Alliance for Choice launched a new petition along with Care2, to support our #PennyPost campaign. Imagine our delight when we check in today and we have smashed the 40,000 mark and almost reached our goal of 50K already!
Our #PennyPost campaign wanted to try and get the voices of the real people of Northern Ireland heard in Parliament at Westminster. We have been kept lagging behind by allowing ourselves only to be represented.
Brexit notwithstanding, the last few months have been so incredible in terms of the pace of change for abortion in Northern Ireland. We believe that people like Penny Mordaunt are finally listening.
If you want to add your name to the petition please follow the link below!
“Abortion in Northern Ireland is punishable by up to life in prison, with no exception for rape, incest or foetal anomaly. Between March 2018 and July 2018, 342 women travelled from Northern Ireland to England to access abortion - 28 women a week, including at least one 12-year-old.
The legal barrier to abortion is a British law, Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861. The UN has called the law and the refusal of Westminster to act, a 'grave and systematic violation' of human rights. The UK Supreme Court has been clear that the current law treats women as 'vehicles', is 'untenable' and is in need of 'radical reconsideration'.
The UK Government has refused to act, arguing it is a devolved matter for the NI Assembly alone to address. Northern Ireland broke the record for the longest time without an elected government last month.
Alliance for Choice continues to receive calls from desperate people who can't travel, worried that accessing abortion pills online will see them arrested. We have been let down by our representatives who either refuse to take seat in Parliament or refuse to acknowledge the public will in NI for change. Westminster has the power to make this change.”