Nearly 70 female celebrities have written to the British Prime Minister urging her to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland.
Kate Beckinsale, Emma Thompson, Claire Foy and Jodie Whittaker are just some of the women involved in the campaign which is calling on Theresa May to give women a choice and control over their own bodies.
It comes as just under 50,000 people signed a Petition calling for women to be given access to free, safe and legal abortions in the North.
A bill which looks to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland is due to be debated in the British Parliament on Friday.
A bill aiming to address the issue is due to be debated in the British Parliament on Friday.
File photo of Kate Beckinsale, 20-092018. Image: Sthanlee B. Mirador/Sipa USA
The letter asks Mrs May to allow time for the Bill to be debated in Parliament and warns that women will be waiting with “anxiety and fear as their reproductive rights are debated.”
"We’re counting on you and your government to stand with women and decriminalise abortion," reads the letter.
"Give us choice and control over our own bodies. Show women from Northern Ireland that you won’t stand for them being governed by one of the harshest and cruellest abortion laws in the world."
A new Abortion Bill is published today in Parliament and supported by @RCObsGyn @TheBMA @MidwivesRCM The Faculty for Sexual and Reproductive Health @AmnestyUK @bpas @fpa @MarieStopes #NowforNI pic.twitter.com/pKJ0TkTtkv
— Diana Johnson (@DianaJohnsonMP) November 21, 2018
It reads: "It’s not right that the abortion law treats women as criminals for accessing a service freely available to all other women in the UK.
"It’s unacceptable that anyone in need of abortion would be forced through pregnancies against their will."
File photo of Emma Thompson, 11-09-2018. Image: Sonia Moskowitz/Globe Photos via ZUMA Wire
Grainne Teggart, Northern Ireland campaign manager for Amnesty international UK said the letter asks Mrs May to stand with women in their "fight for reproductive freedom."
"Women in Northern Ireland are being failed by a lack of Government action; forced to live with the cruel reality of Northern Ireland’s strict near total abortion ban every day," she said.
"The UK Government must give time for the Bill to go through Parliament so that MPs have the opportunity to stop the criminalisation of healthcare services and support the rights of women – including those in Northern Ireland.
"Women across the UK, particularly in Northern Ireland where prosecutions are a reality, are counting on the Government to act."
OPEN LETTER: Kate Beckinsale, Claire Foy, Jodie Whittaker and Olivia Colman call on Theresa May to change ‘cruel’ Northern Ireland abortion lawhttps://t.co/j2LLu2WSaA
— News From Amnesty (@NewsFromAmnesty) November 21, 2018
