The abortion issue is once more on the agenda. While activists on both sides of the ideological divide south of the border demand another referendum, Northern Ireland has, within the last month, seen the closure of the Ulster Pregnancy Advisory Association. This followed prolonged picketing by Precious Life, a pro-life group who have formed an informal alliance with Youth Defence. The UPAA had been in existence for 27 years providing help for women in the midst of crisis pregnancies. They employed a small number of voluntary counsellors who often worked from their own homes.
According to Audrey Simpson of Northern Ireland s Family Planning Association, Precious Life activists would ring the UPAA s workers pretending to be seeking advice. They would then make an appointment. At the specified time, Precious Life would turn up on the counsellor s doorstep declaiming various slogans.
Alongside this, Precious Life picketed the UPAA s premises on Belfast s Lisburn Road. This building suffered fire damage following an attack from an unknown source on 13th July, and closed soon afterwards. Simpson is, unsurprisingly, extremely critical of the actions which have resulted in the UPAA s closure, leaving her own organisation as the only one in the north which directly provides information on the termination of pregnancy. For this, they too have come under attack from Precious Life, though Simpson believes this has been kept in check by her pledge to initiate legal action against the pro-lifers immediately she believes it is warranted. On one occasion, a picket outside the FPA s premises struck up a chant of Hey, hey, FPA/How many kids did you kill today?
Anti-abortion campaigners have also received much publicity through their protests outside the Brook Advisory Clinic. Brook does not, contrary to public perception, provide information for young women who wish to terminate their pregnancies; instead they simply refer them to the FPA.
Audrey Simpson comments, Brook opens on Thursday evenings when there is late night shopping in Belfast, and on Saturdays. Now when a young girl, probably in distress, turns the corner and sees a group chanting slogans on the pavement outside Brook, what s she going to do? The majority of them will just turn on their heel and walk away.
Simpson also points out that, aside from Brook, and the FPA s two premises in Belfast and Derry, there are few options left for women who are in crisis.
We offer non-judgemental, non-directive advice, she says. There are other organisations, but if women go to them seeking advice on termination, they won t give it. That, to me, is judgemental, because what they are saying is that what those women want to do is wrong.
There is clearly a demand for the services previously offered by the UPAA. In the five weeks since its closure, the Family Planning Association has received in excess of 100 requests for appointments from young women. This is roughly double their normal rate.
On the more positive side, Simpson feels that the vociferous opposition provided by pro-life campaigners has actually hardened the resolve of her organisation to continue supplying the information and advice which so many women are desperate for.
Those reserves of determination could be heavily called upon in time to come. n