Via Stroppyblog, I see the Family Planning Association have set up a petition on the Number Ten site to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland. The text reads:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland, and grant women there the same rights to abortion as women in the rest of the United Kingdom.

More details from petition creator

We believe that the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Assembly should extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland, and grant women there the same rights to abortion as women in the rest of the United Kingdom.

As the law currently stands, no woman in Northern Ireland with an unwanted pregnancy (including women who’ve been raped, victims of incest, diagnosed with fetal abnormality/disability) has the automatic right to abortion.

Consequently, Northern Irish women:

• Pay the emotional and financial costs (up to £2,500) and travel to England or overseas for a private abortion.

• Have babies they have already decided they don’t want.

• Buy illegal and unsafe abortion pills on the internet in desperation.

fpa believes Parliament should change the law to end the discrimination against Northern Ireland women and give them the right to choose.

I encourage you to sign the petition. In many areas of sexual rights, Northern Ireland remains a long way behind the rest of the UK. This is the region, after all, that manages to have Iris Robinson as a Member of its Legislative Assembly and return her as a Westminster MP.

xD.

Posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Categories: Abortion, Campaigns.
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