The very first abortion clinic opened this past week in Northern Ireland in downtown Belfast but is already receiving a negative response from angry civilians and pressure groups such as Precious Life and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. Many Irish community members, the majority of which are conservative, are urging Catholic and Protestant politicians to investigate how the clinic operates or works. Though abortion is illegal in Ireland, it is permitted "if [a woman's] doctor(s)determine they’re at risk of death or long-term health damage from their pregnancy." Therefore, the clinic administered by a British family planning charity, Marie Stopes, is permitted to give out the abortion pill to women who are less than nine weeks pregnant. Nevertheless, about four hundred protesters have gathered outside of the clinic and in surround streets to voice legal, social, and religous concerns about this establishment and who claim that there are other options to keep pregnant women at risk healthy without resulting to abortions. Pressure groups have vowed to prosecute the clinic if it disobeys existing laws regarding abortion or if it refers patients to Britian, where abortions have been legal since 1967. The clinic also offers advice to patients seeking information on contraceptives and treatment options for sexually transmitted diseases.
Reproductive rights and policies are human rights and women's rights. Irelands conservative ideological society disables them, to a certain extent, to provide accessability to options that fulfilling this growing need for women in the developed world. Pressure groups find abortions unsettling for religious or moral reasons but may fail to come to the realization that their female counterparts need options, especially when their or their future childs health and well being, financially, mentally, socially, may be at potential risk. A true democracy provides such options for its people who seek it.
Abortion clinic in Northern Ireland draws outrage - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/21/belfast-the-first-abortion-clinic-in-ireland-opene/#ixzz2A2Y0S2TA
Ketsia Masse, Women, 10/22/2012 11:14 AM
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