06/04/2016 BBC Newsline

A Northern Ireland woman who recently took abortion pills

that she bought online has described as a witch hunt the fallout

from this week's court case in which a 21-year-old woman

Speaking to the BBC, the woman, who's in her 30s,

says she has no regrets and refuses to see herself as a criminal.

Some of you may find the content of this report

by health correspondent Marie Louise Connolly upsetting.

The events of this week have prompted this woman to come

Recently she bought abortion pills online

after discovering she was pregnant following a one-night stand.

She says she was not physically or emotionally

While she accepts she broke the law she says she has no regrets.

Louise, not her real name, asked the BBC to protect

I am not afraid for me, I am afraid for young

That is criminal, like something going on in the 1880s

I am speaking out because of what has been happening this week.

How this 21-year-old mother has been treated,

The pills were sent to her address and without counselling or medical

I initially felt relief but I did not read the instructions,

I felt incredible pain and was passing huge clots

I was nearly ready to call an ambulance a few times

but because of the fear of what might happen to me,

they might come for me, the witchhunt, you know?

We are all at the mercy of the law, this is big but I don't know how

Louise continued to bleed and eventually went

I told them I had had a miscarriage because there is no way you can

say if you have taken abortion pills.

I still had the pills inside me.

I had to go back to the hospital after I did not pass it.

She is speaking out after the court case this week which saw a woman

While Louise does not disagree that getting an abortion is wrong,

others agree such as the housemates of the women at the centre

That is the law here and I know people may say

it is stupid but it is still the law and you must abide by the law,

If it changes then fair enough but you are breaking the law

The woman says she is angry that the 1861 law remains in place.

Why are we blaming these woman in all of this?

It will continue to be an issue until we have the right

to choose about what we can do with our own bodies.

While taking abortion pills is illegal,

that won't stop women in Northern Ireland taking them.

The parents and brother of a County Armagh man

who was murdered have escaped injury in an early morning arson attack

Marc Williamson was 21 when he was stabbed

Our south east reporter Gordon Adair has more.

The arsonist set this car on fire and rolled it against their house.

The whole house was gutted, they lost everything.

Mrs Williamson's son was murdered five years ago.

Then 21, he was stabbed to death at a house party.

She believes she knows who is behind this attack.

It's a long story but I know who is behind it.

If Robert hadn't gone out so early this morning

I would have lost another son, maybe all of us but definitely my

The police are saying they are trying to establish the cause.

They said this afternoon they are investigating a possible link

between this and three other incidents on Monday night. In all

four cases, the vehicles were set alight and police say they want the

help of the public to catch the criminals behind this. The

detectives from the reactive and organised crime team are urging

people to be vigilant and to report anything suspicious in their area to

the police straightaway. Concerned parents of children

at De La Salle College in West Belfast have had meetings

with the associate principal of the college as well as

representatives from the Council They have said they are happy

with the response from the associate principal, Ms Jordan, but are very

disappointed by the CCMS. In recent months, the parents and

pupils at the West Belfast school have protested about teachers being

absent and the management of the school. They fear the situation will

harm their children's exam prospects. Now teaches in one union

have voted for industrial action. Earlier today the concerned parents

are talks of the associate principal who has been drafted in to try to

sort out the problems and the savings they have been meeting in

this tragic presbytery with representatives of the Catholic

Church and the council for Catholic schools. The parents say they were

happy with the associate printable's reaction but after three hours talks

as evening with the Catholic Church and the education authority the

delegates said they were unhappy with the response. They run the

whole show. As someone else to go to? We can get a wee bit of

information? Shall we go to the principle? They're the top dogs.

Maybe they're not. Maybe there's someone else to do something about

it. You're disappointed. Absolutely. The delegates are due to meet the

children's commissioner tomorrow. A spokesperson said they were struck

by the genuine concerns expressed by the parents. Later there remain

committed to considering the issues and will continue dialogue.

An American man accused of endangering an aircraft has said

all the charges against him are a fabrication.

The 42 year old was arrested in June last year after a Rome

to Chicago flight was diverted to Belfast International Airport.

Jeremiah Mathius Thede aged 42 leaves court in Antrim today.

He's charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft

after an incident last June which saw him arrested

There's was widespread coverage in the United States.

Flight 917 spent almost 23 hours at Aldergrove, interrupting

Today a steward on United Airlines Flight 917, Sheila Wire, gave

evidence, a woman with 43 years of flight experience who'd become

concerned at Mr Thede's behaviour, and had spoken to a colleague

she said was trembling with fear after dealing with him.

She told the court that at one point during the flight she took the male

passengers to the back of the plane and briefed them on what she called

She said that if that had been required they would help

She said up to 20 passengers made a point of speaking to her.

Are we safe? They asked.

They asked "What is United Airlines doing to ensure my family is safe?"

Other cabin crew from the flight will be giving

Jeremiah Mathius Thede denies the evidence against him

Today they accused the Secretary of State of withholding sensitive

information about briefings given to government ministers before

The hooded men are a group who claim they were tortured

A court hearing in Belfast was told it's essential the men's legal team

Our Home Affairs Correspondent Vincent Kearney reports.

Northern Ireland's three major golf champions, Rory McIlroy,

Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell, tee off at the Masters

For Clarke it could be his final appearance at the tournament,

Darren Clarke six exemption to this exclusive tournament runs out this

year. That means a return to winning form will be required if he is to be

invited back. Play well today! By the European Ryder Cup skipper has

more on his mind this week. The captaincy is more important than my

own golf and that properly shows but at the end of the day I don't want

to go out to keep on playing poorly but my pride is hurt enough with the

way I been playing lately so if a knocking a few parts and gain

momentum I will get back playing how I should. I want to play well. It's

trying to keep the frustration in control. It's more important that

the team members play well this week than myself. Darren Clarke at some

dip big decisions to make over the coming months. As his team take

shape. At the moment there's a lot of guys that haven't played Ryder

Cup before pushing hard for places. A lot of rookies. When you get into

the meat of the season, the majors and the Championship events, that's

when you explained your seasoned Vectra is the step up. They're

playing better and playing the way they know they can play. There's a

lot of guys playing well at the moment so interesting times. So

Darren Fox focuses very much on later this year when he's planning

to help Europe beat America. Here in the USA this week that the pressure

off his hoping for a good performance at his 14th masters.

Gaelic games, and in this evening's Ulster under-21 football final

Monaghan beat reigning All-Ireland champions Tyrone by 13 points to 11.

And they now advance to the All-Ireland semi-final

And tomorrow's Good Morning Ulster programme will be looking

at the loyalist protest on Twaddell Avenue in North Belfast

Good Morning Ulster will ask if there is any end to the dispute.

That's on BBC Radio Ulster starting at 6:30am.

Time now to find out what the weather has in store.

That was a crazy day of weather! Plenty of sunshine and showers

through the day and are roller-coaster is not over. The

showers continued tonight but by the time we get to the small hours we

have a much more organised band of rain and that will deposit a good

deal of rain across Northern Ireland. Ten to 20 millimetres in

most places but we could see the whites of the mount in the most

affected areas. That comes coupled with strong north-westerly breeze is

so as we head into Thursday we will start off on a wet note with the

showers continuing but it is going to get better. The remainder that

front pulling out of the way by the time we get towards the drive to

work and it is more sherry and through the day things improve. You

can see what's happening, this low pressure is pulling away and it's

taking the strongest winds across the Scotland and England. I shall we

day, we get the clearance behind it and by the afternoon things are

improving quite nicely. We see more in the way of breaks, high pressure

builds and no showers and highs of ten or 11. A reasonably clear night

and Thursday. There will be chilly on Friday morning. Chilly but drive.

It is not going to stay that way because as we go through the morning

the skies will cloud over from the worst. This weather front makes his

way inside soggy end to the working week and it is looking pretty

unsettled as we head towards this weekend.

Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25 in the morning during Breakfast

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