“You can be sure I will fight tooth and nail to move Insatiable to a state that will protect our rights,” Alyssa Milano said recently, referencing her Netflix series that currently films in Georgia. From Orange is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba and Laverne Cox, to Don Cheadle, Amy Schumer and Alec Baldwin, the threat of Georgia’s “heartbeat bill” – which would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, around six weeks into pregnancy – has galvanised actors, activists and the creative industries to boycott the state.

Abortion law 'harsher in Northern Ireland than in Alabama' Read more

In a significant move, both Disney and Netflix are considering pulling productions out of Georgia. After a number of states – such as Alabama, Ohio, Mississippi, Kentucky and Missouri – attempted to roll back abortion rights, campaigners and prominent cultural figures across the world have been scrambling to use their power and status to fight back against the archaic anti-women proposals.

But there is a wild inconsistency in this strain of activism, and a sour sense of irony for the women of Northern Ireland who endure some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. It is from Northern Ireland, with its population of around 1.9 million, that 28 women a week travel elsewhere to access abortion. It is in this country that people have been prosecuted for aiding terminations, and houses and workplaces have been raided by police for abortion pills. And it is here that women are denied the same healthcare access as their counterparts in the rest of the UK, despite paying into the same National Health Service. Yet the draconian laws and those who suffer under them rarely make international headlines.

Few of the British and European figures who are shouting about American abortion rollbacks have shown the same fervour for human rights abuses closer to home: when English actor Sophie Turner signed a pledge not to work in US states with strict abortion laws, the fact that she had spent several years in Northern Ireland shooting Game of Thrones seemed to be forgotten – as a subsequent backlash highlighted.

The purpose of raising this isn’t for mere “whatabouterry”, pitting Georgia against Northern Ireland. The truth is, the most restrictive abortion laws in the US can’t be implemented without toppling Roe v Wade in the supreme court, yet in Northern Ireland harsh laws have been encroaching on people’s human rights for decades: so where is the same collective urgency about this homegrown problem?

This blindspot to Northern Ireland isn’t just found in actors, either. In a video message with Elle magazine, London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, claims that the UK’s values aren’t reflective of Donald Trump’s America; we’re in a country that “respects women”, where “we think it’s important to safeguard the rights of all of us, particularly the vulnerable and the marginalised”. Though well intentioned, it’s a profoundly ignorant and untrue statement, because of the state-sanctioned hurt caused to Northern Irish women by the British government.

There have been calls for a similar boycott for Northern Ireland, to make those upholding these rigid constrictions take notice. Film and TV production is now worth £270m to Northern Ireland’s economy – Netflix hosts shows such as Line of Duty, Marcella and The Fall, all of which were filmed in Northern Ireland, while Disney plans to film sci-fi teen flick Artemis Fowl there. HBO’s blockbuster Game of Thrones also used Northern Ireland as a location, invigorating the local tourism industry. The logic then stands that a boycott would be powerful – and consistent with the stance of international pro-choice movement figures and corporations.

But focusing on a Belfast boycott would just shift the blame and responsibility, while the suffering continued.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest US comedian Amy Schumer in a protest against supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in October 2018. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA

There has been no functioning Northern Irish government in Stormont for more than two years. The onus is, and has been for some time, on Westminster to finally act on providing full abortion care for Northern Irish citizens. If we’re in the boycott business, a London one would surely be best – this would bring the focus on to the people who the UN, the UK supreme court and human rights organisations agree have a responsibility to act. A Northern Ireland boycott would only hinder the lives of those who live there, who are already living as second-class citizens with significant financial strain. The rise of universal credit correlates with a rise in poverty, and the proportion of people in poverty in workless households has increased in Northern Ireland, in contrast to the UK as a whole. The employment and qualifications gap continues to widen too.

The Democratic Unionist party, while holding the balance of power in Westminster and stifling power-sharing in Stormont, has stood with arms crossed as its people, the economy, and surrounding industries have suffered. Even a boycott of a thriving local industry wouldn’t sway Arlene Foster and her party, and would just further hurt people on the ground, of which 75% want a change to the abortion law.

Stormont’s decay is a feminist issue – the rest of the UK advances laws on domestic violence, upskirting and coercive control, tackles period poverty and mental health, but the Northern Irish criminal justice system continues to fail women. It is therefore left to grassroots organisations to act on domestic violence and mental health issues.

Northern Ireland’s abortion laws are an abomination. Westminster must step in | Polly Toynbee Read more

For those wishing to show solidarity with the people of Northern Ireland and take part in activism with a consistent, inclusive message, support local grassroots groups such as Alliance for Choice. Meanwhile, people in the creative industries can look to Derry Girls stars Siobhan McSweeney and Nicola Caughan, who have rebuffed the idea of a boycott, and instead promise to continue marching with pro-choice activists and speaking extensively about abortion law reform.

Our sights should move from Hollywood and the entertainment industry, and stay laser-focussed on Westminster and Stormont – we can’t let those who have the real power off the hook.

• Anna Cafolla is a Belfast-born, London-based journalist