Abortion has finally been made legal in Northern Ireland, with a history-making bill passing its final stage in the UK parliament. The same bill will also see same-sex marriage legalised. The abortion laws will be in place by 21 October unless the devolved government has returned.
The vote will bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK on the two major social issues. Both historic votes come off the back of long campaigns by Labour MPs and equality campaigners, who have been working hard since the Northern Irish government was suspended amid political deadlock from early 2017.
As of October 22, abortion will no longer be illegal and any women facing criminal charges for having an abortion will have their cases dropped from that date. Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director Patrick Corrigan says the passing of the bill is “a historic day for human rights”.
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“Nowhere on these islands have people had to fight longer and harder for their human rights than in Northern Ireland,” Corrigan said in a statement. “Future generations in Northern Ireland will no longer have to suffer inequality in the way so many have had to endure in the past.”
On July 9, 2019, British Labour MP Stella Creasy put forward a new amendment clause to extend the UK’s abortion rights to women in Northern Ireland. Among other things, Creasy said of the clause:
“If we say to women that we will force them to continue an unwanted pregnancy, they will always be second-class citizens compared with their male counterparts. That is exactly what we are saying to our fellow UK citizens in Northern Ireland. We are not living up to our obligations to protect the rights of the women in Northern Ireland – those one million women are UK citizens.”
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For years, conservative laws in the North have prevented women from accessing safe abortions, which the UK legalised in 1967. At present, anyone found guilty of illegal abortion in Northern Ireland faces life in prison. Meanwhile, marriage equality has been blocked from taking effect in Northern Ireland ever since the UK legalised it in 2014.
Following the two historic bills, Stella Creasy tweeted: “Thank you to everyone who today stood up for equality in Northern Ireland – whether for same sex marriage or abortion, today we have said everyone in the UK deserves to be treated as an equal. There’s a road to go yet but today a big step forward #TheNorthISNext #LoveEquality.”
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