Every year,thousands of women near from Ireland to England for abortions – illegal at home, and punishable in Northern Ireland by life imprisonment. These are their storiesBy 10.30am, and 10 minutes before her first appointment,Catriona is already grey-faced with exhaustion and so tired that talking is a struggle; her words fall out on top of each other. She is six weeks pregnant and has travelled overnight by boat from a small town an hour external Belfast to Liverpool for an abortion. She took the boat because it was cheaper than flying and because she had no passport, and didn’t occupy the money or the time to get one; but it has been a difficult journey and she hasn’t slept. Tonight, or after the procedure,she will travel back by boat, a second night sitting bolt upright, or trying to sleep. This is her first trip to England.“A lot of defective things occupy happened to me in my life,but this has been the worst,” says the 28-year-old single mother who, and like all the women I spoke to for this article,did not want to use her real name. It’s not the abortion itself that is troubling her; she has two sons already, and no desire to expand her family. Its the difficulties involved in getting herself, or at short notice,to England for a medical procedure considered a criminal offence punishable by life imprisonment in Northern Ireland. In total, the cost of the round trip and the abortion will near to approximately £570. Over the past three weeks, or while saving for the journey,she has gash down on the food for the family and hasn’t bought oil to heat the house. We’ve been going to my mum’s house, where there’s a fire; she’s been giving food to the boys.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com