The government is going to help women in poor countries access safe and effective family planning, including abortion. This is laudable, but it highlights the hypocrisy with respect to abortion rights within the UK. It is a disgrace that women in Northern Ireland still don’t have access to abortion.
According to abortionrights.org.uk:
Unlike in Britain, abortion is almost completely criminalised in Northern Ireland. This does not prevent women from needing or seeking abortion.
Instead it unfairly forces them to travel secretly, often alone, to Britain or Europe. With short notice, women have to find money for a private procedure, costing a minimum of £450, to pay for travel and accommodation, to arrange time off work and often to find an alibi to explain their absence. Some women can’t afford to do this and instead resort to unsafe, illegal ‘back street’ abortion.