Pro-choice group to lobby Westminster MPs

FORTY MEMBERS of the Alliance for Choice group from Northern Ireland are to travel to London tomorrow to lobby MPs and peers for the extension of the 1967 British Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.

They will be joined by Dawn Purvis, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, which supports the extension. They will be met at Westminster by Baroness May Blood from the Shankill in Belfast, who also supports the campaign.

The group will also meet Labour MP Diane Abbott, who has tabled an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill calling for the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.

The four main parties oppose transferring British abortion legislation to Northern Ireland. Goretti Horgan of Alliance for Choice said some of the arguments used against extending the act were that it would be an “imperialist” or “colonialist” move to impose the legislation on the region, and that the matter should be left to local politicians.

“There is no question of Westminster imposing abortion on Northern Ireland. It is already a reality of life here,” said Ms Horgan.

The 40 women travelling represented the number of women who leave the North each week for abortions, she added.

“The 40 women will be telling MPs that saying ‘Leave abortion to the Northern Ireland Assembly’ is like saying ‘Leave it to the Taliban to sort out women’s rights’,” said Ms Horgan.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times