Dozens of celebrities, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Sharon Horgan, Hayley Atwell and Scarlet Curtis have joined forces with London Irish Abortion Rights Campaign to ask the Conservative Party Leadership candidates - one of whom will become Prime Minister next month - to pledge to hold a vote to repeal the 1861 legislation that criminalises abortion in Northern Ireland in almost all circumstances. It is the only part of the UK where this is the case, and in 2018 the Republic Of Ireland voted to decriminalise abortion in a referendum.
The issue has been complicated by the fact that direct rule over Northern Ireland currently sits with Westminster following the temporarily suspension Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive in 2017, and by Theresa May's supply-and-demand deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (which failed to get her Brexit deal through Parliament anyway). But despite increasing pressure on the government to act to repeal some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, so far there has been no move to make legislative change.
READ MORE: We Need To Reverse Northern Ireland's 'Cruel And Inhuman Laws On Abortion'
Speaking exclusively to Grazia, actress Sharon Horgan said ‘Which ever one of these men becomes Prime Minister, he will have the power to stop women in Northern Ireland being forced to continue an unwanted pregnancy or risk their life with an unsafe abortion. All we are asking is that instead of denying women the choice to have an abortion, he chooses to be a Prime Minister who puts this right and makes sure every woman and pregnant person in the UK is treated equally'
The full letter can be found here...
Dear Conservative Leadership Candidates,
For too long, the human rights of women* in Northern Ireland have been a bargaining chip for political power. We are asking you to make sure our voices are finally heard and our rights finally equal to all other women in the UK.
Abortion in Northern Ireland is effectively banned. The punishment is life in prison. There is no exception for rape.
The United Nations has said the law is 'tantamount to torture'. The Supreme Court has said the law is in need of 'radical reconsideration'. 28 women a week are forced to make the lonely journey away from Northern Ireland to access abortion, away from their support networks. Some cannot travel due to domestic abuse or insecure immigration status. Some take the risk of ordering illegal pills online.
It has been 50 years since the Abortion Act 1967 passed in England and Wales and Scotland. Stormont has not sat for over two years.
The next Prime Minister will have the opportunity to right this wrong and restore the UK’s standing as a beacon of human rights. It is Westminster legislation that holds back our future. That’s why we’re calling on you to pledge to ensure that every woman in the UK has equal access to safe, legal, free and local abortion services. You can do this by pledging that under your leadership parliament will hold a vote on whether to repeal section 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861.
Be the Prime Minister who shows they trust women. Be the Prime Minister who believes in treating all women equally. Above all be the Prime Minster who will not ignore us. We cannot wait any longer. We will not wait any longer.
Signed
Adrian Dunbar
Stacey Dooley
Aisling Bea
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Siobhan McSweeney
Sharon Horgan
Sara Pascoe
Andrew Maxwell
Laura Whitmore
Josie Naughton
Bronagh Waugh
Fergal Sharkey
Konnie Huq
Hayley Atwell
Sarah Parris
Sian Clifford
Phill Jupitus
Bridget Christie
Anne Enright
Samuel West
Laura Wade
Roisin Conarty
Deborah Frances-White
Susan Wokoma
Scarlet Curtis
Antonia Cundy
Alice Aedy
Gabby Edlin
Alliance for Choice
Laura Donnelly
Ellen Jones
Elizabeth Day
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm
Sindhu Vee
Grace Petrie
The cast of Emilia including
Carol Campbell
Jenni Trevor
Sarah Seggari
Yshani Perin Pana Yagum
Christina Bloom
Samatha Sutherland
Rosanna Ter-berg
Sarah Linn Taylor
Carolin Butler
Sophie MacFaddyen
Jackie Clune
Lauren Drennan
Eva Fontaine
Rafaella Marcus
Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International
Iain Deboys, Northern Ireland Humanists
Mara Clarke, Abortion Support Network
Kerry Abel & Dani Beckett, Abortion Rights UK
Franki Appleton, Marie Stopes UK
Rachel Watters and Sarah Lasoye, NU
Read more: celebrities speak out against America's anti-abortion laws
Celebrities Speaking Out Against America's Abortion Laws
1 of 10Emily Ratajkowski
Alongside a photo of her posing (almost nude), the model wrote, 'This week, 25 old white men voted to ban abortion in Alabama even in cases of incest and rape. These men in power are imposing their wills onto the bodies of women in order to uphold the patriarchy and perpetuate the industrial prison complex by preventing women of low economic opportunity the right to choose to not reproduce. The states trying to ban abortion are the states that have the highest proportions of black women living there. This is about class and race and is a direct attack on the fundamental human rights women in the US deserve and are protected by under Roe vs. Wade. Our bodies, our choice.'
2 of 10Lizzo
Pop queen Lizzo tweeted, 'This is how The Handmaid's Tale started. It's shit like this and we gon look up and be enslaved again y'all — stay vigilant because this is terrifying.' Reposting an image of the senators, she added, 'WHY ARE MEN GREAT TILL THEY GOTTA BE GREAT? I'm so disappointed.'
3 of 10Busy Philipps
After Busy opened up about having an abortion on her show, she Tweeted, '1 in 4 women have had an abortion. Many people think they don't know someone who has, but #youknowme. So let's do this: if you are also the 1 in 4, let's share it and start to end the shame. Use #youknowme and share your truth.'
4 of 10John Legend
Chrissy Teigen's husband wrote on Twitter, 'These statehouses are waging all-out war on women and their right to control their reproductive decisions. This is awful.'
5 of 10Barbra Streisand
'The retrograde Alabama criminalizes abortion even in the case of rape and incest. Voted for overwhelmingly by GOP men. Handmaid's Tale from the GOP,' Barbra Streisand said, noting the Hulu series.
6 of 10Stacey Dooley
Grazia's Stacey Dooley simply posted an image on Instagram that repeated the words, 'Men shouldn't be making laws about women's bodies.'
7 of 10Charli XCX
Charli posted an image of the billboard 'Keep abortion legal,' with the simple caption, 'EVERYWHERE'.
8 of 10Dua Lipa
The popstar tweeted alongside an image of a sign 'KEEP ABORTION LEGAL', 'Not your body. Not your choice. No justification needed. No man should be making such a fundamental decision on a womans body. How is it that abortion gets banned before guns? Our rights need to be heard. And we have a right to be outraged. In solidarity with my sisters.'
9 of 10Liam Payne
Liam - who has 2-year-old Bear Payne with ex-girlfriend Cheryl - posted on Twitter and Instagram. 'I don't usually comment on politics but this one got me and is so important. This whole abortion law thing in America is a mess, I mean your completely taking away the rights of women and the ownership of the bodies that belong to them. Watching someone go through pregnancy and how tough it can be at times and us as men never have to go through that so how can we even comment or decide what women should or shouldn't go through, it is total BS that anyone is even given that power.'
10 of 10Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig, along with fellow Bridesmaids star Annie Mumolo, has pulled out of filming latest comedy Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar in Georgia.