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4 Cambridge L. Rev. 121 (2019)
Evaluating the Need to Reform Northern Ireland's Abortion Law from a Human Rights Perspective

handle is hein.journals/cambrilv4 and id is 129 raw text is: Reforming Northern Ireland's Abortion Law Evaluating the Need To Reform Northern Ireland's Abortion Law From a Human Rights Perspective QoL LoutsiLA To.,N(;!L* INTRODUCTION Northern Ireland has one of the most restrictive abortion regimes in Europe and is the only part of the United Kingdom where access to abortion is almost entirely illegal. On the 25th of May 2018, Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment in a referendum, and the House of Keys recently passed the Abortion Reform Bill which decriminalises abortion on the Isle of Man, leaving Northern Ireland the only part of Britain and Ireland where women have virtually no access to abortion. This article argues that Northern Ireland's restrictive abortion law violates the UK's human rights obligations, and it is therefore necessary to provide for abortion on the grounds of rape and fatal foetal abnormality (FFA) and to fully decriminalise abortion. Section I highlights the comparative restrictiveness of Northern Ireland's abortion law, and how the failure to liberalise the law is the result of the dominant morally conservative, anti-abortion attitudes of political and religious figures. This public discourse, coupled with the draconian criminal offence, creates an environment where women cannot access abortions even on lawful grounds, and this forces abortion-seeking women to travel abroad or illegally terminate their own pregnancies. Section II considers the human rights arguments for reforming Northern Ireland's abortion law, focusing chiefly on the right to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human LLB, LLM (\Varwick). I'd like to thank Dr Aisling McMahon for her help with this piece. \ Where the term 'woman' is used, it is acknowledged that trans* men and non-binary people also require access to abortion services.

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