Submitted on Friday 17th May 2019
Rejected on Friday 14th June 2019
Current status: Rejected
Rejection code: irrelevant (see below for details)
Decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland
It is currently illegal to have an abortion in Northern Ireland, under laws dating back to the Offences against the Person Act 1861.
Women are being put in desperate situations by these laws, sometimes risking their lives to end a pregnancy. Our government should ensure a woman's right to choose.
The Abortion Act of 1967 legalised abortion on certain grounds in Great Britain, but this did not extend to Northern Ireland. Women are risking their lives procuring illegal abortions, or incurring great expense travelling for the procedure.
In 2015, the High Court in Belfast ruled that Northern Ireland’s law on abortion was not compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, as it lacks provision for cases of fatal foetal abnormality, and pregnancies caused through rape or incest.
You can't sign this petition because it was rejected. But you can still comment on it here at Repetition.me!
The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:
We can’t accept your petition because responsibility for the law on abortion in Northern Ireland is devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Even though the Northern Ireland Assembly is not sitting, the UK Parliament hasn’t formally taken back responsibility for this issue.
You could start a new petition calling on the UK Parliament to change the law, to take back the responsibility for the law on abortion and then to change the law in Northern Ireland.
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