The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Fund us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Cannes
      • Sundance London
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • Tumblr

  • RSS


Private abortion clinic to open in Northern Ireland

Private abortion clinic to open in Northern Ireland
11 October 2012
Fadi Elhusseini
Avatar
Fadi Elhusseini
11 October 2012

By next week, Belfast will witness its first private clinic to offer abortions to women, stirring an angry reaction in the anti-abortion lobby along with predicted fury from religious and individual groups. 

In 2009 the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPSNI) published a document which, for the first time, provided guidance to health professionals in Northern Ireland on terminating pregnancy. Photo: Reuters

The reproductive health clinic, which is set to operate in the centre of Belfast from 18th October, will be run by Marie Stopes International. Marie Stopes International, a sexual health charity which operates in 42 countries and has more than 25 clinics in England, though none in Scotland or Wales, described the centre as “world class”. It is offering a range of family planning and sexual health services.

Services include, but are not limited to, short and long-term contraceptive options, emergency contraception, HIV testing, STI testing and treatment, ultrasound scanning, and medical (not surgical) abortions up to nine weeks. 

The centre’s programme director is former Progressive Unionist Party leader, Dawn Purvis. Purvis said the Belfast clinic would be “providing early medical abortion within the law as it exists in Northern Ireland”. Ms Purvis also said the regulatory body, the RQIA, had been informed of and consulted on plans for the centre. 

Dr Paula Franklin, medical director with Marie Stopes, said: “We know there will be opposition, but we also hope there will be some support from the people of Northern Ireland. We think this is a positive move and we believe there is a need.”

Although the clinic has been hailed by Darinka Aleksic, of the Abortion Rights group, the anti-abortion lobby has reacted with fury. “I am absolutely outraged. An organisation which is making profits from the death of unborn children is not welcome in Northern Ireland,” said Bernadette Smith of the anti-abortion group Precious Life. 

Pro-life campaigners are holding a picket outside the Family Planning Association office in Belfast’s Great Victoria Street on a daily basis, and the location of the new centre is being withheld amid fears of pickets. 

A 24-week limit for abortion applies in England, Wales and Scotland, but abortions are allowed only under certain conditions. Unlike the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland does not have the 1967 Abortion act, and according to its current legal framework, abortions are not illegal but are very strictly controlled. 

The issue of abortion services came to the surface in 1992 when a case was heard in both the High Court and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruling led to multiple constitutional referendums, numerous expert groups and further cases in the European Court of Human Rights.

Fadi Elhusseini

Related Items

More in

Project Gastronomía: How will Londoners eat in 2050? A symposium on gastronomy and multisensory design

Daniel Amir
Read More

Tribeca Film Festival 2018: On the red carpet with the stars of Westworld season 2

The editorial unit
Read More

Bat Out of Hell at the Dominion Theatre

★★★★★
Laura Ewing
Read More

Hinds at Electric Brixton

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

Faceless

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More

Half Breed

★★★★★
Bev Lung
Read More

Education, Education, Education at Shoreditch Town Hall

★★★★★
Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Gregory Porter at the Royal Albert Hall

★★★★★
Ed Edwards
Read More

Chicago at Phoenix Theatre

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Tickets

Theatre tickets

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Hide in Mayfair: Dabbous raises the bar of informal fine dining with his new restaurant
    ★★★★★
    Food & Drinks
  • Project Gastronomía: How will Londoners eat in 2050? A symposium on gastronomy and multisensory design
    Food & Drinks
  • Gregory Porter at the Royal Albert Hall
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Bat Out of Hell at the Dominion Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Every Day
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Project Gastronomía: How will Londoners eat in 2050? A symposium on gastronomy and multisensory design
    Food & Drinks
  • Tribeca Film Festival 2018: On the red carpet with the stars of Westworld season 2
    Cinema
  • Bat Out of Hell at the Dominion Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Hinds at Electric Brixton
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Faceless
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Bat Out of Hell at the Dominion Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Hinds at Electric Brixton
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Half Breed
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Education, Education, Education at Shoreditch Town Hall
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Gregory Porter at the Royal Albert Hall
    ★★★★★
    Live music

Instagram

Something is wrong. Response takes too long or there is JS error. Press Ctrl+Shift+J or Cmd+Shift+J on a Mac.
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Fund us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • New London restaurant openings and pop-ups
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Subscribe
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2018 FL Media Ltd