GMB says Northern Ireland will take a ‘huge leap forward’ when abortion and same sex marriage legislation passed at midnight tonight.
Sections 58 and 59 of The Offences against the Persons Act, 1861, will be repealed, effectively decriminalising abortion in Northern Ireland.
Any existing cases, including that of a mother who procured abortion pills for her 15-year-old daughter, will be dropped.
Denise Walker, GMB Senior Organiser, said:
“At midnight tonight, Northern Ireland will take a huge leap forward.
“Women in Northern Ireland will finally be trusted to make the choice that is right for them without fear of prosecution or the arduous, costly and often lonely journey to Great Britain.
“They will no longer have to rely on abortion care secretively or from unauthorised sources.
“Meanwhile at long last people will have the right to enter into same sex marriages and look forward to the first wedding in Northern Ireland, six long years after the rest of the UK.
“Abortion and same sex marriage have for too long been taboo subjects in Northern Ireland.
“Now we must stand by all those that have been victimised and criminalised by this unjust and barbaric legislation.”
