Northern Ireland

Politicians demand abortion law reform

Sinn Féin leaders Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill are among signatories of the letter
Sinn Féin leaders Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill are among signatories of the letter Sinn Féin leaders Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill are among signatories of the letter

MORE than 170 politicians from Ireland and Britain have called on the British government to reform Northern Ireland's abortion laws.

The group, including Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem MPs and peers, Stormont assembly members, TDs and senators, claimed it is a matter of protecting women's human rights and honouring the Good Friday Agreement.

They said nearly 1,000 women and girls travelled to Britain for terminations in 2017, while others took illegal abortion drugs at home.

Figures from this year have also suggested 28 women a week on average went to England for an abortion.

Calls for a relaxation of the law have intensified after a referendum in the Republic resoundingly backed liberalising the law.

Downing Street has previously said abortion law is a devolved issue, but the absence of a power-sharing executive has placed pressure on Westminster to act.

The DUP, which is opposed to change, is currently propping up the Tory government.

In a letter to The Sunday Times, first revealed by The Irish News on Friday, the politicians urged the UK Government to repeal sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 that makes it a crime for a woman to cause her own abortion in Northern Ireland.

They wrote: "This is the first and critical step to ending the treatment of British and Irish women living in Northern Ireland as second-class citizens, who do not enjoy the same access to healthcare as their counterparts do across these islands."

Conservatives Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Commons Health and Social Care Committee, former women and equalities minister Nicky Morgan and former party chairwoman Baroness Warsi are among nine Tory MPs and peers backing the calls.

Sinn Fein leaders Michelle O'Neil and Mary Lou McDonald also signed the letter, along with Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone, who chaired a committee that recommended changing the law in the Republic.

Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International UK's Northern Ireland campaigns manager, said: "There is now an unbreakable determination from parliamentarians across all parties to pressure Theresa May's government to do what is right and reform abortion laws in Northern Ireland."

However, the Pro Life Campaign last night criticised the letter, describing it as "wholly inappropriate".