Abortion
The Alabama state Senate just passed the US' strictest abortion ban, which criminalises nearly all abortions including in cases of rape and incest.
As much as we would like to believe that abortion bans couldn't happen here, for women and doctors in Northern Ireland, this is already their reality.
The Alabama Senate passed a bill which close to bans abortion in the state, making the procedure only available if a woman’s health is at serious risk. The punishment for doctors performing abortions is 99 years or life in prison. Senators rejected an exception for rape and incest. The bill has been written with such strong terms so that it will be challenged and pushed to the Supreme Court. Since the swearing in of Brett Kavanaugh the bench of judges has a conservative majority. The Supreme Court ruled that abortion was legal across the country in the landmark Roe v Wade case in 1975. Bills like this seek to overturn that ruling, to give states the right to decide their own abortion laws.
The bill, which will now go to the state governor's desk, would ban abortion in almost all cases.
"I wasn’t ready for it emotionally, psychologically and financially."
She was speaking in response to a new abortion law signed in Georgia, US, this week.
Some have reported waiting as long as 6 weeks for an abortion.
Stormont has lain empty for over 2 years, with no debates, votes or bills having taken place since the power sharing government collapsed in 2017. Life changing decisions for the people of Northern Ireland have been postponed. The law on two key social issues puts Northern Ireland apart from the rest of the UK, the strict restrictions on abortion and the ban on gay marriage. These two campaigns are voicing their disbelief at the lack of progress and the seeming unwillingness of Westminster to intervene.
I want to live in a world where each and every woman has the power to determine what happens to her body and her future
The BBC not providing abortion support information after a harrowing Call the Midwife episode feels like a betrayal of both the show and of women