Women take illegal abortion pills in protest over Northern Irish stance

Pro-choice campaigners have taken what they said were abortion pills outside courts in Northern Ireland in defiance of the region’s strict laws on terminations.

Amid tense scenes at a rally in Belfast, police moved in to seize some pills and a robot used by the activists to distribute them.

Officers also attempted to remove one woman who openly took a tablet in front of the High Court building.

They led her away from the demonstration and a vocal stand-off ensued, with fellow campaigners quickly sur- 0 Eleanor Crossey Malone took part in the Belfast protest rounding her and demanding she was not arrested.

After several minutes, the officers, on instruction from the inspector in command of the operation, abandoned their attempt to speak to the woman. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where abortion is not legal, aside from exceptional cases.

The rally outside Belfast’s High Court and Crown Court came days after the Irish Republic voted in a referendum to overturn its near-blanket ban on abortion.

Eleanor Crossey Malone, from the socialist feminist movement Rosa, was one of those who took the pill in front of television cameras outside the courts.

She said: “We are not willing in the wake of the repeal referendum to be left behind any longer.”

Taking an abortion pill is illegal in Northern Ireland.