Abortion Rights In Northern Ireland

EDM number 2393 in 2007-08, proposed by Diane Abbott on 30/10/2008.
Categorised under the topics of Children and families and Medical ethics.

That this House supports safe, legal abortion for women, with existing time limits, no matter where they live in the United Kingdom; recognises that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, despite having abortion within its scope, was not necessarily the most appropriate way to amend the law on abortion; notes that because the Abortion Act 1967 was never extended to Northern Ireland, women in Northern Ireland do not have the same access to abortion as women in the rest of the United Kingdom; further notes that as a consequence women who are, for example, the victims of rape or incest or who are carrying a severely abnormal foetus are forced to continue their pregnancy against their will or to travel to England and pay for a private abortion, which can cost up to £2,000 and takes place later in gestation than necessary; condemns the inequity that this causes by its impact on poorer, younger and other vulnerable women; deplores the fact that thousands of women are forced into motherhood, illegal abortion or debt each year because they do not have the same reproductive rights as women in other parts of the United Kingdom; and calls on the Government to relieve this burden and provide funding for women in Northern Ireland to access NHS abortion services in Britain.

This motion has been signed by a total of 38 MPs.