I’m a client escort outside a Belfast abortion clinic – here’s why I do it | Clare Bailey

Northern Ireland’s anti-abortion protesters terrify and taunt the women seeking help. Until this intimidation stops, I will keep going

I am sick of women in Northern Ireland being treated as second-class citizens. This is why I volunteer as a client escort for women attending the Marie Stopes clinic in Belfast.

Northern Ireland has the harshest criminal penalty for abortion anywhere in Europe – life imprisonment both for the woman and for anyone assisting her. That sentence even applies in cases where the pregnancy results from rape or incest, or in cases of fatal foetal impairment. The only exception is a medical abortion – an alternative to surgical abortion where you take two sets of pills to end an early pregnancy.

Related: 'It feels like Texas': running the gauntlet of Belfast's anti-abortion protesters

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