Why abortions must be made legal in Ireland and Northern Ireland

One in three women will have an abortion in their lifetime in the UK.

However, despite how common the procedure is, no two women’s experience of abortion is ever the same.

In England, Scotland and Wales, for example, women have access to free, safe, and legal abortions.

But, in Northern Ireland - which is still part of the UK - and Ireland, women face prison sentences for going online and illegally buying the very same medication used in safe and legal abortions.

Earlier this week, it was reported that a 19-year-old woman from Belfast had bought the drugs online to terminate her pregnancy, as she had no access to a legal abortion.

The drugs induced a miscarriage - and her housemates reported her to the police.

Their actions resulted in the woman, now 21, being given a suspended sentence at Belfast Crown Court.

Describing her as a teenager who "felt trapped", her lawyer said that if the woman had lived in any other part of the UK she wouldn’t “have found herself before the courts”.

Since the case was reported, the Abortion Support Network has received over £10,000 in donations.

They are the only organisation that helps Irish women to find the money they need to travel, find accommodation, and pay for a private, legal abortion overseas in England.

Mara Clarke, the director of the Abortion Support Network, explained that the charity was funded to give women non-judgemental advice, and the practical means of obtaining an abortion.

She said: “I am fully respectful of people who are against abortion, but I am a parent. Being a parent is a really big job, and we shouldn’t give this job to someone who doesn’t want it.

“The majority of women who have terminations are already mothers - they know what it’s like to have a kid, and they are making a choice as to whether or not they are able to parent a child, or another child, or a child right now.”

She makes an excellent point; one of the biggest arguments that people make against abortion is that it is selfish to deny a child of the right to live.

However it is not selfish to terminate a pregnancy; it is, quite possibly the least selfish thing that someone can do.

It demands that you look at your life and say, ‘I can’t care for a live human, I can’t give a lifetime commitment, I can’t raise a baby in the way I would like to.’

It demands that you consider your circumstances, and make the best possible choice for yourself, for those around you, and for the child that you are considering bringing into the world.

Mara also explained that many of the people who contact Abortion Support Network say they were completely against abortion.

I was completely against abortion until…

In short, she said, they will say ‘I was completely against abortion until I - or someone I love - needed an abortion’.

What are the laws surrounding abortion in the UK?

Under current UK law, women in face up to 12 years in prison if they terminate a pregnancy without the permission of two doctors.

However, in England, Scotland, and Wales, abortion is legal up to 24 weeks, and, in cases where the mother's health is threatened or if there is a substantial risk the baby will have serious disabilities, beyond that.

In Ireland and Northern Ireland, however, the laws are far stricter.

For starters, the 1967 Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland.

In fact, access to abortion is only permitted if a woman's life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious risk to her mental or physical health.

And fatal foetal abnormalities, rape and incest are not circumstances in which abortions can be performed legally.

“It’s a law that predates the invention of the lightbulb,” Mara told us.

It goes without saying that making abortion illegal doesn't stop them from happening; it just forces women to find expensive, dangerous and illegal alternatives, such as:

1) Travel to England for a private abortion

Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland, which means that many women feel forced to travel overseas to England and pay privately for a safe and legal abortion.

The cost of this ranges from £400 to £2000 depending on circumstance and stage of pregnancy.

“It’s a hypocrisy,” says Mara. “Women with money have options, whereas women without money have babies, or buy pills off the internet, or drink bleach in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to end a pregnancy - which doesn’t work, by the way.”

The Abortion Support Network provides funds for women who need to travel for abortions, but they are a small charity with limited funds.

And for women who don’t know about the Abortion Support Network, as the young woman prosecuted in Belfast did not, the costs involved can seem impossible.

Women can’t pre-book cheaper tickets, or find flights in sales, because you can’t plan an unplanned pregnancy.

Many have sold their cars or their furniture, or rationed food for her families, or worse, in a bid to find the money needed to make that expensive journey.

In 2015 alone, 837 women gave an Irish address at a UK abortion clinic - and that’s just the women who told the truth.

2) Buy illegal abortion pills on the internet

Although they are illegal to buy across the UK, abortion pills are readily available online - and they are the same pills used by NHS doctors for legal abortions in the UK.

In fact, the World Health Organisation lists the pills in question – misoprostol and mifepristone – on its Essential Medicines list.

The Abortion Support Network works with two organisations, which it claims are reputable and can provide the pills safely - albeit illegally.

Each offers abortion pills, on prescription, for use in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, for a donation of around £50 (which will be waived in conditions of financial hardship).

However the ASN add that, as well as the potential legal implications and as with buying any medication online, there are risks associated with Early Medical Abortion Pills.

They do not advise anyone to take medication without qualified medical supervision if at all possible - but online abortion medication is, sadly, the only option for some women.

They are simply being punished for lacking the financial means to travel.

3) Dangerous self-abortion methods

When you make abortion illegal, you criminalise the women who seek one.

And, in doing so, you may risk driving them to dangerous measures.

Mara explained: “Some women drink bleach, or deliberately throw themselves down the stairs to provoke a miscarriage.

“One mother, who was not a drug user, sought out heroin in a bid to terminate her pregnancy.

“And one mother-of-four told us that she had wanted to crash her car, in a way that wouldn’t injure anyone - and wouldn’t kill her, but would provoke a miscarriage.”

She added: “The only way we know it’s 2016, and not the 1800s, is that Irish and Northern Irish women can now google the phrase ‘how can I self abort?’, instead of just reaching for a coat hanger

“They will find a way to get rid of a baby if they want to get rid of a baby - or they will do something to get rid of themselves.

“As we know that the majority of women who seek illegal abortions are already mothers, with children who depend on them, I ask you this - how many victims are there?”

What does the future hold?

In November 2015, Belfast High Court ruled that Northern Ireland's abortion ban was “incompatible with human rights”.

At the time, Breedagh Hughes, the RCM’s Northern Ireland Director, said: “[This ruling] gives midwives and other health professionals legal protection and a release from the fear of prosecution.

“This will enable midwives to offer women who have a diagnosis of fatal foetal anomaly the appropriate care, support and advice that they also have often been denied because of the Assembly’s inertia.”

However Northern Ireland's devolved parliament Stormont has, so far, refused to change the law regarding abortions.

People are campaigning for this to change; they believe that women deserve a choice.

Amnesty International in Northern Ireland said: “Instead of sanctioning women and girls for seeking the healthcare they need, the Northern Ireland Executive should lead the way in reforming abortion laws to bring them into line with international standards.”

Northern Ireland's leading pro-life group, Precious Life, disagree, saying: “It is vital that the lives of both mother and unborn child are respected and protected equally in hospitals throughout Northern Ireland.”

If you are in Ireland or Northern Ireland and require support, advice, or help funding an legal abortion in England, please visit the Abortion Support Network.