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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Rory Carroll Ireland correspondent

Siege days are over: how Northern Ireland came to lead the UK on abortion

Pro-choice supporters holding letters spelling out 'decriminalised' outside Stormont in Belfast
Pro-choice protesters outside Stormont in 2019. Northern Ireland was once synonymous with the extreme social conservatism of the DUP. Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images

The family planning advisers at Shaftesbury Square still remember the days of siege when anti-abortion protesters staked out the front and rear entrance of their office in central Belfast.

Some pickets would splash holy water on the doors and daub salt crosses on the pavement while others would thrust leaflets with pictures of babies and foetuses at woman entering or leaving the building, and sometimes follow them.

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