| Short Title: | Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023 |
| Type: | NI Act |
| Parliament: | Northern Ireland Assembly |
| Long Title: | An Act to make provision in respect of safe access zones for premises providing abortion services. |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Citation: | 2023 c. 1 |
| Introduced By: | Clare Bailey |
| Territorial Extent: | Northern Ireland |
| Royal Assent: | 6 February 2023 |
| Commencement: | 7 February 2023, 15 April 2024[1] |
| Status: | in force |
| Original Text: | https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nia/2022/25/enacted |
| Revised Text: | https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nia/2022/25 |
| Use New Uk-Leg: | yes |
The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023 received Royal assent on 6 February 2023 and creates safe access zones around abortion clinics in Northern Ireland with a radius of 100 metres.
In 2020, a report by the NI Abortion and Contraception Taskgroup protest exclusion zones.[2]
In 2021, a majority of Northern Ireland's political parties supported protest exclusion zones.[3]
In 2022, the Northern Ireland Assembly voted in favour of the bill.[4] The Attorney General for Northern Ireland referred it to the Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled that the legislation was compatible with the European Court of Human Rights - it declared that "The right of women in Northern Ireland to access abortion services has now been established in law through the processes of democracy" - and that this legal right should not be obstructed by "opponents of the legislation based, some might think ironically, on the liberal values protected by the convention".[5]