Victory of Abortion Activists in Northern Ireland
The following article is an excerpt from our latest printed Ecosprinter titled Reclaim Your Rights! – The Social Issue. We decided to bring you the articles from this edition in a digital form as well.
by Sarah Laverty
On the 23 October 2019, a woman stood before a jury in Belfast Crown Court and was found ‘not guilty’ of the charges brought against her. The prosecution offered no evidence – unsurprising, considering that the law she was being charged under no longer existed.
The woman had been brought to court forbreaking the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, a law which,until recently, made abortion in Northern Irelandillegal in almost all circumstances, with a penaltyof up to life imprisonment for those pro-curingor assisting others to procure an abortion. Fiveyears before, the woman had bought and suppliedabortion pills to her then 15-year-old daughter.The prosecution of the woman under thislaw brought about a public outcry across the countryand intensified campaigns to decriminalise abortion.
Before October 2019 Northern Ireland was the only part of the UK where abortion services were not available. Attempts, however, had been made to liberalise the law through the country’s devolved government*. But in 2017 the Northern Ireland Assembly collapsed and has remained inactive until the time of writing, which led campaigners to put pressure on Westminster to extend reproductive justice to people in Northern Ireland.
* The government of Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Executive, that functions under, but in certain areas independently of the UK government.
In July 2019 Labour Members of ParliamentStella Creasy and Conor McGinnput forward amendments to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation)Act 2019 in front of theBritish Parliament, which wouldlegalise same-sex marriage in NorthernIreland and repeal the 158-year-old law governingabortion, if the Northern Ireland Assembly failed to form a governmentby October 21st. Thelegislation passed, and with the devolved governmentstill inactive, on October 22nd abortion was decriminalised throughoutthe country, and same-sexmarriage was legalised.
Emma Gallen, Outreach Co-Ordinator forAlliance for Choice, is one ofthe young women who led the campaignto decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland.Emma got involved with the movement atthe time of another public court case surrounding the country’s abortionlaws. She said: “In 2016 therewas a prosecution of a then 21-year-old who hadtaken abortion pills when she was 19 and was foundby her housemates – that case really struck mebecause it could have been anyone. It just re-allyhit me that this was an active law and it is impactingpeople.”
The change in law came about less than 18 months after the repeal of the Eighth Amendmentin the Republic of Ireland which removed theconstitutional ban on abortion. Both in the northand the south of the island the campaigns forabortion reform have been led by grassroots, feministorganisations, which placed solidarity atthe centre of their movement. After the repeal ofthe Eighth Amendment the hashtag #TheNorthisNext began immediatelyexpressing support for peoplein Northern Ireland, and hundreds of activistscrossed the border to join campaigners atthe annual Rally for Choice march in Belfast in September 2019.
Engaging the public was vital for campaignsin both Northern Ireland andthe Republic of Ireland. Forthe last two years Emma has run a weekly stallin the centre of Belfast which aims to engage membersof the public on the topic of abortion, breakingdown some of the persistent myths. “Thereare some negative experiences on the stall. Thereare people who tell us that what we’re doing iswrong. Some people come over and tell us that theirdaughter had an abortion and really regrets it;or that their daughter had an unplanned pregnancy and it’s the bestthing that’s ever happened tothem.”
“But we also get a lot of supporters. Oncethere was a woman who didn’twant to come over to us but Icould see her eyeing up the stall so I walked overto her. She was heavily pregnant and didn’t wantto be seen to be signing the petition we had thatday, but she did want to sign it.”
“She told me that in the past she had beensexually assaulted and one of the things that really stayed with her was the fear of pregnancyand having to live with thatforever. She was happy when shegot her period afterwards and now had amuch wanted pregnancy with someone she loved– the whole experience really shaped her pro-choiceviews.”
Volunteers on the stall faced significantlegal risks by listening to thestories of people who have hadabortions. Under the 1861 law people who had takenabortion pills had committed a criminal offence and it is illegal inNorthern Ireland not to reporta crime you have knowledge of.
“A few women have travelled and have nevertold anyone about it – we’rethe first people they’ve spokento about it. It can get emotional” - said Emma.“There have been times when we have beentold that people have taken abortion pills andthat is a risk for everyone there – when we werehearing those stories we were breaking the lawby not reporting them.”
For the campaigners, the battle is not overyet. While abortion has beendecriminalised through-out thecountry, women and pregnant people do notcurrently have local services which provide abortions.Emma said: “Access is what is next. We don’tactually have abortion services in Northern Irelandthat are readily available.”
“A government consultation is happening until the 16 December and following that we should get some form of actual access by the end of March 2020. We need to keep going until then.”
Alliance for Choice, set up in 1996, campaigns for free, safe and legal abortion access in Northern Ireland. For information on how to support them visit www.alliance4choice.com or follow their Instagram and Twitter accounts @All4ChoiceThe quotes by Emma Gallen are from an inter-view conducted by the author at an event titled “The Long Road to Equality” hosted by Green Par-ty of Northern Ireland Member of the Legislative Assembly, Clare Bailey, in Stormont.
Sarah is a member of the Green Party of Northern Ireland where she has previously sat on the party’s Executive Committee as the Party Development Officer. She studied English and Spanish at Queen’s University Belfast and shortly after became involved with Belfast Feminist Network where she supported campaigns for reproductive justice. Sarah currently works as a Policy and Public Affairs Consultant for NUS-USI, the national student movement in Northern Ireland.