Northern Woman Ireland Gets Suspended Prison Sentence For Self Aborption

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A 21 years old woman was given a suspended sentence for 3 months by a Belfast court for buying drugs that cause miscarriage.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdoms where aborption remains illegal. She was 19 years old and broke, says her lawyer, she could not afford to travel to England and safely engage in the legal procedure. Hence, she bought the medicine online, following the advice of an English clinic.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of:'seeking an aborption using poison'and 'self-inducing poison withintent to cause miscarriage'PSNI officers sent to the rented accommodation in south Belfast found a male foetus inside a black bag in a household bin, the court was told.

The court heard that the woman had told her housemates that she tried to travel to England for a termination but could not cover her costs. She had then been told by a clinic about mifepristone and misoprostol, two drugs available on the internet that would induce a miscarriage. The housemates were “taken back by the seemingly blase attitude” adopted by the woman, a crown lawyer told the court.

The defence barrister said that at the time the woman was 19 and living with people she barely knew. His client felt “isolated and trapped … with no one to turn to” and resorted to “desperate measures”.

The barrister said the woman had since had a baby with her partner and “was trying to put her life back together again”.

With the regional election campaign in full swing, which will be held in one month, the Northern Ireland political sphere must position themselves in relation to a well-publicised case and, on a broader level, to a debate that many feel bound to happen. For Lisburn city's mayor Trevor Lunn who runs as an Alliance Party candidate, this is such a 'disgraceful affair' that can help to make things change.