A 21 year old woman from County Down faces life in prison if she is convicted by a court for the ‘crime’ of attempting to bring about an abortion.
This is the first prosecution in more than 40 years under the 19th Century Offences Against the Person Act.
The 1967 Abortion Act, which makes abortion up to 28 weeks legal in the UK does not apply in Northern Ireland.
This law criminalises women for taking control of their bodies and forces many to travel to the UK or – if they cannot afford this -risk life threatening illegal abortions.
The use of reactionary laws to police women’s bodies coexists alongside sexist attitudes towards women’s bodies and sexuality – even in the UK where the working class has secured some progress for women’s rights.
We defend a woman’s right to choose and support all those campaigning for equal rights and in defence of those progressive advances which are constantly at risk of being eroded or reversed.
