Mary Lou McDonald’s party claims to back women’s rights yet it supports restrictive laws on abortion rights

However, her party has in recent days moved to restrict abortion access in the North with a legislative amendment that would ban abortion in the case of severe foetal impairment.

This attempted restriction goes against best medical practice and does not meet the human rights standards as recommended by the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which says that “abortion on the ground of severe foetal impairment [must] be available to facilitate reproductive choice and autonomy.”

‘No one left behind’ was the theme of last year’s March for Choice, and it is a slogan Ms McDonald has repeated in recent days.

However, in practice, Sinn Fein’s proposed amendment will leave people behind: It will force Irish people to travel to Britain to access abortion — a practice Ms McDonald personally campaigned to end in 2018.

As a party that claims to be committed to women’s rights and gender equality rights on both sides of the border, Sinn Fein should be pushing to improve access to abortion rights, not restrict them.

It must drop its restrictive amendment to Northern Irish abortion laws now.

Kathy D’Arcy, Chair, Rebels4Choice, Cork