Nearly 70 female celebrities have signed an open letter to the UK Prime Minister calling for the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland.
Actresses Kate Beckinsale, Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave and Jodie Whittaker are just some of the stars 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 aiming to address the issue is due to be debated in the British Parliament on Friday.
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
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.
"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."
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
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."
File photo of Emma Thompson, 11-09-2018. Image: Sonia Moskowitz/Globe Photos via ZUMA Wire
Northern Ireland has some of Europe's tightest restrictions on abortion - and is the only part of the UK where terminations are not permitted.
A termination is only allowed in the North if a woman’s life is at risk or if there is a risk of permanent and serious damage to her mental or physical health.
In Britain, abortions are permitted up to the 23 weeks and 6 days of gestation. There is no gestational limit where there is a fatal foetal abnormality or significant risk to the life of the mother.
Women in the North can legally travel to other parts of the UK for abortion services.
The Health Minister Simon Harris has pledged to ensure that women in the North can access abortion services south of the border as soon as they are introduced here.
