International legal standards on abortion have been a particularly difficult arena of advocacy for the global feminist movement. In an area which is frequently deemed controversial both domestically and internationally, can supranational bodies help to set legal precedent for domestic contexts?
Northern Ireland is the only section of the United Kingdom not to be covered by the 1967 Abortion Act, thus rendering terminations there illegal unless there is severe risk to the physical or mental health of the woman. Contemporary women’s sector activism in Northern Ireland is largely focussed around two main channels – the regular examinations conducted by the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
This paper explores how effective these international institutions are for enacting change at a local level, with specific reference to abortion rights. Do CEDAW and UNSCR 1325 help to influence the formal political arena and lobby for change on this issue in Northern Ireland? Do supranational bodies have the power to force domestic legislators to act on such a controversial issue as abortion, or do they provide ‘false hope’ for domestic activism?
