5 Years of Decrim!

5 years ago we gathered to celebrate the a monumental law change which saw the decriminalisation of abortion and the introduction of equal marriage in Northern Ireland. This was the outworking of decades of campaigning, lobbying and legal challenges alongside practical support under one of the most draconian abortion laws in the world. Let’s reflect on where we are in 2024.

No more prosecutions for self managed abortions.

Since the law changes, no one can be criminalised for self managing their abortion with safe pills from Women on Web or Women Help Women. This is huge and put us ahead of Britain, Ireland and most of Europe!

Abortion access in all 5 health trusts

All 5 health trusts have provision for Early Medical Abortion, that is abortion with pills. However this is only one location in some Trusts meaning long journeys for some for example from Enniskillen to Altnagalven instead of a closer NHS site.

Surgical abortion is less accessible. Only one site provides surgical abortion, meaning every Trust must refer there. Currently surgical abortion is only offered up to 20 weeks, which falls short of the 24 weeks provided for in the regulations.

Later term abortion can be even more complicated to access. Alliance for Choice have had to advocate for people who clearly met the requirements, sometimes helping them access care here others supporting them to travel for treatment they should have had at home.

The current level of provision, low levels of trained providers and lack of awareness amongst the medical profession is unacceptable 5 years on. 

Relationship and Sexuality Education

The 2019 legislation states there should be
‘“age-appropriate, comprehensive and scientifically accurate education on sexual and reproductive health and rights, covering prevention of early pregnancy and access to abortion”

Instead we’ve had delays, consultations which focus on parents opting out, and an ongoing ‘mini inquiry’.

Our young people deserve, and had the right to, better.

What else?

Outside of the Regulations Safe Access Zones have been implemented and enforced at all sites providing abortion care! Again we were far ahead of elsewhere in these Islands on delivering this, with the Republic of Ireland and Scotland implanting similar legislation recently and England and Wales expected to in the near future.

Safe Access Zones have had varying success depending on the location, and they must be reviewed to ensure people accessing treatment or their workplace are protected from harassment.

Despite the regulations allowing the NI Health Minister to adopt telemedicine, and this measure being introduced by our neighbours during the pandemic and then retained due to it efficiency, we do not have telemedicine abortion in Northern Ireland. We need telemedicine abortion to address many of the barriers faced by women and pregnant people who need to access abortion be that travelling from a rural area, fitting appointments around work or caring, or being in an abusive or controlling home environment.

We called for telemedicine when the regulations were drawn up, and 5 years on we continue to repeat this call.

So where are we now?

Sometimes it’s hard to see how far we’ve come when our day to day is supporting those who fall through the cracks, and pushing for delivery and improvement of services.

Thousands of women and pregnant people have been able to access abortion care a lot closer to home than 5 years ago. While the latest figures show around 3 a week are still travelling to England, which needs to change, this is a vast reduction from 28 a week before the law change.

Unknown numbers are safely self managing their abortion without fear of prosecution with pills from Women on Web or Women Help Women.

However the lack of implementation of the regulations, limited sites providing abortion, and no telemedicine are shortcomings.

On paper we have one of the best abortion laws in Europe, but not in practice. We incorporated CEDAW recommendations into domestic legislation, but those recommendations have not been delivered.   We’ve some amazing conscientious providers committed to working in what continue to be pretty difficult circumstances, we need a health service and department that supports them.

The best abortion law is no abortion law, where abortion is treated as other healthcare. Removing criminalisation was a big step along that road.

Safe Abortion Day 2023

Thursday September 28th 2023 is the International Day for Safe Abortion, and we have plans!
We will be rallying at Shaftsbury Square from 12:30pm calling for the implementation of abortion services and looking ahead to the introduction of Safe Access Zone. Keep an eye on our socials too as we see how the SOSNI is faring and some other actions.

There will be events taking place all over the world, including in Dublin from our friends in Abortion Rights Campaign on Thursday, in Malta where Voice for Choice will be marching once again on Saturday and Stop Violencies Andorra have activities planned from 26 - 30 September! Check out http://www.september28.org/ to see what all is happening.

We have been told that Safe Access Zones will be in place ‘in a few weeks’ for a few months now, so we are not taking anything for granted, but this is a firm commitment from DOH that SAZs will be live this week. We still do not have commissioned abortion services either, so we’ve plenty to make noise about. Keep reading to learn more about how we got here, and what’s next.

Safe Access Zones

We are pleased to see a statement from the DoH today, 25th September, that they SAZs will be in place by the end of this week, the 29th September.
Earlier this month the NIO confirmed to us that the DoH were ‘on track’ to implement SAZs by the end of the month. This came after a few days of signage outside Causeway Hospital, which was removed as quickly as it was erected.  We are pleased to see a statement from the DoH today, 25th September, that they SAZs will be in place by the end of this week, the 29th September.

However, given the winding road we’ve had to get here we aren’t celebrating just yet.
The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023 came into force in May after a 6 month lead in period. Despite having time to prepare, 2 months after this The Department said ‘detailed preparation work has been ongoing for a number of months, including mapping and signage arrangements’ however they were still ‘finalising a policy statement on Safe Access Zones as part of the preparations for their introduction.’ Today’s announcement means they will just meet their earlier promise made on 3rd July 2023 to introduce SAZ by the end of September.

This slow movement from the Department means that women and pregnant people accessing health care, and the staff providing it, have continued to be harassed and intimidated despite Safe Access Zone legislation. 

Outstanding commitments

Abortion services are still not commissioned.

While Conscientious Providers are doing their best to rejig resources so that each Trust can provide Early Medical Abortion with pills, this is precarious. Lack of commission means a lack of funding, training, and staff. We’ve seen services collapse before in Trusts as hard working staff take the leave they are entitled to, this is unacceptable for workers and patients alike. 

The Department of Health refuse to provide a central online information point for those needing abortions. While the NIO and some individual Trusts are doing what they can to provide information, some women and pregnant people are still ending up at Stanton Healthcare who continue to provide misinformation, harass and traumatize women; at times deliberately engaging them until past the 9 weeks 6 days cut off. 

Accessing abortion care currently means contacting the Central Booking Line via phone or web form, waiting for them to contact you to arrange an appointment, and then waiting for the appointment. It is a lot of waiting to fit into around 10 weeks! We’ve been contacted by people waiting up to 2 weeks for a call back, and then 5 weeks for an appointment. BPAS are doing what they can to meet demand but are under pressure with resources given that abortions in England have also increased by 17% on this time last year.

The process for surgical abortion or those after 12 weeks is even harder to navigate. Due to a lack of guidelines, and ongoing criminalisation of healthcare providers in the regulations, people are being sent for second opinions or having their request for an abortion assessed by a panel of doctors. Manual Vacuum Aspiration is being progressed in one Trust but we have no specifics on when it will be available, or to what gestation.

We need commissioned and resourced abortion services, managed at a local level, supported by the introduction of telemedicine. 

We need an end to the criminalisation of doctors, midwives and nurses.

We need the 2020 regulations as a minimum. 

No care at home

The UK Government have released figures for January - June 2022.

These figures show that 96 women and pregnant people traveled from NI to England for abortion, 4 a week, 1 every other day.

This includes 3 under 16s, and 3 aged 16 or 17;  6 minors had to travel to England. 

They should have been treated here.
Around a third of those who traveled were under 10 weeks. Were they living in a Trust where services had collapsed? Did they need a surgical abortion due to a medical condition? 

They should have been treated here.
15 were over 20 weeks. Had they found something out at their ‘big scan’, and the doctor was too worried about criminalisation? 

They should have been treated here.

What’s next?

Maybe the Department will have crossed all their Ts and dotted their Is soon, and we will be able to celebrate not too long after International Safe Abortion Day that we have Safe Access Zones that can actually be enforced.

Maybe We’ll have commissioned, resourced, locally available abortion services by the end of 2023.

Maybe then no one else will have to travel.

In any event our Doulas will continue to support people who self manage their abortion, our website will continue to have the most up to date information, and we will continue to advocate for those who need us too - whether they have complex medical needs, are an asylum seeker in contingency accommodation, or have been misled by so called ‘crisis pregnancy centers’.

International Safe abortion day events register

Please fill out the form below and give us your email if you want a zoom link or funding for transport!

Letter to the editor, Belfast Telegraph

Dear Editor,

I write in response to the Belfast Telegraph article of 19th May 2022 entitled ‘Abortion service plans unjust and a continued assault on the preciousness of life, say ‘concerned’ Church leaders’. Whilst the Presbyterian church leaders quoted in the article are entitled to hold and express their views on the morality of abortion, it is important to highlight that they do not represent the views of all Christians. As Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice (FVRJ) (1) we represent people from all religious communities in Northern Ireland whose faith has led us to support safe abortion access as a necessary part of society.

There has never been complete consensus on the morality of ending a pregnancy and the approach taken by Christian denominations has changed over time. The Bible contains no direct teaching on abortion and many Christians the world over consider it an issue of individual conscience. For us at FVRJ, we believe that the moral consequences of denying women and pregnant people access to abortion services deserve more consideration by the Church. We all want to build communities where every family feels supported to have and raise children in safety and with dignity. But we cannot achieve that by denying women the right to make their own decisions about their own bodies. Research (2) demonstrates that religious women have abortions at roughly the same rate as those with no faith and we know many Christian women right here in Northern Ireland who have made this decision faithfully, prayerfully and with a sense of responsibility for their own lives and those they already care for. Public statements from church leaders condemning abortion serve to force those women into silence, burdened with stigma and fear of alienation from their church community. We want them to know that they are not alone and in fact churches are full of people who understand the complexity of pregnancy and difficult reproductive decisions, just as we believe God understands.

Grace and peace,

Kellie Turtle on behalf of Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice

Alliance for Choice undeterred by Billboard damage and abuse

PRESS RELEASE Monday 27th September 2021

On the eve of International Safe Abortion Day Alliance for Choice have two messages;
"Abortion is Normal."
and
"All sorts of people need abortions."

These messages were displayed on billboards in 11 sites across Northern Ireland alongside beautiful artwork by local artist, Nichola Irvine. Within days many billboards were damaged or destroyed completely. Within a week the campaign was reluctantly withdrawn by the company hosting the billboards, due to abuse of their staff and criminal damage to the billboards. The company wishes to identify those involved and are seeking legal advice on further action they can take. 

Naomi Connor, Co Convenor said;"Our billboard locations were carefully selected to be visible by women and pregnant people accessing abortion care. It is unsurprising that anti choice people have resorted to harassment in an attempt to silence us, after all it is the kind of activity they engage in weekly outside clinics. We will not be silenced. They may be able to tear down a poster but they cannot tear down the pro choice majority. We had an incredibly positive reaction to our pro-choice message from members of the public and across social media."

Anti-choice online abuse and on-street harassment of women and pregnant people accessing abortion care must stop. 

Emma Campbell, Co-Convenor added, “The billboards were funded by our amazing supporters chipping in to show they care about abortion seekers. Everyone loves someone who has had an abortion. Alliance for Choice will continue to ensure that there is free safe legal local abortion access for everyone who wants or needs one, regardless of the aggression anti-choice protesters show to healthcare staff and patients.”

In the coming days, we will continue with our campaign, albeit differently. We will not be deterred. Such despicable actions strengthen our resolve to normalise abortion healthcare in Northern Ireland.

We will not be bullied into silence.

ENDS

-----------

Contact:

Emma Campbell 07894063965  

Naomi Connor 07505096576

Alliance for Choice 

www.alliance4choice.com

@All4Choice

Further Information

The billboard images are stills from our series of short films ‘Who gets to choose?’ created by Alliance for choice with feminist artist Nichola Irvine.
Available at - https://www.alliance4choice.com/who-gets-to-choose

Dear Texas,

Dear Texas,

We have heard that you are facing a serious push back on abortion rights from legislators; we are writing from Northern Ireland to offer you our solidarity. Having battled an abortion ban here, we believe it is incredibly important to receive local and international support when people are denied their fundamental rights. 

Alliance for Choice will donate to, and share Texan abortion funds amongst our sibling organisations across the UK and Ireland. We hope this bolsters the funds required to cover additional costs abortion seekers will face when it comes to forced interstate travel.

We also support strong relationships with online abortion pill providers, such as Women on Web and Women Help Women who are a safe way to provide for those who fall through the cracks and cannot travel up to 13 weeks; those in coercive control relationships, with disabilities, with precarious jobs without leave, unsure immigration status, lack of access to finance, and more. 

You will need to fight even harder to dismantle the harmful stigma that accompanies such extreme misogyny, abortion bans are not healthy to live through either physically or mentally for all those who need abortion healthcare, those involved in providing it and those advocating for it. You may have to become the people – instead of clinicians, that offer advice and help to women and pregnant people who need abortions, you will have to find ways of sharing the information that helps the most people without getting yourselves into trouble.

We know what it is like to be criminalised for helping people. You and those you help might actually get arrested, you might have your homes searched and your workplaces raided as we did. Those intent on denying women and pregnant people access to abortion healthcare may inform the police of what they think is ‘illegal behaviour’,… either way you really have to know who you can trust with the information about your medical procedure, if you access pills at home.

We spent decades pleading with politicians in Northern Ireland and the UK to address these human rights abuses. We don’t have full access yet, but our persistence and the determination of those intent on seeing abortion rights, access and justice a reality, delivered decriminalisation and safety. 

We don’t stand behind you, we stand shoulder to shoulder alongside you, don’t give up hope! 

In solidarity, 

Alliance for Choice

PRESS RELEASE: IMMEDIATE RELEASE SECRETARY OF STATE TO DIRECT DEPT. OF HEALTH COMMISSIONING OF ABORTION SERVICES IN NI

Begins: Alliance for Choice (AFC) welcome with relief, the news that Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (SOSNI), Brandon Lewis will direct the Department of Health NI to commission a CEDAW compliant abortion service by March 2022, mandating free, safe and legal access to everyone in NI who needs it. 

Naomi Connor commented, 

‘Finally, long overdue abortion services can take their place within healthcare in Northern Ireland. We remain hopeful that people will no longer have to endure the degradation of forced travel to England or navigating a precarious and limited service.’

AFC recognise the weight of today’s intervention, but Westminster must honour the SOSNI’s obligation to step in, as the state party responsible for our rights. Stormont’s democratic dysfunction has failed to deliver on the 2019 NI Executive Formation Act, irrespective of the trauma of forced travel and human rights breaches. AFC urges the Department of Health to ensure the commissioned services proceed unimpeded and with urgency. We also welcome his call to the DoH for immediate funding support for interim provision of early medical abortion, which continues to be precarious. 

Ms Connor continued

‘Each passing day ignores the real women and pregnant people who need clear pathways to adequate abortion healthcare. Further delays and obstruction to abortion services is never acceptable to the one in three of us who require this type of healthcare.’

Emma Campbell said, ‘Whilst we now breathe a sigh of relief, we remain disappointed that whole communities are failed by their leaders on this issue. We can no longer ignore that almost 2,000 abortion seekers sought treatment in the last year from across our population. This announcement doesn’t ask those who disagree with abortion to change, they still don’t have to have one. Therefore we request respect for those who do and allow them to access healthcare in peace and dignity.’

We are vigilant to the presence of rogue pregnancy clinics and groups intent on harassing women using abortion healthcare facilities. It is therefore critical that the government should act swiftly to ensure that women and pregnant people are free from anti-choice harassment and abuse. We also would like to thank all of the outstanding medical staff in NI and England who continued to provide abortion care to us all despite the difficulties and those stand-out local leaders who have stood by us from across the political spectrum.

Contact:

AFC Co-Convenors, 

Emma Campbell 07894063965  

Naomi Connor 07505 096576

ENDS

NOTES for EDITORS:

1. The Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 introduced in March 2020 are designed to implement the recommendations contained in paragraphs 85 and 86 of the CEDAW Report of the inquiry concerning the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland under article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Report), this includes provision for abortion in cases of severe foetal impairment. These regulations need to be implemented in full so that no pregnant person is forced to travel to England to access basic healthcare.

2. The Committee assesses the gravity of the violations in NI in light of the suffering experienced by women and girls who carry pregnancies to full term against their will due to the current restrictive legal regime on abortion.
   

3. The CEDAW Report can be found here https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22693&LangID=E
   

4. Matters relating to health and justice provisions, both of which are within devolved competence, and the incompatibility with CEDAW could have been remedied by the NI Assembly. In the absence of this however under the Good Friday Agreement (Paragraph 33(b) of Strand 1) the Westminster Parliament is to “legislate as necessary” to ensure the UK’s human rights and other international obligations are met for NI.
   

5. Primary legislation was consequently passed in Westminster. Section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 repealed sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (which criminalised abortions in NI). It also placed the Secretary of State under a legal obligation to ensure that the framework under paragraphs 85 and 86 of the CEDAW report are implemented, including a continuous and ongoing duty to make changes to NI law through secondary law Regulations to ensure such implementation.

6. The Secretary of State consequently introduced The Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020. Regulation 7 provides for termination of pregnancy in cases of “Severe fetal impairment or fatal fetal abnormality.” This is consistent with what is required by the CEDAW framework and primary legislation.

7. Strictly speaking the primary legislation, in repealing the provisions of the 1861 Act, dealt with decriminalisation. However, Regulation 11 introduces an element of re-criminalisation for medical professionals who perform a termination deemed to be outside the terms of the Regulations. This re-criminalisation was not recommended by CEDAW. When medical professionals conduct procedures outside of the legal framework, such issues are usually dealt with administratively or through the application of professional standards, rather than through creating a criminal offence. Re-criminalisation may constitute a chill factor to providing services to which there are entitlements, in particular in a challenge to a precise diagnosis relating to severe impairment or FFA.

8. In relation the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Article 8 covers the ‘right to respect for private and family life’ and restrictions on the same must be ‘in accordance with the law’. This is the principle of ‘legal certainty’ which has been consistently held by the European Court of Human Rights to apply to abortion services. Put simply this means when a person has a right to an abortion in law there must be a clear way of accessing that service in practice.

Abortion as a woman’s health issue for 28th May

By Jill McManus

Women’s health in Northern Ireland (NI) has made some astonishing legal progress but the services have been slow to catch up. Abortion was decriminalised in NI in October 2019, and after public consultation, regulations were laid down in March 2020. However, for the entirety of the Covid-19 global pandemic, during which the public was asked to stay at home, women and pregnant people in NI continued to face the injustice of travelling for abortion services. It has been 20 months since decriminalisation, yet for every day of those 20 months our government has been failing women.

When abortion is discussed by our politicians in NI, it is framed as an ethical and more often than not, religious, issue. This framing does not adequately express the experiences of the women and pregnant people who travel for that care or access it in NI.

When Alliance for Choice (AfC) discuss abortion, we consider it as a key aspect of human rights namely - bodily autonomy, dignity, the right to a personal and family life and mental well-being. As a final year medical student, and very soon to be doctor, I consider it to be a part of the broad spectrum of healthcare women access across their lives: contraception, fertility and pregnancy, menstrual health, menopause and for 1 in 3 women across their lifetime, abortion is a reality.

This year, on International Day of Action for Women’s Health, we at AfC are reflecting on the current lack of access to abortion services locally in Northern Ireland, the context in which women’s health is discussed in our education and healthcare systems, and the fight for justice in gender equality.

Northern Ireland was not included in the 1967 Abortion Act, which allowed for doctors to provide abortion care in England and Wales, and in Scotland up to 1991. For 50 years, abortion was more heavily restricted in Northern Ireland and that has yielded a society that is, in many ways, decades behind on women’s healthcare, pervading all aspects of health throughout the lives of women and girls.

This begins with our relationship and sex education (RSE) in schools. Roughly 70% of post-primary schools in NI use abstinence based RSE, provided from an evangelical Christian perspective. Many schools, during the ethics portion of religious studies, also teach only a “Christian” perspective on abortion, however we know from groups recently formed such as the Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice that there is no singular “Christian” perspective on abortion. Many of those who are of faith use contraception and sometimes, they require access to abortion care. Aspects of sexual pleasure, consent or LGBT+ relationships are not even touched upon, never mind integrated within RSE teaching.

The result is that young people are failed by our education system regarding RSE. According to a survey by Love to Know NI, 96.8% of respondents wanted change in how RSE is delivered island-wide, with those responding describing their RSE experience as “inadequate”, “terrible” and “useless”. (1)

The stigma perpetuated around sexuality for women, results in a difficulty for women in accessing contraception and abortion services. In January this year, over 700 women were contacted regarding poor placement of contraceptive implants between 2017 and 2020. (2) Some of these women became pregnant, and the for the vast majority of this period they would have been unable to access abortion services at home or would have been under threat of prosecution for seeking telemedicine services from providers such as Women Help Women or Women on Web.

This is an environment which leaves women with nowhere to go. There is currently a dearth of access to family planning clinics, and for those who can access contraception, long waiting lists for long-acting reversible contraception and the threat of this being inserted incorrectly, resulting in an unintended pregnancy at the end of it all.

For those trying to become pregnant, there is also a lack of funded access to fertility treatments in NI, with only one fresh and one frozen embryo transfer funded by the Health and Social Care Board (3), another inequity between NI and the rest of the UK. This is even less for those not in heterosexual relationships, and there are no sperm banks.

Many women report high levels of satisfaction with maternal care during pregnancy and childbirth, however NI has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world, with 24% of women wanting more support in breastfeeding according to the Birth NI survey. (4)

Until this year there was also no funding for perinatal mental health treatment and a mother and baby psychiatric care unit, however, thanks to brave campaigners like the Maternal Advocacy and Support Project and Linsday Robinson this has changed and funding for a unit for new mothers with post-natal mental illness will now be granted.

Lifelong issues for women, such as chronic menstrual pain are also, unsurprisingly, not treated well in Northern Ireland. With an 8 and a half year wait for women to be diagnosed with endometriosis, a condition that impacts on as many as 1 in 10 women, they are left in chronic monthly pain and no state-funded access to diagnosis or treatment. With only one specialist in surgery for endometriosis, it is not shocking that so many women experience delays in surgery for debilitating pain. (6)

This paints a picture of women’s healthcare not being prioritised, women’s pain disbelieved, and women’s experiences ignored. It took until 2021 for Stormont to develop a strategy for violence against women and girls, despite it being reported in August 2020, that reports of domestic violence being at an all-time high. (7) Even our now-legal abortion services are constantly under threat despite not even being implemented fully; women using services in hospitals are forced to see graphic anti-abortion imagery, one MLA is bringing a private member’s bill to restrict abortion from severe foetal anomaly to fatal foetal anomaly – an action that would force some of the most vulnerable women and families to travel to England for care, and Robin Swann, the Minister for Health at Stormont is still refusing to commission abortion care services across the HSC Board.

Despite what our Health Minister says, abortion is not a “contentious issue” that requires executive involvement. Abortion is no longer a criminal act in Northern Ireland, thereby making it the domain of healthcare and not criminal justice. Further, why should an executive minister in infrastructure or agriculture have vetoing power on a deeply intimate part of women’s health?

By refusing to commission these services, Robin Swann is allowing the DUP and the UK Government to use an important part of women’s healthcare as a political bargaining tool.

There is an assembly election next year, and it is important for all of us to ask difficult questions of those asking for our vote. Make it clear to candidates in your areas that our bodies are not up for debate and that this will be an issue you will be voting on. It’s likely at least one of the issues discussed in this article have impacted on you or the people you love. We make up half the population – its time women are seen for the significant decision makers in society that we are.

If you or someone you know needs an abortion, contact Informing Choices NI or Alliance for Choice for advice.

Here are some other important organisations to follow on these issues:

- The Homeless Period Belfast

- Abortion Support Network

- Transgender NI

- Here NI

- Women’s Aid NI

- Rape Crisis NI

- Raise Your Voice

- Love to Know NI

- Reclaim the Night

- Reclaim the Agenda

(1) https://lovetoknowni.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/love-to-know_-island-wide-rse-survey.pdf

(2) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55564048

(3) https://fertilitynetworkuk.org/trying-to-conceive/nhs-funding/northern-ireland/

(4) https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofNursingandMidwifery/FileStore/Filetoupload,670193,en.pdf?platform=hootsuite

(5) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55646361

(6) https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/northern-ireland-women-with-endometriosis-in-eight-year-wait-for-diagnosis-40349476.html

(7) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/domestic-violence-northern-ireland-police-a9693551.html

Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice

Alliance for Choice is pleased to support a letter published today from Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice calling for the immediate commissioning of abortion services. We have been supporting the development of this network over the past year through a joint project with Ulster University funded by Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. It is important people are more aware of the range of religious approaches to reproductive rights as people of all faiths and none have abortions.

---

Dear Minister Swann,

We are writing to you as people from faith communities in Northern Ireland to ask you to take action on the commissioning of abortion services. Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice is an initiative started by people from Christian denominations and as a growing network, we are open to members of all religious communities whose faith has led them to support safe abortion access as a necessary part of society. We have observed with concern the delay in the commissioning process which has led to a recent intervention by the Secretary of State. Our shared position as faithful members of religious congregations is that full reproductive healthcare services should be commissioned without further delay. This is a position we have come to through reflecting on  scripture, our own life experiences, the stories of women and girls still having to travel for abortion related care, the burden of stigma and shame unfairly placed on those in our communities who have had abortions, and the values that underpin our beliefs and faith practice.

We believe in the inherent dignity of every person, including the sacred gift of sexuality. We recognise that the dignity of women has not been equally valued in society and that religious doctrine and power has been misused to harm women and girls over many generations. We believe that it is time for faith communities to reject entrenched patterns of sexism and patriarchy, listen to the stories of women and minority genders that have often been silenced, and be led by their voices. We therefore call on you as health minister, and on all legislators and policy makers, to fulfill your obligations to women under the United Nations human rights convention and ensure that reproductive healthcare is made accessible for everyone who needs it. These human rights standards serve the same purpose as our calling as people of faith; to uphold the dignity and rights of all people and to work for justice in an unequal world.

We treasure the freedom to live according to our own religious beliefs and values and the liberty to exercise our conscience in communion with God and each other.  We celebrate the diversity of views on abortion within and across our many faiths and denominations. We acknowledge that people of all faiths and none have abortions. There are few things more sacred than the choices we make about our bodies and families. We are, we know and we love women who have exercised their right to conscience and made these important moral decisions in the context of their own life circumstances. It is not in keeping with our values of religious liberty and conscience to deny others access to abortion services. We do not support the use of religious ideology by legislators who claim to have the authority to make pregnancy decisions on behalf of others.

 As people of faith we seek to practice compassion and care for everyone facing complex pregnancy decisions and challenges. We are called to provide support and understanding for women, pregnant people and their families as they make the decisions that are right for them. We are distressed by the stories of those from Northern Ireland who still have to travel for abortion services. A compassionate society does not turn its face away from people whose lives have led them to a crossroads, whose struggles we might never fully understand and who do not need the additional burden of travelling to access care. We want local services fully commissioned to provide people with the reproductive healthcare they deserve and which is in line with agreed international healthcare rights.

 We believe in the moral vision of Reproductive Justice as it calls us to address all systems of oppression still at work in the world. We want everyone from every background to be able to choose if and when to have children. We want to build safe and sustainable communities where every family can raise their children with dignity and free from poverty, discrimination and violence. Removing barriers to reproductive healthcare is an important part of that wider vision. For too long accessing abortion in Northern Ireland has been an issue of inequality. Those without the resources, freedom and safety to travel have felt the greatest impact of the criminalisation of abortion and the absence of local services. Our NHS is a testament to this society’s commitment to the health of all people and as health minister we remind you of your duty to ensure that this vision of equal access is fulfilled in practice. Safe, free, legal and local abortion services without barriers are long overdue.

 We therefore urge you to join us in acknowledging the importance of reproductive healthcare and exercising the power you hold to make it accessible to the people who need it. The report by the Northern Ireland Abortion and Contraception Taskgroup sets out a practical vision for achieving best practice in this area of healthcare which is in keeping with the regulations that are already in place. We hope you will embrace the advice of these experienced healthcare providers, many of whom have courageously delivered services over the past year with no support while  often facing public harassment at their workplaces. We want to highlight our support as people of faith, for their recommendations. 

We pray for wisdom and courage for you as you undertake this important work, 

Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice

Department of Health NI figures on abortion

Words are not enough.

Alliance for Choice cautiously welcome the pressure from MPs during this week’s Parliamentary Questions and the announcement of the NIHRC action, led to Robin Walker, Minister for Northern Ireland, advising that the government are ‘considering further legislative action at Westminster’ and ‘stand ready to act’ if the Northern Ireland does not take action to commission services in line with the Regulations passed in April 2020.

However the time for ‘standing’ has long passed and the time for action is now. 

Statements of intent fall short given that despite the decriminalisation of abortion in NI in October 2019, followed by the NI Abortion Regulatory Framework in April 2020, the abortion services we need and require and nowhere near being realised. We need action and we need it now.

Recent figures, including the Department of Health, have shown that alarmingly, too many women and pregnant people are not receiving the local abortion healthcare they are entitled to, with some forced to travel to England to access services. This is compounded by the fact we are in the third wave of a pandemic and risk of contagion from variant strains of the COVID-19 virus has increased significantly.

Figures released this week from a range of sources including the Department of Health show:

• 19 people from the South Eastern Trust area have been denied local early medical abortion provision due to the withdrawal of those services 

• During the suspension of the early medical abortion service in Northern Trust area 88 women called the Central Access Point and requested abortion services with no local services to refer those people two

• One international on-line provider alone has provided abortion pills for 22 women from the South Eastern Trust from beginning to mid January that they should be receiving locally through their Health Trust

• One health professional from one Health Trust has advised that they have had to refer 11 people over a ten week gestation ‘elsewhere’ for the abortion healthcare they require.

• Recent Freedom of Information requests obtained by Alliance for Choice have confirmed that 100s of women and pregnant people from across Northern Ireland are still being forced to travel England and seek abortions on line 

• Statistics released from the Department of Health show that there has been a decrease in the number of people in local health trusts who have received local care in respect of serious foetal anomaly. 

For each day that passes more and more women and pregnant people are being denied the abortion healthcare they require in NI.

The time for the Minister and Secretary of State to act is NOW before any more women are failed, put at risk or pushed down the inhumane road of reproductive coercion.

For #16DAYSNI we need Robin Swann to commission telemedicine... by Amy Merron

Abortion was decriminalised in October 2019 and since then the failure of Robin Swann and the Department of Health to commission services has seen women and pregnant people continuing to travel to seek abortion care that is legal here.

10 out of 26 areas in Northern Ireland have no access to early medical abortion services. The Northern Trust is the largest geographical health trust in NI and is also the most recent to have ceased provision of clinic-based early medical abortion services. Women and pregnant people in this trust now face further barriers to access will have to travel to seek the legal abortion that they could have had at home.

The current situation in Northern Ireland sees early medical abortion services only available up to 10 weeks gestation (9 weeks 6 days) despite the law stating it should be available on request up to 12 weeks gestation and the World Health Organisation recommending 13 weeks. No commissioned services mean that there has been no information published by health trusts on how and when to access services leaving women and pregnant people in the dark when it comes to making healthcare decisions.

The World Health Organisation have recognised that abortion services are essential healthcare and have stated that “abortion provision in a global pandemic should minimise facility visits and provider-client contacts through the use of telemedicine and self-management approaches.” 

During the COVID-19 pandemic the rest of the U.K. has seen improved access to abortion through telemedicine and pills-by-post services. Northern Ireland has yet again been left behind despite being the only part of the U.K. that has fully decriminalised abortion. This is due to the continued obstruction to access by the NI Executive including prominent anti-choice politicians.

Telemedicine is safe and effective and has proven to be a vital service, providing people with safety and reassurance during the ongoing pandemic. Telemedicine would allow a medical practitioner to have a consultation with the pregnant person either over the phone or online. If eligible they will be prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol which can be collected at a pharmacy, alongside instructions for how to take the medication and information on who to contact if additional support is needed.

The Department of Health has advised the public to stay at home, however, women and pregnant people are being forced to travel to a clinic to take a single pill, when they can take the further 4 pills at home 24 hours later. Travelling in a pandemic puts the pregnant person and health professionals at risk of contracting COVID-19.

Beyond the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine will provide the modern and compassionate support which is crucial to accommodating women and pregnant people from marginalised groups. Asylum seekers, ethnic minorities, sex workers, the travelling community and LGBTQIA+ people are all disproportionately impacted by barriers to abortion services. Moreover, women and pregnant people may also have caring responsibilities, no access to transport, limited access to finances or are the victims of domestic abuse and coercive control which reduces their ability to access clinic-based care.

Alliance for Choice believes that everyone should have the right to choose, this extends to deciding between clinic-based care and self-managed abortions. Self-managed approaches use the same safe medications that are prescribed in clinics by healthcare professionals. Mifepristone and misoprostol are effective up to 98% of the time and this approach is used by millions of people around the world to safely end pregnancies up to 13 weeks with no long-term effects.

Self-managed approaches will allow us to be our own service providers removing many of the barriers to services that we currently face. Care at home enables us to have more control over our own bodies so we can be supported in ending our pregnancies safely, effectively and privately at home. Alliance for Choice have provided self-managed abortion workshops to empower, educate and inform activists and others in Northern Ireland. These workshops outline where to access the safe and legal online pills, how to take them, what to expect and who to call if there are any complications or worries.

Free, safe, legal and local abortions mean accessible services for everyone who needs them, and the continued obstruction of abortion access and reproductive justice is impacting the lives of women and pregnant people across the North.

Over the next two weeks we will be sharing how telemedicine prevents and ameliorates the impacts of gender-based violence… please link, like and share across our website and social media platforms.

Open Letter to Robin Swann, Health Minister for Northern Ireland

The undersigned call on the Northern Ireland Health Minister, Robin Swann, to implement abortion care recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) immediately. This would make provision for abortion telemedicine across Northern Ireland, similar to those commissioned in Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland since March 2020. Since the beginning of the outbreak WHO recommended that services related to reproductive health are considered part of essential services during COVID-19. In June 2020, WHO recommended that abortion provision in the global pandemic should; 

Minimise facility visits and provider–client contacts through the use of telemedicine and self-management approaches, when applicable, ensuring access to a trained provider if needed. (World Health Organization (1 June 2020) 2.1.4 Sexual and reproductive health services, Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the COVID-19 context, Interim guidance (pp. 29))

Abortion telemedicine has been available throughout all of the UK and Ireland since the onset of the pandemic yet Northern Ireland remains the only place where a safe, cost effective and practical method of abortion care has been denied to individuals seeking abortions. 

Additionally, the Department of Health has been legally mandated to commission Trust-wide early medical abortion services up to 12 weeks on request and abortions for health and mental health reasons with no conditionality up to 24 weeks gestation from April 1st, yet nothing has been done. In the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic, women and pregnant people who need abortions should not be forced to make unnecessary journeys of any sort, either within Northern Ireland or to England. 

On Monday 5th October 2020, the Northern Health Trust reluctantly advised they are no longer in a position to provide early medical abortions due to lack of resources. This was as a direct result of a failure of the Department of Health to commission or fund ANY services. This is just as the confirmed cases of COVID-19 have surged in that same Trust, with risk of contagion amongst the highest across the UK and Ireland. The blocking of EMA services and a complete lack of telemedicine as a result of the DoH inaction, means those seeking abortions will have to travel to GB, which directly contravenes WHO guidance, placing service users and healthcare workers at increased risk of COVID-19 and adding unnecessary cost and pressure to NHS services.

Since April 2020, over 150 women and pregnant people from Northern Ireland have had to use the Central Booking system of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and have been forced to travel to GB in order to access the care they require, more have used Women on Web and Women Help Women services when a straightforward pathway was unavailable to them. 

Abortion telemedicine is required in Northern Ireland as a matter of urgency to ensure that those women and pregnant people who require abortion healthcare are placed at no additional risk from being unable to access the services they require or being forced to travel in order to do so. 

We call for the Department of Health, led by the Northern Ireland Health Minister to make this provision without any further delay and to stop blocking resources to abortion services by his refusal to commission services within the Health and Social Care Trusts. 

------------------------

Signed by:

1. Abortion Rights UK

2. Abortion Support Network

3. Alliance for Choice Belfast

4. Alliance for Choice Derry

5. Alliance for Choice Mid-Ulster

6. Amnesty International UK (NI)

7. Atlas Womens Centre

8. Belfast Cleaning Society

9. Belfast District Trades Council

10. Belfast Feminist Network

11. Brook Young People

12. Christina Nelson, Actor/Director

13. Colm Eastwood MP & Party Leader SDLP

14. Communist Party of Ireland

15. Common Youth

16. Cllr Connie Egan, Alliance Party Councillor for Bangor West

17. Craigavon & District Trades Council

18. Claire Bailey MLA Green Party

19. DCSDC Cllr Rachael Ferguson (Alliance)

20. DCSDC Cllr Shaun Harkin (PBP)

21. DCSDC Cllr Eamonn McCann (PBP)

22. Dr. Máirtín O'Catháin, University of Central Lancashire

23. Dr Yassin M. Brunger QUB

24. Doctors for Choice NI

25. Doctors for Choice UK

26. Elizabeth Nelson Ulster University

27. Emma Sheerin MLA Sinn Fein

28. End Deportations Belfast

29. Falls Women Centre

30. Gerry Caroll MLA PBP

31. GMB Northern West

32. GMB Irish Region 

33. Here NI

34. Humanists UK

35. ICNI - Informing Choices Northern Ireland

36. International Campaign for Women’s Safe Right to Abortion

37. LadyGeek - Geek Web Design

38. Lawyers for Choice (UK) 

39. London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign

40. Marie Stopes UK

41. Matthew O'Toole MLA

42. MyBodyMyLife

43. NIC-ICTU - Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Northern Ireland Committee

44. NIC-ICTU Health Committee

45. NIC_ICTU Women’s Committee

46. NIPSA - Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance

47. NIRWN - Northern Ireland Rural Women’s Network

48. Northern Ireland Refugee and Asylum Seekers Women Association (BOMOKO NI)

49. North West Migrants Forum

50. NUS-USI - National Union of Students - Union of Students Ireland

51. Dr Pam Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Aston University

52. Paula Bradshaw MLA Alliance Party

53. People Before Profit

54. Project Choice Queen’s University Belfast Students Union

55. Queen’s University Belfast Gender Network

56. Rachel Woods MLA Green Party

57. Rape Crisis NI 

58. RCM - The Royal College of Midwives

59. Reclaim the Night Belfast

60. Sinéad McLaughlin MLA SDLP

61. Sinn Fein

62. Sister Supporter

63. Stephen Farry MP Alliance Party

64. Strabane Pro Choice

65. Trademark

66. TransgenderNI

67. The Belfast and District Trades Union Council

68. The Centre for Gender in Politics

69. The Rainbow Project

70. Unite

71. UNSION ORCHARD BRANCH

72. Ulster University Pro-Choice Society

73. Womens Centre Derry

74. Women's Support Network WSN

75. WRDA - Women’s Resource and Development Agency

76. WPG - Women’s Policy Group