Legal and non-legal barriers to abortion in Ireland and the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article compares abortion laws, regulations and access patterns in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. We focus in most detail on the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and England with a shorter discussion of Scotland and Wales. We attend to the laws and legal reforms in each region but also consider the non-legal factors that restrict or facilitate abortion services in each place. In this article, we seek to illustrate the complex relationship between abortion law and abortion access, noting especially how non-legal barriers shape the way an abortion law functions for the people who live under it.