Pro-Choice Rally Held Over Marie Stopes

A pro-choice rally has been held in Belfast city centre over the weekend following the opening of the first private clinic to offer abortions in Northern Ireland.

The Marie Stopes clinic opened in the city in October, amid a storm of pro-life protests.

Pro-choice campaigners assembled outside City Hall, where they were addressed by speakers calling for the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland. Unlike the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland is currently not covered by the Act.

It is illegal in Northern Ireland to have an abortion, unless the mother’s physical or mental health is at risk.

It has been argued by anti-abortion campaigners that the new clinic will pave the way for open, unregulated abortions in Northern Ireland. Marie Stopes has said the clinic will be operating within Northern Irish law, while Edwin Poots confirmed in October the Health Department would be regulating the service.

The rally at the weekend also called for Attorney General John Larkin to resign over what it described as his "elitist and sexist" intervention in the abortion debate.

Larkin called for an investigation into the new clinic when it first opened. He wrote to the Stormont Justice Committee asking for an investigation into the operations of the Belfast clinic.

Mr Larkin is unable to intervene in an official capacity, but as a guardian of the rule of law, he can become engaged.

He said he would be happy to give assistance, including acting as counsel and questioning witnesses on their behalf.

Marie Stopes has said the health professionals in the clinic will be from Northern Ireland and the views of the woman's own GP will be taken into consideration.

(IT/GK)