Advocacy - Informing Choices NI

Informing Choices NI is a sexual and reproductive health charity. We champion informed choices around sex, sexuality and reproductive health and wellbeing through advocacy, counselling, education, information and training.

We advocate for sexual and reproductive health services to meet the needs of all citizens in Northern Ireland.

On 22 October 2019 abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland. This followed legislation passed in the UK Parliament which placed the UK Government under a legal duty to bring forward regulations to introduce a new framework for abortion in Northern Ireland by 31 March 2020.

The new framework is based on the recommendations made by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in an inquiry into access to abortion in Northern Ireland. This inquiry was requested by FPA NI, Alliance for Choice and NIWEP and found that the law in Northern Ireland constituted a ‘grave’ and ‘systematic’ violation of women’s rights.

A blog post on the decriminalisation of abortion can be found here.

Our Board of Trustees and counsellors recorded videos reflecting on what decriminalisation means to them, our clients and wider society.

Read our report on the provision of the central access point and early medical abortion services in Northern Ireland – Beyond Decriminalisation: pregnancy choices and abortion care in Northern Ireland