The criminalisation of a woman who sought an abortion in the UK is an aberration

It is almost unfathomable that, in 2016, a woman who chose to exercise a fundamental right over her own body could find herself criminalised for doing so. But that is the terrible reality, following the conviction and sentencing of a 21-year-old woman, who this week received a three-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, for aborting a pregnancy two years earlier.

Aged 19 at the time, the unnamed woman from Northern Ireland could not find sufficient funds to make the journey to England to terminate her unwanted pregnancy safely. Finding herself in a desperate situation, she put her own health at risk by buying pills from a website which prompted her to miscarry. Despite all she had been through, her housemates reported her for breaking the law and a conviction followed. Appearing at Belfast Crown Court, the woman pleaded guilty to procuring her own abortion and must now accept a criminal record.

That ‘procuring an abortion’ is still considered an illegal act in any part of the UK is a damning reflection on our unequal justice system. The very fact that one UK citizen can receive a termination – safely, at her own will, free of charge, and with access to counselling and other support – while another woman situated elsewhere can be cast adrift to risk her own safety to achieve the same ends, and then be criminalised as a result, is a shameful aberration.

The discrepancy between the law governing abortion in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK must be tackled. After the global abuse scandals that have rocked the clergy, the Catholic Church has less sway over public opinion and the shared moral and ethical values of Northern Ireland than ever before. Its outdated views about a woman’s right to freedom of choice over her fertility must be aggressively challenged.

In the US, attitudes towards abortion are becoming polarised, with threats of violence against abortion providers soaring during 2015. It is incumbent upon progressive voices across the whole of the UK to ensure that, in the wake of this conviction, the same does not happen on home soil.

Across the world, more than 20 million unsafe, illegal abortions are performed every year. Citizens of Northern Ireland who lack the personal wealth to travel to England for a procedure should not be adding to that troubling figure. It is time for an overhaul of Northern Irish legislation, not only to bring it into line with the rest of the UK but to match the common values of the majority of its own citizens, too.