Speaking in today’s Assembly debate on the issue of abortion, Sinn Féin Leas Uachtarán Michelle O’Neill MLA said:

“We have had enough of women being exiled abroad or taking abortion pills, often alone and afraid, without medical supervision. 

“This is the moment to draw the line. 

She added: “The moment to stand up for healthcare rights and equality. To ensure a better future for our daughters, our granddaughters, and all women. 

“Sinn Féin policy is about enacting modern healthcare and ending the mistreatment of women. It is about compassion.

“I have listened to women who have bravely shared their personal and tragic stories. 

“Women who have had to take cold and lonesome journeys to England to access abortion services.

“Women who were raped. 

“Women who knew their baby had no chance of surviving.

“These journeys left deep emotional scars and a profound sense of abandonment.  Alongside feelings of betrayal and distrust that can never be fully repaired.

She said: “That women still have to make such journeys in 2021 reflects badly on everyone. 

“We have to end the failure, the mistreatment and the abandonment.

“We have to speak with one voice and say loudly that women are entitled to modern, compassionate healthcare and that we will be the Assembly that delivers it.

“The women of this island have waited long enough for access to modern and compassionate abortion health services.

“That is an undeniable, appalling fact. 

“Yet here we are today where, instead of supporting the provision of modern, compassionate abortion services for women, the DUP and UUP continues to hold up and deny this essential healthcare service to women and girls who need it.

“Westminster had to legislate for abortion services in the North because of the blockages created by the DUP – the very same people attempting to roll back on the progress made.

“The DUP created this situation and took responsibility away from the Assembly to legislate on this issue.

“Sinn Féin has an all-Ireland position and policy on abortion services. 

She concluded saying: “We want to see the very same laws and services that have been adopted in the South, following the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, to be implemented here in the North also. The very same health care services available in Dublin must be available here in Belfast.”

Full text of speech here:

The women of this island have waited long enough for access to modern and compassionate abortion health services. 

That is an undeniable appalling fact. 

Yet here we are today where instead of supporting the provision of modern, compassionate abortion services for women, the DUP & UUP continues to hold up and deny this essential health care service to women and girls who need it. 

Westminster had to legislate for abortion services in the North because of the blockages created by the DUP. 

The very same people attempting to roll back on the progress made.

The DUP created this situation and took responsibility away from the Assembly to legislate on this issue. 

The vast majority of people across our community see that move for what it was: a deeply cynical ploy motivated by an ideology that belongs in the past. 

A new generation of women will not abide a repeat of the failures of the past particularly when it comes to their health care. 

It is now more than a year since the law was changed, and the health Minister has still not moved to implement these services. 

He must answer why this is the case. 

And meanwhile, women wait for access to care that they so badly need, sometimes in the most traumatic of circumstances. 

Women like Sarah Ewart and Savita Halappanavar and too many more like them. 

And yet the DUP continue with a strategy designed to block abortion services. This is shameful. 

As political leaders, and as parties in a power-sharing executive, we have a responsibility to deliver public services for everyone. 

More and more people can see the DUP machinations for what they are. 

The women of the north see you and the women in your communities see you. These women are all of us. They are not strangers. They’re your mothers, your partners, your daughters, your sisters, your friend, your neighbour. They are your workmates. The people who stand next to you in the shop. They are valued members of our community. 

The demand for modern healthcare for women transcends the flames of division that you have attempted to stoke. 

You cannot block forever the change that women so desperately need. 

That demand is stronger than any barrier you can put in the way. 

I want to briefly clarify Sinn Féin’s position on abortion services. 

Much of what has been written about it has been wrong and inaccurate. Some of it has been deliberately misleading. 

Sinn Féin has an all-Ireland position and policy on abortion services. We want to see the very same laws and services that have been adopted in the south, following the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, to be implemented here in the North also. 

The very same health care services available in Dublin must be available here in Belfast. No if’s, buts or maybes! 

Sinn Féin policy is not in favour of access to abortion in cases where non-fatal foetal abnormality has been diagnosed. This is also excluded by legislation in the south. 

Sinn Féin policy is about enacting modern healthcare and ending the mistreatment of women. 

It is about compassion.

I have listened to women who have bravely shared their personal and tragic stories. Women who have had to take cold and lonesome journeys to England to access abortion services. 

Women who were raped.

Women who knew their baby had no chance of surviving. 

These journeys left deep emotional scars and a profound sense of abandonment. Alongside feelings of betrayal and distrust that can never be fully repaired.

That women still have to make such journeys in 2021 reflects badly on everyone.

We have to end the failure, the mistreatment and the abandonment.

We have to speak with one voice and say loudly that women are entitled to modern, compassionate healthcare and that we will be the Assembly that delivers it.

That is why Sinn Féin attempted to table an amendment to the DUP bill which would immediately commission abortion services and harmonise the law north and south.

 Our amendment has not been accepted. So, we have submitted a Private Members Motion on the commissioning of services which we will seek to table for debate in the New Year, and we are seeking cross-party support for it.

We will also continue to work at the Executive to ensure that these services are commissioned. If that does not happen and services are not commissioned, we will oppose the continued passage of the DUP Bill in the Assembly. 

This bill is a deliberate distraction from the key issue of delivering services.

This is the time for every one of us to do the right thing. The commissioning of services is not about opposing or supporting abortion.

This is about having a rights-based society; a society where we uphold the rights and entitlements of everyone regardless of whether they fit with your personal beliefs or not.

This is about trusting women as those best placed to make decisions about our pregnancies with the support of healthcare professionals.

We have had enough of women being exiled abroad or taking abortion pills, often alone and afraid, without medical supervision.

This is the moment to draw the line. The moment to stand up for health care rights and equality. To ensure a better future for our daughters, our granddaughters, and all women. 

History will not judge kindly those who, in full knowledge of the tragic consequences, choose to fail women yet again.

Now is the time to right this historic wrong.

Let’s not waste it. There is too much at stake.