BELFAST: Abortion rights activists in Northern Ireland called on the British government to end what one group described as the province’s “Victorian-era abortion ban” after neighbouring Ireland voted by a landslide to liberalise its laws. A socially conservative province where the Catholic and Protestant faiths exert strong influence, Northern Ireland allows abortion only when a mother’s life is in danger. “It must not be forgotten that us women in Northern Ireland are still persecuted by a Victorian-era abortion ban,” Grainne Teggart, Northern Ireland campaign manager for Amnesty International said in a statement on Saturday. The Supreme Court in London is expected to make a ruling in the next few months on a case considering whether Northern Ireland abortion law breaches women’s rights. The British government’s Northern Ireland Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: New Strait Times May 26, 2018 16:41 UTC