Pro-Choice Protest 21/10/08

It took a lot of effort to, very last minute, get funding for travel to Westminster to attend the pro-choice protest yesterday. It was however done and 5 Birmingham Students were able to go to the protest, sadly others pulled out last minute.

This protest was mainly to back Northern Ireland's campaign to legalise abortion. As it is currently abortion is illegal in Ireland and if a woman is suspected to be traveling to the UK for an abortion her passport will be taken off of her and she will forced to stay in Ireland and have the baby. For victims of rape or incest this is appalling. The only way a woman can get an abortion in Ireland is to be suicidal. So this protest was to show our support.

It did not help, however, when a very pro-life man came behind the barriers and starting tearing up baby books. I happened to be right next to him when this guy started and I can honestly say this guy was very scary. When one of the protesters tried to stop him tearing up the book he angrily pushed her away. I had never been so happy to see the police. I promised Hannah no one would get arrested so I was very happy when the police made him stand seperate to us.

We had two speeches from MPs saying how happy they were that we were there. Here is what one of the MPs said (from abortionrights.org.uk):

Diane Abbott MP, who tabled New Clause 30 to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland said in the debate:

“I think there is a special case for debating the issues of Northern Ireland today because of course abortion is a criminal justice matter and in time it will be devolved to Northern Ireland. If we do not debate my clause today women in Northern Ireland will lose the right to have abortion - as in Britain - for a generation…The law in Northern Ireland is the same law as in 1861. It seems to me that we have a responsibility as parliament to move women’s rights into the 21st century. . . . . The thousands that travel every year to Britain - and they are the lucky ones - have to pay. How can that be right? You have a situation where poor women at a time of great distress have to find the money to pay to travel and have an abortion. Women cannot have an abortion even if they have been raped, even if they are victims of incest, even if their health at risk. Are we content to have a group of women in Northern Ireland to be second-class citizens?”

If you would like to read the offical news release from AbortionRights please click here.