Abortion rights advocates protest the
conviction of 21-year-old woman for taking abortion pills in Belfast,
Northern Ireland, on April 7. Unlike the rest of the United Kingdom, the
law in Northern Ireland rules that terminating a pregnancy is illegal
except in very limited circumstances. There's one thing that both anti-abortion and abortion-rights activists agree on. There's a shift underway in Europe — in politics, prosecution and protest. Battle lines are drawn for what threatens to be a nasty fight, with both sides taking cues from the U.S. In Part One of a series, NBC News examines the debate.
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Remember Donald Trump's suggestion that women be punished for abortions? Across the Atlantic it isn't just a throwaway suggestion from a politician. It's now a reality in a corner of the U.K. — and a chilling reminder to one woman."It could've happened to me," K. says.