‘Abortion is not a human right’ – Christian group responds to Amnesty report

Dec 12, 2023 by Jill

from Christian Today:

A Christian advocacy group has denounced a new report from Amnesty International which calls barriers to abortion access in Northern Ireland a human rights violation.

The UK Parliament in Westminster passed a law decriminalising abortion in Northern Ireland in 2019 while Stormont was suspended, despite polling finding that a majority in the province did not support the changes.

Amnesty complains that four years later abortion in Northern Ireland is “a right but not a reality” and that “obstacles include sporadic, under-resourced and understaffed services; conscience-based refusals, misinformation as well as pervasive stigma”.

The report says that the government should fulfil “its human rights obligations to create an enabling environment for abortion care and to provide the full range of human rights-compliant abortion care”.

“Pregnant people are legally entitled to access timely abortion care and information in Northern Ireland. Forcing people living in Northern Ireland to travel to England for essential healthcare, or to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, violates their human rights, including their right to make autonomous decisions about their sexual and reproductive health,” Amnesty said.

Read here