The Only Clinic in N. Ireland Survives
Northern Ireland, a country with limited abortion options, has just one private abortion clinic, which opened in 2012. This week, the Northern Ireland Assembly tried to shut down that clinic and failed, according to RTÉ News:
“Bringing forward this amendment is perhaps the worst example we have seen to date in the Assembly of stroke politics. This amendment is about trying to close down the Marie Stopes clinic and as a result limiting the opportunity for a woman to exercise the option of a termination when her life is in danger,” says Caitríona Ruane, a Member of the Legislative Assembly.
This effort by the Members of the Legislative Assembly to shutter the Belfast clinic is no different than similar attacks here in the U.S., in Mississippi and North Dakota: an attempt to violate women’s human rights. This attempt is completely out of line with the majority of European countries and the United Kingdom, where it is clearly understood that abortion is a matter of women’s rights and self-determination.