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14th December 2015
01:44pm GMT

For a third of those traveling for a termination, Manchester was the destination.
Women boarded planes or ships to travel to this city in the north-west of England to terminate over 11,000 pregnancies. Thirty percent of all of the abortions recorded (7,182) took place in one clinic there - Marie Stopes International Manchester.
As well as the psychological stress, having to travel to the UK for a termination can cost a women anything from £400 to £1,500 for the treatment alone, with travel and potential accommodation costs on top of this.
One abortion provider told the Detail Data researchers about women travelling for late term abortions (after 20 weeks gestation) in cases involving fatal foetal abnormalities most often decide to carry their baby’s remains on flights for burial at home. Some sought official permission from airlines for this – others just hoped the remains wouldn’t be found in their luggage.
Currently, abortions are only available in Northern Ireland if a woman’s life is at risk or if there is a risk of a serious long-term effect on her physical or mental health. In the Republic, as we know, abortion is currently illegal, except in circumstances where there is a real and substantial risk to a mother’s life.
The punishment is life imprisonment for anyone who unlawfully performs a termination.
Last month, Belfast’s High Court ruled that Northern Ireland’s current abortion law is incompatible with human rights law in the case of pregnancies resulting from rape or incest or where there are fatal foetal abnormalities, but whether or not the law will be changed, remains to be seen.
The issue of abortion is a hotly debated topic of both sides of the Irish border, and these findings will no doubt add fuel to that already burning fire and debate around the repealing the eighth amendment, which gives equal status to the right to life of the unborn and the mother in the Irish constitution.
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