It is time to change the 150-year-old law on abortion

The tragic story of the woman prosecuted for taking an abortion pill highlights once more the archaic judicial system of Northern Ireland, urgently requiring the application of several metaphorical legal incendiary devices in order to accelerate it into the 21st century.

If there have been no guidelines or similar cases to compare this case to, then now is the time to step up and change the law before more tragedies like this take place.

The legislation, like so many others in Northern Ireland, is over 150 years old, dating back to times before women could vote, homes had running water and electricity and education and healthcare was free to all.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I tried but it is impossible to log on with the intention of creating and/or sign any petition to legalise abortion in this country. Amnesty has a petition to legalise abortion in Ireland, but not specifically Northern Ireland.

I guess a majority DUP government will do that to a country.

There is of course a ‘polarised debate’ on this matter needing urgent reassessing.

Northern Ireland is a binary, backward country – binary in that there are only two choices to everything: religion, sexual choices, gender, brown bread or white, Guinness or Smithwicks.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

These three young girl were obviously filled with social, moral and personal fear.

A teenager was left with no choice but to abort a baby and leave the dead foetus in a bin to be subsequently found by her terrified flatmates who then called the police.

No doubt, there is some religious, right winged, affiliation to the story lurking in the background and about to burst forth in angry, self-righteous song.

Please God there is counselling on tap for all involved and please, please God no smug, off key songs from the DUP and misogynistic religious representatives.

Miss Jude Wilson, From Ballycastle, MA Pastoral Theology Student, University of London

Related topics: