Last year, Alessia, 24, became pregnant. She’s from Malta, where abortion is banned, but she needed to end her pregnancy. She knew that you could order abortion pills online, but was terrified of the consequences of getting caught. Desperate, she discovered that she could travel to the UK to have a safe surgical abortion up to 24 weeks into her pregnancy, giving her time to save money and plan the trip.
But then she realised she needed a passport to travel to England, because of the new rules after Brexit. Malta is in the European Union, so Alessia was used to relying on freedom of movement to travel and had never needed one before. Also, a passport cost €70; an expedited one was double the price.
Eventually, Alessia contacted the Abortion Support Network (ASN), a UK-based charity that helps people access safe abortions. She managed to travel to Spain, where the legal limit is 14 weeks and the cost of the procedure is higher, to have a termination just in time.
