Abortion provision in Northern Ireland: news update and some action to take if you'd like

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

We've been contacted today by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who are trying to draw attention to a lack of available termination services in Northern Ireland despite the change in the law that made these services legal.

RCOG says that according to a statement from the Department of Health in Northern Ireland, they regard the provision of abortion services as 'controversial' despite these services being decriminalised. And so rather than commissioning Northern Ireland health trusts to provide these services (as the NI Department of Health is supposed to do) they are instead referring these decisions upwards to the Assembly.

Meanwhile, many women with unwanted pregnancies in Northern Ireland are unable to access legal abortion services, with all of the distress and fear that that entails. Given COVID precautions and travel difficulties, even women who have the means to travel to England or Wales for abortions may find it impossible to do so.

RCOG comments that 'early medical abortion services in Northern Ireland are lawful but not accessible in some areas of the country, and the provision of services after 10 weeks’ gestation is non-existent in most areas.'

They also say 'There have already been at least two cases of attempted suicide by women in Northern Ireland unable to access care. We are also aware of a substantial increase (+28%) in women turning to unregulated methods of abortion during the pandemic.'

This struck us as something lots of you might want to do something about - so here are some actions you can take if you'd like to add your support to RCOG's letter today.

You can retweet their tweet about it, here;
You can contact Robin Swann MLA, Minister of Health in Northern Ireland, at his official address: Department of Health, Stormont, Belfast, BT4 3SQ, asking him to prioritise a fully commissioned abortion service in Northern Ireland (see RCOG's letter, linked in the tweet above, for more details);
You can copy your letters or emails to Brandon Lewis MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

As ever, do let us know what you think and whether you receive any replies.

Thanks
MNHQ

@wellthatsunusal If that is your argument - you should push for the right to terminate in those very rare instances where the mother's life is in physical danger if the pregnancy continues. But the agenda is far wider than that - it's about the right to access abortion with minimum restrictions.

Abortion has very painful and harmful repercussions for women. These should be acknowledged in this debate.

[quote Khadernawazkhan]@wellthatsunusal If that is your argument - you should push for the right to terminate in those very rare instances where the mother's life is in physical danger if the pregnancy continues. But the agenda is far wider than that - it's about the right to access abortion with minimum restrictions.

Abortion has very painful and harmful repercussions for women. These should be acknowledged in this debate.[/quote]
But I have seen people argue quite seriously that there has never been a case in the history of the world where a woman's life has been at risk through carrying a pregnancy or giving birth. That it's simply untrue that women die in childbirth. And others arguing that even if a woman dies, it is sad but that's the risk she chose by 'getting herself pregnant'

When you're facing that sort of outright denial, where do you go? If I have to weigh things up I would rather that no woman ever has to die as a result of being forced to continue a pregnancy, not a single one. If the only way of ensuring that is to broaden the circumstances in which abortion is allowed, then I think that's a price worth paying.

I could equally say that if zero abortions is the aim, why are campaigners not campaigning for improved maternity services so that women aren't terrified of the horror of the birth and, even worse, the post natal ward. Why are campaigners not campaigning for adequate financial support and respite care for the parents of disabled children? Why are campaigners not lobbying for better financial support for mothers who are abandoned by the baby's father and are left to raise a baby alone? Why are campaigners not lobbying to make sure that men are prosecuted for sexual crimes? And why not lobby for women to be allowed to take control of their own fertility by being allowed to opt for sterilisation when they know they don't want children, or don't want any more children? Women are damaged every day by all of those things and no one seems to care.

@RowanMumsnet

No. Not every woman wants to ‘embrace the gift of life’, or is in a position where she is realistically able to. Women deserve access to legal, hygienic abortion. Whether you approve or not women will abort, as they always have done. It’s not pro choice or no abortion, it’s pro choice or pro illegal abortion and all the harm that causes.

By all means don’t have one yourself, don’t dictate to other women what they can and cannot do as it pertains to their own bodies.

Don’t know why that tagged you @rowanmumsnet, I pasted Khaderna

@ThePriceIsNotRight

Don’t know why that tagged you *@rowanmumsnet*, I pasted Khaderna

Well that's a relief. I was momentarily concerned.

@Khadernawazkhan

How sad that all this campaigning is to support terminations than to support the gift of life. What about being the voice and advocate of the unborn?

Yeah, I’d rather NI wasn’t like Poland if it’s all the same to you.

@wellthatsunusual

Thanks @mnhq for highlighting / pinning this. So much solidarity with women in NI & Poland. And potentially the US. We need to pay attention to this

I will write too. This is awful.

I note from a question in the assembly that 719 abortions have been carried out in NI since April so I'm not sure who is not able to access abortion and why this is.
Claiming that abortion is not available in NI is presumably untrue and I'm not sure why this is being highlighted if it's not true.

719 women have been able to access abortion, is all that says. How many more have found it difficult to, because the Department of Health in NI is deferring its own responsibility for provision of services?

719 abortions have been carried out in NI which wouldn't have been in the previous year. Progress has been made and I hope we never measure success by trying to increase the number of abortions.
Intererestingly, the mla who posed these questions says that he wasn't given answers to his other questions on abortion.
This makes it difficult to know the full details of the situation but it's a myth that abortions are not available in NI.

[quote Khadernawazkhan]@wellthatsunusal If that is your argument - you should push for the right to terminate in those very rare instances where the mother's life is in physical danger if the pregnancy continues. But the agenda is far wider than that - it's about the right to access abortion with minimum restrictions.

Abortion has very painful and harmful repercussions for women. These should be acknowledged in this debate.[/quote]
There should be NO restrictions. No woman should be forced to carry a foetus she doesn't want.

Forced pregnancy has very painful and harmful repercussions for women. These should be acknowledged in this debate.

@Griselda1

719 abortions have been carried out in NI which wouldn't have been in the previous year. Progress has been made and I hope we never measure success by trying to increase the number of abortions. Intererestingly, the mla who posed these questions says that he wasn't given answers to his other questions on abortion. This makes it difficult to know the full details of the situation but it's a myth that abortions are not available in NI.

Nobody said abortions weren't available in NI they have been in very very limited circumstances. When the regulations were passed in March, the Department of Health didn't commission any services. Trusts took capacity form services that were stood down as a result of COVID to provide early medical abortions. Anything else required travel to GB. The trusts now don't have this capacity and so are having to to withdraw the services. This is what RCOG letter explains if you read it.

The story below is the background to the changes, what that poor woman went through.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49921229

I hope we never measure success by trying to increase the number of abortions.

This sentence doesn't make any sense at all, sorry. If you can't see what the problem is based on the information Mumsnet have kindly provided I can't help you.

I don’t know what Miss Forced-Birther up there expects us to say or do.

I think she expects us to engage with her so she can turn this thread into a preaching opportunity @PhilSwagielka.

Sarah Ewart's story is horrific. And even moreso because she was told by protesters outside the clinic she attended that she was a murderer.

@DioneTheDiabolist

I think she expects us to engage with her so she can turn this thread into a preaching opportunity *@PhilSwagielka*.

She’s made me even more determined to write.

[quote ThePriceIsNotRight]@RowanMumsnet

No. Not every woman wants to ‘embrace the gift of life’, or is in a position where she is realistically able to. Women deserve access to legal, hygienic abortion. Whether you approve or not women will abort, as they always have done. It’s not pro choice or no abortion, it’s pro choice or pro illegal abortion and all the harm that causes.

By all means don’t have one yourself, don’t dictate to other women what they can and cannot do as it pertains to their own bodies.[/quote]
Do what you want to your own body. It's when you interfere with others bodies that concerns me when you're the reason it's there.

No abortion advocate is bothered about freedom or they wouldn't force people to carry out abortions that don't agree with it.

The only force is used by them.

And as for illegal abortions and the health risks, yes there would be a few who come off badly but for the lives saved it's a no brainer!

Pro-choice goes both ways. If a woman wants to keep her baby, it’s up to her. Her body, her choice.

Who’s forcing women to have abortions now? And you’re not seriously saying you’re happy for women to die in childbirth, are you?

And as for illegal abortions and the health risks, yes there would be a few who come off badly but for the lives saved it's a no brainer!

I realise our pro forced birth poster won't be swayed by mere facts, but for the lurkers, the stats are unequivocal: both maternal deaths and abortion rates overall (those foetuses the pro lifers care so much about, to the exclusion of caring about women) are higher in countries with restrictions on abortion.

Lowest rates of both abortion and maternal death? Countries like Germany, France, the Netherlands, where abortion is freely available as part of a comprehensive, cheap and easily accessible reproductive health service.

You want to save foetuses? Turns out trusting individual women to make the best reproductive choices for their own bodies is the best way of doing this.