Activists risk jail over abortion leaflets

Date Published: 09-May-2013

BY DENISE McNAMARA

Pro-choice activists in Galway have been handing out information on terminations in the UK and where to access early abortion pills which may be putting them at risk of being jailed for up to 14 years.

Before the high-profile death of Savita Halappanavar at Galway University Hospital, Galway Pro-Choice had been manning a stand on Shop Street highlighting the failure of successive governments to legislate for the X case.

After the dentist died from sepsis 17 weeks into her first pregnancy and her husband complained she had been repeatedly denied a termination despite the non-viability of the foetus, they stepped up their campaign, distributing leaflets with practical information such as how to find abortion clinics, UK support groups and the cost involved.

The information also contained details of a website which supplied pills which could induce an abortion up to nine weeks of pregnancy.

Dette McLoughlin said the Government’s Protection of Life in Pregnancy Bill published last week focused on criminalisation. It laid down a 14-year prison term for women who underwent an illegal termination and for those who procured it.

“This penalty could extend to those providing pills and to those who help provide the pills such as people who publish information on the websites. People are unsure of what’s allowed. It’s one interpretation, nobody has actually challenged us,” she stated.

“Savita’s death really put the need for clear abortion legislation on the top of the agenda. We’re not prepared to let it go again for another 21 years before they legislate.”

More than 4,000 Irish women travel to the UK for terminations annually.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.