Northern Irish women still face a future of unsafe and illegal abortions. Now is the time to help us

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On Friday, Ireland took to the polls and, for the first time in history, abortion will become a legal and safe healthcare procedure in the country. It’s a momentous victory. Generations of Irish campaigners have fought for this and finally Ireland has decided to trust women to make their own choices.

But while we rightly celebrate this win for women’s rights, we need to remember that abortion remains illegal in Northern Ireland.

It’s been bittersweet to be both Northern Irish and part of the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment, a law that criminalised abortion in the republic. While we joyfully celebrate the win south of our border, it’s in full knowledge that there is no such push to hold a similar referendum in the north.

Northern Ireland’s strict abortion laws are on a par with the republic’s before today.

Despite being part of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act never applied to Northern Ireland, where abortion remains illegal under nearly all circumstances, including rape, incest and if a woman is carrying a non-viable foetus. Northern Irish women are forced to travel to mainland Britain if they want an abortion and, before last year, they had to pay for it. Around 700 Northern Irish women a year are forced to make the journey, enduring travel and childcare costs as well as mental anguish. Hundreds more can’t afford to travel and are forced to take illegal and unsafe abortion pills, risking life imprisonment.

Northern Ireland’s abortion laws are as much a British problem as they are a Northern Irish one. While many in the UK have shown solidarity with the republic’s referendum, Northern Ireland’s cruel reproductive laws have largely gone unnoticed. Only in the past few years have some British politicians denounced Northern Ireland’s lack of reproductive rights, at the push of Northern Irish campaigners. Northern Ireland is a part of the UK – Northern Irish women should have the same rights and access to healthcare as women on the mainland. Because of Northern Ireland’s laws, the UN has ruled that the UK is currently violating women’s rights. That’s on both British and Northern Irish governments.

In the leadup to the referendum it’s become clear that Britain doesn’t understand Ireland, Northern Ireland or the difference between the two. Again and again, journalists have conflated them – for example, Zoe Williams’s well-intended column in The Guardian describes a visit to a Belfast abortion clinic but in the context of the republic’s referendum. For the record: the Republic of Ireland held a referendum to repeal its law criminalising abortion; Northern Ireland did not.

The island of Ireland is a messy one and confusion over borders and constitutions speaks to a larger problem of Britain not paying attention to its neighbour – just look at Brexit and talk of a hard border in Ireland. I grew up near Belfast but my family is rooted in Donegal, a county in the republic, a stone’s throw from Derry across the border. Driving down a single street can mean you’re technically driving in two countries and border lines run through farmers’ fields and people’s gardens. While Ireland consists of two countries and two separate governments, it is very much one land mass.

While Ireland is a divided island, the referendum has united opposing sides over the referendum. Catholics, Protestants and the Orange Order all share the same stance that abortion should remain illegal. Sermons and anti-choice billboards have increased in the north since the referendum was announced.

But Ireland is also united in its pro-choice movement. Throughout the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment, Northern Irish pro-choicers have supported their sister movement in the republic. Ireland is borderless in that opinions and attitudes cross arbitrary lines on maps. While there is no move towards a similar referendum in Northern Ireland yet, decriminalising abortion in the republic will undoubtedly affect public opinion in the north. We saw it happen with the republic’s referendum to legalise same-sex marriage in 2015.

There are several ways pro-choice campaigners can help the women of Northern Ireland. Support and donate to the Alliance for Choice campaign and contact your local MP about what they’re doing to show solidarity with Northern Ireland. It’s especially important to contact local Tory MPs and express concerns over their party doing a deal with the DUP, a party that has continually stopped abortion and same-sex marriage bills from passing.

For Northern Irish women this is an unstable time. With the legalisation of abortion in the republic, this could mean travelling to the south rather than to mainland Britain. However, Brexit looms over us with the question of a hard border. While the republic has won a hard fight, we need to keep that momentum going to decriminalise abortion in the north and Britain needs to show solidarity to Northern Ireland. God knows we’ll need it.