WWN Travel: Is Scotland The Hottest New Abortion Destination?

PLANNING a needlessly harrowing trip across the water for a medical procedure that you can’t get here in Ireland? Don’t be in such a rush to head to the old reliables such as London or Liverpool; it appears that when it comes to getting access to abortions, Scotland is the hottest destination for Irish women right now.

Coming hot off the announcement by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon that Scotland’s hospitals would open their doors to women from Northern Ireland looking for safe and legal abortions on the NHS, young women all across the country who are in the middle of crisis pregnancy or carrying a child with a fatal foetal abnormality have put the country on their list of ‘places where I can go to get the treatment denied to me by my own government’.

“I was thinking of Manchester, because it was recommended by lots of people,” said one of the 12 women a day that want autonomy over their own bodies.

“It’s just a common expression, ‘I had to head to England to get an abortion’, you never really think of anywhere else, you know? But yeah, Scotland sounds alright; friendlier people, cheaper flights, and just as much access to safe and legal abortion as England”.

The Irish government has admitted that although it is galling to lose so much tourism revenue to another country, they don’t intend to do anything about providing these services to women in their home country.