Northern Ireland Is The Alabama Of The United Kingdom – But There’s Something You Can Do To Change That

Between 2006 and 2016, more than 15 women were arrested in relation to illegal abortion. In April 2016, a 21-year old woman was given a 3-month suspended sentence after purchasing abortion pills online{ =nofollow}. In another case, the mother of a 15-year old who became pregnant after statutory rape was prosecuted for buying abortion pills for her daughter.

This isn’t happening in Alabama – this wouldn’t happen in Alabama, because the State’s new, draconian abortion laws don’t actually criminalise women seeking an abortion. This is happening just 12 miles over the sea from mainland UK, in Northern Ireland.

Over the last few weeks there has, rightly, been a huge outcry around the world about a series of restrictive and terrifying new laws being passed in states across America, including in Alabama, where the new law means women would be denied abortions even in cases of rape and incest, and in almost all situations where the women’s life is at serious risk or the foetus as a lethal anomaly. Doctors in the state face life imprisonment for performing this procedure.

Women’s rights activists, celebrities, politicians, and anyone with an ounce of sense have been decrying this new law. As well they should, it will cause huge amounts of harm to countless women. But why then, has the world remains strangely silent on behalf of the women of Northern Ireland, who have faced even stricter laws for 158 years?

Abortion in Northern Ireland is governed by the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. A law passed when Queen Victoria was on the throne, and before women could vote, says that women in Northern Ireland cannot have abortions in any circumstance other than when the risk of continuing with the pregnancy poses a “serious and long-term” risk. There are no exceptions that allow a pregnancy to be terminated on the grounds that the foetus is incompatible with life, or that conception was as a result of sexual abuse.

The Alabama law does not criminalise women for having abortions. The Northern Ireland law does. For women in NI, the threat of prosecution for having an abortion is not theoretical, it is very, very real.

Grazia Reports: why are women still being intimidated outside abortion clinics:

The criminalisation of abortion and the fear of arrest places women in Northern Ireland experiencing an unwanted pregnancy in an impossible situation. They are usually faced with either continuing the pregnancy and having an unwanted child, travelling to England for an abortion, or buying pills illegally and risking prosecution. Those for whom none of these is a possibility are forced to turn to less safe ways to try to terminate. Women are known to have taken extreme measures, including by "ingesting chemicals, by overdosing on medications, by drinking excessively, by literally throwing themselves down stairs to try and induce miscarriage.”

And what of the women who are able to make it over to mainland UK for an abortion - the 'lucky ones'? I have had women from Northern Ireland come to stay with me the night before their terminations because they cannot afford a hotel room. I do my best to make them feel at home, and they have all been polite, and heartbreakingly grateful for a night in my flat and a lift to the clinic in the morning. It should not be this way. These women should not have to rely on the kindness of strangers. They should be entitled to exert their rights to make the best decision for themselves and their family. They should be entitled, like more women in England, to be able to drive to an appointment at a clinic about 20 minutes away. They should be entitled to have a friend take them there, wait with them, speak to the doctors and nurses for them, and come home with them, ready to spend the evening sitting on the sofa watching trashy films, feeding them chocolate, and generally taking care of them.

Doctors in both Alabama and Northern Ireland would face life imprisonment for performing an abortion. Far more insidiously, in Northern Ireland, medics are also under a duty to report women who have had abortions to the police. This, understandably, makes many women scared to seek medical help when they need it.

But the crucial thing is, there is something we can all do something about the situation in Northern Ireland. Apart from showing your support to the women of America, there’s little we can do in the UK to change the law there. But there are things you can do to influence the situation in Northern Ireland. [Email your MP](https://nowforni.uk/email/k/email/ ) and tell them how disgusted you are that the law in Northern Ireland criminalises women and prevents them from accessing the health care they would receive in any other part of the United Kingdom, and support and get involved with [Alliance for Choice](http://www.alliance4choice.comoice.com), Abortion Support Network and London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign.

Polly Barklem women’s rights activist and campaigner for the London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign

Read more: 9 Potential Realities Of America's 'Abortion Ban' Laws That Will Horrify You