After Stormont voted to restrict abortion rights, Westminster is intervening to secure the services women are legally entitled to
Northern Ireland is no country for young women. Out of 87 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) at Stormont last week, just 12 voted to allow women the right to choose abortion in line with international human rights standards. These are built into a law smuggled into NI while the institutions in Belfast were collapsed in acrimony in 2019, following an inspiring collective effort by local feminists and the British Labour MP Stella Creasy. Jubilant, proud, relieved and tearful, women stood at Stormont with banners that said, simply, “Decriminalised”.
But so far, Stormont has succeeded in thwarting the implementation of the new law, leading the NI Human Rights Commission to mount a legal challenge. On Thursday, the Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis intervened and is expected next week to direct that the services to which women are legally entitled are actually made available. The Good Friday agreement promised equality – the continued stymying of abortion access is a depressing indicator of just how far we are from reaching it.
