Only 10% of women in Northern Ireland know how to access abortion services, a survey has found.
The poll also revealed that three years after abortion was decriminalised in the region, only 47% of adults realise it is lawful.
The survey, conducted by Opinium on behalf of Amnesty International UK, surveyed more than 1,000 adults over the age of 18 in Northern Ireland.
It finds that 87% say the public are often unaware of the circumstances that abortion is permitted and how to access it, and that fewer than half (46%) of women would be comfortable speaking to their GP about accessing abortion.
It also reveals that 60% of adults think the Government should be doing more to make abortion services available and accessible across Northern Ireland.
Abortion legislation in Northern Ireland was liberalised in 2019 following laws passed by Westminster at a time when the powersharing government at Stormont had collapsed.
However, while individual health trusts offer services on an ad hoc basis, the Department of Health has yet to centrally commission the services due to a political impasse at Stormont on the issue.
Former Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis had given the administration a March 31 deadline to commission the services.
In May, with that date having passed and the Executive currently not functioning, Mr Lewis moved to introduce regulations at Westminster to break the logjam.
The regulations laid at Parliament were designed to remove the need for the Department of Health to seek the approval of the wider Stormont Executive to commission the services.
Celebrities including Bronagh Waugh, Olivia Colman, Vick Hope and Juliet Stevenson have joined medical bodies, service providers and human rights organisations signing an open letter to the Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris to urgently set up commissioned services.
The letter warns that the continued delay in establishing abortion services is “unacceptable and causing harm every day”.
The Government has been dragging its heels on getting abortion services up and running for three years. No wonder people are left confused and unaware of their rights— Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International UK
It states that “at a time when we are seeing deeply concerning rollbacks on reproductive rights in other countries like the US, we cannot forget that people in the UK are being denied their rights too”.
Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International UK’s Northern Ireland deputy director, said that while shocking, the poll results are not completely surprising.
“The Government has been dragging its heels on getting abortion services up and running for three years. No wonder people are left confused and unaware of their rights,” she said.
“Half the population doesn’t realise abortion is now lawful and worryingly few know how to access services – this is a huge failure by the Government, and their delays are having a harmful impact on those in need of this healthcare on a daily basis.
“The law is meaningless if people don’t have access to abortion in practice. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland must set up abortion services and launch an information campaign without delay.”
