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Illegal pills and trauma: how Northern Ireland's abortion ban affects women
Northern Ireland
Illegal pills and trauma: how Northern Ireland's abortion ban affects women
With an almost total ban on terminations, pregnancy often means difficult decisions on what to do and where to go for help
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A pro-choice campaigner in Belfast. Photograph: Stephen Barnes/NI News Archives/Alamy Stock Photo
Emilia Campbell was 20 when she became pregnant. She was taking the contraceptive pill and did not want a child. But as she stared at her positive pregnancy test in a toilet cubicle in a shopping centre in Belfast, she knew she was facing a stressful decision: travel overseas for an abortion, seek out an illegal and potentially dangerous solution such as buying abortion pills online, or continue with the unwanted pregnancy.
Although it would take her years to pay back the debt, she used her new credit card to pay for the journey from Belfast to London so she could have a termination. “I remember trying to hide how sick I felt as I boarded the plane, terrified they wouldn’t let me fly. I felt desperately ill during the journey, and I was retching the whole way on my empty stomach,” Campbell said. “I thought everyone on board must have known where I was going on that early morning flight.”
‘If abortion were legal in Northern Ireland, women wouldn’t have to suffer.’ Link to video
Northern Irish law allows abortion in only a fraction of cases: if there is a serious risk to a pregnant woman’s life or of long-term damage to her physical or mental health. Just 23 legal NHS abortions took place in Northern Ireland last year, compared with more than 200,000 in the rest of the UK.
“The clinic I went to was full of Irish girls,” said Campbell, which is not her real name. “I was crying as they sedated me, and an Irish nurse held my hand as it happened. She reminded me of my granny and I remember thinking that if my grandparents were alive they would have been horrified at what I was doing. I remember trying to hide how sick I felt as I boarded the plane, terrified they wouldn’t let me fly.
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http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/05/abortion-in-northern-ireland-women-share-their-experiences