.

It's perfectly possible to be pro-choice AND anti-abortion. I find abortion highly unfortunate and undesirable, but I'll defend to my back teeth the right of any woman to have an abortion if she so chooses, for whatever reason. Society should not have any autonomy over a woman's body, only the woman herself can know her own mind and what's best for her future.

By the way I do live in NI, but I only found this fact out last year, as I'm from the mainland and married, so unlikely to require an abortion myself. Heaven forbid if I were raped, I would be livid 10 times over that this anarchronistic, misogynist law would effectively force me to continue the pregnancy at a time I'd be least psychologically able to travel

the law in NI is that abortion is illegal unless it is recommended by two doctors that continuing with the pregnancy will pose a serious risk to the mothers health (physical and mental) or the child, but it can be too much for the mother to prove this esp in a mental health situation so some will travel to england to save the bother. From personal experience i know that some women are too embarrassed or afraid to speak to their GP's about abortion options and i think this mainly because of the stigma caused by it being illegal.

i don't see it changing in the future unless there is some EU involvement, like another poster said it seems to be the one thing that is agreed.

Agree with theheathenofsuburbia regarding the political Landscape of middle aged deeply religious men. The age of consent is a year higher here too 17.

I can't believe how little people seem to know about NI, yet think they do!

NORTHERN IRELAND IS NOT PART OF BRITAIN. You might have noticed that actually people have had a few wee problems over who it actually belongs to.

And the majority of gynaecologists in NI support legal abortion, so not everyone agrees.

I promise I'm not completely stupid, I know they're Protestant but i'm obviously having a silly day! I made the connection between Catholics and anti-abortion, and posted before my brain had a chance to realise my mistake.

I know NI isn't strictly part of the UK but I just assumed that a Western country would allow abortion nowadays.

NI is part of the UK, it is not part of Britain.
"They" are not Protestant, they are Protestant, and Catholic, and a few other things.

And its not the only place in "the West" that doesn't allow abortion.

The united kingdon of great britain and northern ireland.

That's what it says on my passport.

I knew that abortion was illegal in Ireland, I had no idea it was illegal in northern ireland, or that people there can carry guns. Like many others I simply assumed that as we are all a part of the same state we would have the same laws.

You learn something every day.

It might not be reasonable to call the OP ignorant for not knowing about the abortion law but assuming the OP is a UK citizen it is breathtakingly ignorant of her to think that the majority population of NI is Catholic. It show deep ignorance of British and Irish history, politics and current affairs.

I've never met an American who is ignorant of the causes and repercussions of the US Civil War but I am shocked that so many Brits are oblivious to the fact that we suffered a bloody revolution and Civil War within living memory that resulted in the UK losing a third of it's land mass.

I always use the UK and Britain as interchangeable terms hogsback (yes, I know I shouldn't). My point still stands though, that women in the whole of the UK should have the same rights over what happens to their bodies.

X-post with op

But they are not at all the same thing. Do you use Scotland as interchangeable with Wales?

All women should have the same rights over their bodies

Did you know that in Northern Ireland they do not pay prescription charges at all?

and that is relevant how?

Just another snippet of information! Someone mentioned hand guns I mentioned prescription charges!

Firstly, just want to say Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain, that is the large island that consists of Scotland, England & Wales. Politically it is part of the United Kingdom and geographically it is part of the British Isles as is the Republic of Ireland.

I also didn't realise that abortion in NI was illegal until I went to my first ante-natal appointment and found that the computer system did not have a means of categorising my first pregnancy. It didn't actually surprise me though, the political classes over here are not particularly liberal on either side of the spectrum.

sighnomore apparently the age of consent was changed from 17 to 16 in 2008, only know this because I was going to say that but as I'm not from here thought I'd better google it to make sure I'd remembered it correctly .

No I don't use Scotland as interchangeable with Wales. I think it's a tad picky to focus on whether someone refers to the UK or Britain, given that one is made up primarily of the other and detracts from the point.