Catalogue Number
NMLH.2025.32.9
Object Name
poster
Title
'Public meeting: Now for Northern Ireland. Speakers from both sides of the Irish border. Alliance for choice | Abortion Rights Campaign Plus London Abortion Rights Campaign. 7pm 2nd October 2018 - Free. Irish World Heritage Centre, Manchester'
Place
Northern Ireland, Manchester, UK
People
Sister Supporter Manchester, Abortion Rights Campaign, Alliance Rights Campaign, Alliance for Choice, Irish World Heritage Centre
Events
Northern Ireland abortion decriminalisation 2020
Description
A green digital poster with a white line drawing of a raised fist in the bottom right corner. White and black text reads: 'Public meeting: Now for Northern Ireland. Speakers from both sides of the Irish border. Alliance for choice | Abortion Rights Campaign Plus London Abortion Rights Campaign. 7pm 2nd October 2018 - Free. Irish World Heritage Centre, Manchester'.
This poster was created to promote a meeting to organise pro-choice abortion rights campaigners in Manchester to support the campaign to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland. This meeting took place shortly after the successful decriminalisation of abortion in Ireland, which had energised campaigners to push for decriminalisation in the North. At the time of the poster's creation Northern Ireland was the only part of the UK where abortion was not legal under any circumstances, as the 1967 Abortion Act which legalised abortion in Scotland, England and Wales did not apply to Northern Ireland. Northern Irish people seeking abortion care had to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to receive care.
Northern Irish campaigners had drawn attention to the fact that then-ruling party the DUP's unionist politics (meaning they want Northern Ireland to be treated as a part of the UK) were at odds with their refusal to bring NI's abortion law into line with the rest of the UK. For unrelated reasons, the Northern Irish devolved government broke down, and direct rule from Westminster led to Labour MP Stella Creasy introducing a Private Members bill requiring abortion to be decriminalised for pregnancies up to 12 weeks, in cases of health risks to the pregnant person, or cases of severe or fatal fetal disability. The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 mean that for the first time Northern Irish people do not have to travel to access this healthcare. Abortion rights campaigners in the UK and Ireland campaigned heavily for this legal equality for Northern Ireland.
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