61Report‘I HAD TO FLY ALONE TO
ENGLAND TO HAVE A SAFE,
LEGAL ABORTION’
Karen*,37, from Northern Ireland, is a mother
of two and a pro-choice campaigner
‘When I found out I was pregnant for the third time, my kids
were six and eight months. I was still on maternity leave and
had been suffering with postnatal anxiety. I couldn’t sleep,
I found it hard to leave the house and had panic attacks.
Then, just as I was starting to feel better, I got pregnant. I was
terrified of getting pulled back into a black hole that I had
barely started to climb out of.
‘As a pro-choice campaigner, I always thought I was
fighting for this so other women have freedom, but I would
never personally have an abortion. And then I was in that
position myself. You never know what situation you’re going
to find yourself in. Straight away I started making calls.
‘I spoke to the Abortion Support Network first. I didn’t need to
ask them for money, but I got really good logistical advice.
There’s no one else to give you that – you can’t get information
‘SOMETHINGTHAT S HOU LDBE A 5-MINUTEOUTPATIENTPROCEDUREBECOMES A 16-H O U R O R D E A L’fromGPs, they’re too scared to tell you. Next I called the
BritishPregnancy Advisory Service and booked a clinic
in Liverpool. I had to wait a week and, in that time,
I went to the Family Planning Association, which has
sadly now closed. They were a lifeline.
‘My husband couldn’t come with me as he had to
look after the kids, and I didn’t feel I could ask
a friend because she would have to take the day off
work or get childcare and then pay £180 for the
flights.But I really regretted going alone. I left super
early and I was back by 6.30pm, in time to give the
kids a kiss goodnight, which really struck me. If it
was in your own city, it would be such a small thing,
yet it felt like such a massive journey because
of the impact of having to get up and go somewhere
totally unfamiliar. I was scared throughout the
entireexperience.
‘I had to have
a surgical abortion
because I was
flying home that
day - pills induce
heavy bleeding and
pain too severe for
travel - but the
general anaesthetic
freaked me out a
bit, so I phoned my
husband, then had
a bit of a cry. That’s
when I wished he
or a friend had
been there. I was in
the theatre waiting room with three other women from
the UK, and I’ll remember that for the rest of my life. In
that moment, we all shared our stories. I heard all kinds,
from domestic violence to drug addiction. There’s such
complexity in people’s circumstances.
‘When I came round, the sense of relief was
unbelievable. I felt so grateful. It was amazing to me
that all these people work in this place that gives you
this incredible gift of being able to walk out of there
andget on with your life.
‘Between30 and 35, I was pregnant five times.
It was the most intense period of my life. I had two kids,
two miscarriages and one abortion. I think people
needto understand that is what women’s lives are like
when we make that decision to have children. That it
brings with it all the stuff – the bad with the good.’‘OURCLIENTS RANGE FROM12 TO 53 YEARS OLD’MaraClark is founder of The Abortion Support
Network, which is based in England to help
women access safe and legal abortions
‘In 2002, I was living in New York and
I read an article about the women travelling to the
city to have abortions because it had a 24-week time
limit. They had to pay $2,000 [about £1,600] for the
procedure and stay overnight, and some were havingIn recent months, there has been international
outcry over the draconian abortion bills being
passed in some American states, with Alabama,
Ohioand Georgia (among others) recently signing
bills to severely restrict women’s abortion rights.
But what about the abortion crisis in our own
backyard?In Northern Ireland, abortion is illegal. Even
incases of rape and incest, it is a crime punishable by life
imprisonment, which also extends to the doctors who
administer the procedure. But banned abortions don’t
result in fewer abortions. According to the Department of
Health and Social Care, 1,053 women from Northern Ireland
travelledto the UK for an abortion in 2018-which marks
a 22 per cent increase on the year before. Clearly, free, safe
andlegal abortions are desperately needed.
However,on 9 July, a historic window of opportunity
opened as an overwhelming majority voted in Westminster
for an amendment tabled by MP Stella Creasy, which would
see abortion become decimalised in Northern Ireland,
falling under the 1967 Abortion Act that currently exists
inEngland and Wales. But, this will only come to pass if
Stormont-the currently collapsed Irish Assembly caught
in a stalemate-does not restore by 21 October 2019.
Inother words, there’s still some way to go. If Stormont
restores, the issue will fall back to a government that has
fiercelyopposed abortion. Even if the abortion laws are
relaxed,Stormont would have the right to amend them.
Despite the long road ahead, campaigners are
celebratory. Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International’s
Northern Ireland campaign manager, told Marie Claire,
‘This is a significant defining moment for women’s rights
in Northern Ireland. The grave harm and suffering under
Northern Ireland’s abortion regime is finally coming to an
end. At a time when prosecutions are still a grim reality, this
cannot happen quickly enough.’
For now, though, that grim reality is still something women
are facing. Here, we explore the complexities of the debate
through stories of women personally affected by this issue.