People Before Profit Party Group Leader on Belfast City Council, Cllr Fiona Ferguson, has slammed the Minister for Health and the Stormont Executive for refusing to enable access to abortion pills during the COVID-19 crisis:‘
“It is an act of complete cowardice that Robin Swann refuses to enable women to access basic reproductive healthcare during this crisis. By shirking his responsibility and passing the buck to the rest of the Executive, he has proven himself wholly incapable of dealing with women’s healthcare – an astounding feat for a Minister of Health.
“It is particularly startling that Swann refuses to act, even after one woman tried to take her own life because access to abortion was shut down due to the COVID-19 crisis.
“In the absence of leadership from Swann, the Executive and the Secretary of State must step in. Preventing access to abortion and forcing women to travel was labelled a grave and systematic violation of rights by the UN – all of that was supposed to change with decriminalisation but the once again, women in the North are being failed by Stormont on this issue.”
ENDS