Two years ago, a Belfast woman told Danielle Roberts what she had told no one else – that she had had an abortion. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/GettyAt midnight on Monday abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland. Abortion was illegal in the majority of cases, including fatal foetal abnormality, incest and rape; in 2017-2018 more than 1,000 women from Northern Ireland travelled to England and Wales for abortions. Women who seek access to abortion in Northern Ireland will no longer be prosecuted, and investigations of illegal abortions will no longer be pursued. An anti-abortion activist poses for a photograph outside Parliament Buildings.

Source: The Irish Times October 26, 2019 00:00 UTC