Across the UK, all efforts are being made during the coronavirus crisis to ensure that vital treatment can be accessed by those who need it most.
There is one big exception here: Northern Irish women and pregnant people who cannot easily access mifepristone with misoprostol, despite both items being on the World Health Organisation’s list of essential medicines.
Current rules in Northern Ireland dictate that the first abortion pill is to be taken in a health and social care premises, but these premises are yet to be up and running in the country. New regulations brought abortion legislation in Northern Ireland in line with England and Wales on 31 March, but the roll-out has been impacted by current turmoil. What this means in practice is that Northern Irish women still have to travel to England to access abortion services, as they have done for decades.
A journey that was already difficult and gruelling has become next to impossible in the middle of a global pandemic. With no direct flights operating out of Belfast Airport, the only option is to take a multitude of trains, buses and ferries to arrive at Liverpool — one of only two publicly-funded clinics currently accessible — over eight to 10 hours later.
Once there, they will be able to take the first of five abortion pills under the guidance of a healthcare professional, before making the same journey back home, with next to nowhere open to rest or even eat in between.
Anyone following the Northern Ireland Office’s social media accounts would see various messages, including, “We all must do it to get through it — stay at home” and “Until abortion services are available in Northern Ireland, women and pregnant people can continue to receive advice on abortion services free of charge.”
“April was meant to be a month of celebration for pro-choice activists, who had spent decades campaigning for abortion rights in Northern Ireland.”
What is left unsaid in the second message is that the advice will be the same as it always has: you will have to travel. During a global virus, women in Northern Ireland are effectively being gaslit. They are told that they are being offered advice and support when in reality the barriers facing them have only increased.
April was meant to be a month of celebration for pro-choice activists, who had spent decades campaigning for abortion rights in Northern Ireland. Instead, Alliance for Choice, one of the major campaigners for abortion in Northern Ireland, is reporting a five-fold increase in the number of calls for help since the introduction of travel restrictions.
It could be different. New measures have been introduced in England to ensure that abortion services are still accessible during the coronavirus crisis. The Department of Health and Social Care has updated its guidance to allow women to take abortion pills that are sent to them at home, after a telephone consultation and up to the tenth week of pregnancy.
The move to telemedicine is one that has been widely welcomed by service providers and campaigners. It is a necessary next step in access to abortion services. Though this change has been introduced on a temporary basis, for up to a maximum of two years, it would be hard to argue that something that widens access to necessary healthcare should be rowed back.
For Northern Ireland however, we are fighting to allow telemedicine to urgently help women. In the meantime, Alliance for Choice has announced that they will be facilitating access to telemedicine in Northern Ireland with partners Women on Web and Women Help.
The movement of thousands of people signing up to volunteer for the NHS has been seen as the best of human spirit and solidarity during a crisis. But the major blind spot relating to women in Northern Ireland who want to terminate their pregnancies can only be seen as an indictment of the Northern Irish government’s failures.
Over the last few weeks, the UK has seen changes to spending and legislation that were never thought possible be rapidly introduced to help people through the crisis. But once again, Northern Irish women have been left behind. Pro-choice campaigners have long memories, and unless urgent change happens, this inaction will not be forgotten.
Nic Murray is a researcher, and policy and advocacy convener with the London Irish Abortion Rights Campaign