In 1967 one of the most important laws for women’s rights was passed. The 1967 Abortion Act made abortion under certain circumstances legal. This gave women a vital power over their own bodies and meant that women with crisis pregnancies had real options.
Unfortunately unlike other laws, the Abortion Act was never extended to Northern Ireland when Direct Rule was implemented. This means that women in Northern Ireland have no legal access to abortion unless giving birth would kill them. Women who have been raped, are victims of incest or who are very young have no right to abortion. Women in Northern Ireland must travel abroad to have an abortion—and must pay to have the procedure privately instead of getting it on the NHS.
To me this is a glaring inequality. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and people in Northern Ireland live under the same laws as people in England, Scotland and Wales. Maintaining different laws is like saying that women in Northern Ireland are second class citizens. In July 2008 I tabled an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill to extend the Abortion Act to Northern Ireland. Over the summer I received hundreds of letters and calls from women, and some men, in Northern Ireland supporting the extension to the Act.
Unfortunately due to the way Ministers ordered the debate, there was not time to discuss or vote on my amendment. Thousands of women across the country have been campaigning on this issue for years and thousands of women from Northern Ireland end up having to pay up to £2,000 to have an abortion outside of Northern Ireland. I am refusing to give up the fight to see that justice is done for these women. I am now working with women’s organisations, other MPs and Health Ministers to explore what other options there are.