'Happy abortions': Activist group says women 'and pregnant people' must challenge the idea that having an abortion isn't something to be proud of

The event, being staged by Alliance for Choice, has drawn criticism from anti-abortion campaign group Right to Life, which said "it’s truly astounding to see how extreme and radical the abortion lobby has become”.

An online flyer for the event, taking place on Wednesday (tomorrow) from 6.30pm to 8pm at Ulster University Belfast says: “Join us as we host authors, Erica Millar and Carrie Purcell in exploring a radical reinterpretation of choice – the happy abortion.”

Erica Millar is an academic at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, whose “research focuses on the cultural and social contexts of abortion provision,” according to the univeristy.

A review of her book, called ‘Happy Abortions’, by one Loretta Ross of The SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, says it “celebrates that abortion, like childbirth, can be a joyful experience when achieving reproductive justice through human rights”.

The other speaker, Carrie Purcell, is a research fellow at Glasgow University specialising in “menstruation, embodiment, gender, sexualities, and well-being”.

The flyer for the event continues: “Women and pregnant people make decisions about their abortions based on the sum total of their lives – health, circumstance and yes, how they feel.

"Yet still, the idea that an abortion could be a ‘happy experience’ is almost out of bounds when it comes to binary notions about how we should feel about the abortions we have.

“Come along and hear from authors and activists on why we need to challenge the political and cultural forces that tell us even if we have abortions, we ought not to be happy or proud of our choices.”

The use of the term “pregnant people” is a reference to the belief that females are not the only people who can get pregnant.

Reacting, Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK (a group which counts DUP figures Jeffrey Donaldson and Carla Lockhart as patrons) said: “In an abortion, the life of an innocent baby is ended.

"Every abortion represents a failure of our society to protect the lives of babies in the womb and a failure to offer full support to women with unplanned pregnancies. This is not something to celebrate or be happy about.

“It’s truly astounding to see how extreme and radical the abortion lobby has become.

"They used to speak about abortion as a necessary evil in extreme circumstances and of trying to make it rare. Now they are celebrating abortions and labelling them ‘happy abortions’. To celebrate abortions is truly horrific.

“This is in Northern Ireland, which has had an extreme abortion regime imposed on it by Westminster.

"A regime so extreme that babies with cleft lip, club foot and Down’s syndrome can be aborted right up to birth – and abortion can happen de facto on demand, for any reason up to 24 weeks.

"This is nothing to be happy about.”