A pro-choice charity that for decades has helped thousands of Irish women access abortions in England is sending foreign nationals to the Netherlands due to tighter UK visa regulations and the effects of Brexit. The Abortion Support Network (ASN) said it was guiding immigrant women in Ireland towards Dutch abortion facilities because it was taking too long to obtain visas for English clinics. Mara Clarke, ASN’s director, told the Guardian it had noticed that since the Brexit vote and the Irish abortion referendum it was getting harder to obtain visas for these women to travel from Ireland to Britain. I want to make clear that our only issue is with the UK visa process, not with the UK clinics,” Clarke said. With each delay it becomes more likely that a person seeking asylum will need to travel for an abortion.”

Source: The Guardian June 07, 2019 14:48 UTC