Ireland Voted To Allow Abortion. But It's Still Strictly Banned In Northern Ireland

Ireland voted to repeal its constitutional ban on abortion, prompting calls for change in neighboring Northern Ireland, where abortion remains restricted under strict laws dating to Victorian times. With no functioning government in Belfast, abortion reforms would fall to the U.K. government under Prime Minister Theresa May. The issue was raised in the House of Commons, where Labour MP Stella Creasy argued that criminalizing abortion does not protect women and framed abortion as an equality issue tied to bodily autonomy. Conservative lawmakers and others described personal experiences during the debate. Democratic Unionist Party lawmakers objected to Parliament intervening, citing pro-life principles and the need to uphold rights of mothers and unborn children. Protests in Northern Ireland have increased, and many women travel to England or risk prosecution using illegal pills.

"“We don't protect women by criminalizing them,” Labour Party member Stella Creasy said in Parliament. “I see abortion as an equalities issue,” she added, “because men and women will never truly be free while one cannot control what happens to their own body.” She was leading off an at times emotional debate, in which one Conservative lawmaker even shared her own abortion story."

"“My party has been from its very inception a pro-life party,” said the DUP's chief whip, Jeffrey Donaldson. “We believe law and policy in Northern Ireland should affirm and uphold the rights of both mothers and unborn children.” Lawmakers from Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party strongly objected to Parliament intervening."

"At a demonstration in a Belfast courthouse plaza last week, women chanted, “No more buses, trains or flights. We demand abortion rights.” Northern Ireland is the only place in the U.K. where abortion is still prohibited, even in cases of rape and incest, or when a fetus is not expected to live. Hundreds of women travel to England to obtain the procedure in any given year, or risk prosecution by using illegal pills that induce a miscarri"

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