By George Stephens • Published: 21 Oct 2019 • 10:42
Credit Twitter
When the bells strike midnight tonight, same-sex marriage and abortion will become legal in Northern Ireland for the first time.
Campaigners for social choice are calling it “a watershed moment”, bringing Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Last month, the High Court in Belfast made a ruling that Northern Ireland’s abortion law was in breach of the UK’s human rights commitments.
up until now, abortions have been illegal unless there is a risk to a woman’s life or risk of permanent and serious damage to her mental or physical health, which only saw women travelling to the UK to have them.
But pro-life groups argue that now Northern Ireland will go from having the most stringent abortion laws in the UK to the most liberal.
Last year, voters in the Republic of Ireland voted by a landslide to end their country’s ban on abortion.
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