Before we begin, I remind Members that they are expected to wear face coverings when not speaking in the debate, in line with current Government guidance and that of the House of Commons Commission. Members are asked by the House to have a covid lateral flow test twice a week if coming on to the estate. This can be done either at the testing centre in the House or at home. Please give one another and staff members space when seated and when entering or leaving the room.
In addition, I wish to make a short statement about the sub judice resolution. I have been advised that there are active legal proceedings in the High Court in Belfast between the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children—SPUC Pro-Life Ltd—and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Minister for Health. I am exercising the discretion given to the Chair in respect of the resolution on matters of sub judice to allow full reference to those proceedings, as they concern issues of national importance.
That this House has considered the commissioning of abortion services in Northern Ireland.
As ever, it is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Pritchard. I am particularly pleased to lead this debate on a topic that is close to my heart. Members may be aware that I recently left my role as shadow Minister for Northern Ireland to join the shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport team. The issues on the ground in Northern Ireland are complex, but this topic was always the one that spoke to me the most during my time in the shadow Northern Ireland team. My successor, my hon. Friend the Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), will be an equally loud voice for women’s rights, and I wish her well in her new role. I look forward to hearing her comments.
Abortion in Northern Ireland is, as I hope we all recognise, an extremely sensitive and emotive issue that engenders passionate views on both sides. While I always look forward to a good debate, and I would expect nothing less on a topic such as abortion, I hope that Members will be respectful in their contributions. I politely remind colleagues that the focus of this debate should remain the commissioning and delivery of abortion services.
My personal opinion on abortion is clear: it is important that anyone considering an abortion, regardless of where they live, receives impartial, non-directive and clinical information on pregnancy in order to make an informed choice. While some argue that abortion is a devolved matter for Northern Ireland, especially now that the Northern Ireland Executive are able to legislate on this issue, the conformity of the whole UK with the European convention on human rights is a matter for Westminster, not Stormont. The UK Government ultimately have a responsibility for ensuring that all our nations across the UK abide by our international and domestic legal obligations, and that is what brings us to this place today.
I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this timely debate. Does she agree that those who advocate a pro-abortion stance in this debate—which is more appropriately and properly dealt with in the Northern Ireland Assembly —often fail to take account of the plight of the unborn child when they, quite regularly, elucidate and elaborate on the issues affecting women in positions that she has alluded to for the past 10 minutes? Does she understand that there are others involved, such as the unborn child?
I thank the hon. Member for his contribution to the debate. We do disagree in our personal views on abortion. The full consultation process was carried out. Ultimately, at the heart of this issue are the women and girls who need these services, sometimes desperately. They are being denied their fundamental human rights in law to access these services. Abortion is a personal choice for anyone to make, and those women and girls need to be at the heart of this debate.
The commissioner, Alyson Kilpatrick, was briefing Stormont’s Committee for Health on the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission’s position on the private Member’s Bill, which seeks to make it illegal to protest or hold demonstrations inside exclusion zones. She said that protesters
“can use the media. They can use various other platforms. They can campaign and protest outside decision-makers’ premises. In fact, the Bill also allows them to protest relatively near to abortion clinics… What it does not allow is for protesters to invade the space and upset, unnecessarily and disproportionately, people who want to avail themselves of the service. They have absolutely every right to say that they disagree, but they do not have a right to impose that on people who are in the process of accessing the service.”
It is therefore vital when debating the situation with abortion services in Northern Ireland that we bear in mind the difficulties that some women and girls face even when those services are available to them.
The commissioning and indeed availability of abortion services is complex. Put simply, every single day that passes denies women and girls the safe, local service they are entitled to. At any time, that would be deemed unacceptable. In a pandemic, it is morally unjustifiable. While it can be dangerous to draw comparisons, I do often consider how the dialogue around other equalities differs from the conversation around abortion. I consider it my duty as an elected representative to challenge these inequalities at every opportunity.
Thank you, Mr Pritchard, it is an honour to serve under your chairmanship. I congratulate the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones) on bringing the matter to the attention of the House. She is absolutely right that this is a narrow debate on a narrow set of issues. It is not, therefore, about women’s rights, despite the fact that what we have heard today has been padded out with a lot of comments about women’s rights.
It is not, unfortunately, about the rights of the unborn child, whom we should pause to consider, because no one ever speaks up for them. No one ever speaks up for that beating heart in a mother’s womb; no one ever gives voice to that. Today is not about that, unfortunately. Today is about the narrow confines of the rule of law, and where law should properly be made.
I am aghast at the irony of today’s debate. We have had a lot of comment about this being the rightful place to make these laws, and how it is not a contradiction to stand as a Member from another devolved region and say that the devolved Assembly in Northern Ireland has no right to make those laws and regulations. When that region is currently in court on these very matters, trying to shape the laws of Northern Ireland, it is the most abhorrent contradiction for this place to try to grasp that power back, and the Assembly in Northern Ireland is on this very day debating some of the issues that pertain to this matter. The irony is not lost on anyone, except the unborn.
I thank my hon. Friend for giving way; he is a great champion for the life of the unborn child, as are all his DUP colleagues. Does he share my concern that the regulations violate the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and fundamentally dishonour the devolution settlement? That point is particularly appropriate now that Stormont has been restored.
That was a telling point and absolutely right and proper. Yes, this does dishonour and betray the devolution settlement. There are no two ways about it; that is the only way it cuts. When powers are devolved to one region and then it is decided that it is not doing things the way we like, so the powers should be taken back, that is not lost on anyone.
We are not allowed to make up facts in this debate. The myth has been projected today that the majority of people in Northern Ireland agree to and with the most liberal abortion laws in any other part of the United Kingdom. Given that that has never been tested, that statement is erroneous and not factual. Any time the Assembly has voted on such matters over the years, it has taken the other view. Whenever this House has voted on it, the representatives from Northern Ireland who attend this place were divided, but the majority voted against the new regulations as outlined.
We cannot make up the facts and pretend that, because one or two Members support this, all Northern Ireland supports it. That is a myth and one that has to be challenged. Talk to any section of society in Northern Ireland, in the tribal way that Northern Ireland is often caricatured—talk to members of the Roman Catholic faith, members of the Protestant faith, members of no faith—and one will find that the weight of opinion is solidly for the rights of the unborn child. That is the socially conservative society that Northern Ireland actually is.
My hon. Friend makes a valid point. Some 80% of respondents to the consultation on the imposition of the legislation did not want it imposed on Northern Ireland, which completely dispels the myth that the majority of people in Northern Ireland are pro-abortion. In fact, they are pro-life.
I do not need to make the point, because my hon. Friend has just made it so exceptionally well.
When the regulations were first set in train in July 2019, it was argued in this Parliament that Parliament was duty-bound to pass the amendment that became section 9 because Northern Ireland, it was stated, was in violation of its international human rights obligations under the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and the recommendations of the 2018 CEDAW report on Northern Ireland.
However, when ones drills down into that report, the explanatory memorandum to the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 acknowledges the fact, which the Government now confirm, that paragraphs 85 and 86 of the CEDAW report, which the House rested upon when it made its case in 2019, do not constitute legally binding international obligations. Constantly, those arguing for these liberal laws hang their hat on the false premise that it was an international obligation, when it was no such thing. That myth needs to be dispelled. We should not base our laws upon a lie, and that is what has happened. That is why people are so agitated about what the Government did.
The hon. Member for Pontypridd is right: everyone is entitled to their own opinions on these serious, weighty and emotional matters; however, they and the Government are not entitled to make a pretence that the law was an international obligation that had to be followed when it was no such thing. The Government have now changed their former line of reasoning, arguing that it is the 2019 Act rather than the CEDAW recommendations that requires them to force Stormont to implement the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 and the 2021 regulations. If ever something has been made perverse, it is the way in which the law is now being argued for.
It is plainly an untenable situation, where non-binding recommendations have been misrepresented to create a binding Act that removes any obligation to the unborn child and any protection that the unborn child heretofore had. In doing so, the Government leave Northern Ireland in a straitjacket on one of the most sensitive issues that it could ever consider. The UK Government should not have imposed the same law on Northern Ireland that the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has criticised in respect of the United Kingdom. That committee expressed its concern
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard, and I thank the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones) for securing this debate. The issue of abortion in Northern Ireland is challenging for many people. Many of us, myself included, have had to go on a real journey of compassion and learning over several years. I am very aware of the sensitivities around it and of the strongly held views. However, it is very clear that there is nobody who this affects more, and nobody that this is more distressing for, than women and girls.
As with many issues over the years that the Executive found too hard to deal with, the changes in Northern Irish law were brought about via interventions from this place from Members of the Opposition. The inadequacy of the previous regulations was very clear for many years. Many women had to go to court and relive the most distressing experiences, in order to build momentum and support for change. This is in many ways a rule of law issue. Despite what other Members have said today, without a plebiscite, we do not know exactly what every single member of the public thinks in Northern Ireland. However, I would be very surprised if any Member could tell me, with a straight face, that a majority of people support the previous provisions under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which carried a sanction of up to life imprisonment for those involved in an abortion—regardless of the circumstances.
Whatever people have to say about how they came about, these regulations are the law; this is a rule of law issue and it is entirely inappropriate that these services have yet to be fully commissioned. We are all very much aware of the pressures that the health service and health professionals are under. However, if we are honest, we know that healthcare and health service pressure is not at the core of this issue. We also know that it is not acceptable to duck our responsibilities and force women to travel to Britain—especially in a pandemic.
It is a matter of deep regret that this House has sought to impose its will above the devolution settlement. At the heart of devolution must lie respect for the areas of legislation that have been determined to fall within the jurisdiction of devolved authorities. In complex and highly charged matters such as abortion, the benefit of the doubt should always be granted to the devolved authorities that they are capable of managing their own affairs.
Both the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 and the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 were passed despite the overwhelming majority of MPs representing Northern Ireland who take their seats in Westminster voting against the regulations on both occasions, despite the overwhelming majority of respondents to the consultation on the legislation being opposed to its imposition in Northern Ireland and despite the Assembly being back up and running prior to those regulations becoming law. The very premise for the legislation was flawed, with the claim that intervention was required by Westminster because Northern Ireland was in breach of international law. That claim has been demonstrated to be absolutely wrong—even the explanatory notes for the legislation noted that the CEDAW report recommendations
“are not binding and do not constitute international obligations.”
My hon. Friend the Member for North Antrim (Ian Paisley) eloquently outlined the change that had to be made in the regulations’ explanatory notes to demonstrate that the very foundation on which that law was brought forward was factually incorrect. That is a crazy way to make law—to build it on something that is fundamentally wrong.
The regulations go far beyond what is legally required, as well as beyond the law in England and Wales. They are also discriminatory against those diagnosed with disabilities. A submission to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee stated:
20 of 42 shown
We must remember that Northern Ireland has a pro-choice majority when it comes to abortion. A number of Members, including the hon. Members for Foyle (Colum Eastwood), for Belfast South (Claire Hanna) and for North Down (Stephen Farry), and others who represent constituencies in Northern Ireland, are committed to upholding that majority.
I must place on record my gratitude to the many individuals and organisations who have laid the groundwork for today’s debate. The right hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller), my hon. Friends the Members for Bristol South (Karin Smyth) and for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy), as well as my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson) have spoken on this topic at length. I hope my contribution will do their work some justice. I have also been supported by the team at MSI Reproductive Choices and Women’s Aid Northern Ireland—long may their fantastic work continue.
The changes to abortion laws, which extended abortion rights to the women of Northern Ireland, were made in line with the recommendations made by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Affording women in Northern Ireland these rights was a pivotal step in finally aligning abortion policy across all nations in the United Kingdom, and in my view it was a very welcome move. The legal framework for abortion services in Northern Ireland required under law came into effect in March last year, following an extensive consultation period. The circumstances around the legislation of abortions were clear. During that time, officials engaged with stakeholders, including the Northern Ireland Department of Health, healthcare professionals, the all-Ireland Church Leaders Group, abortion service providers and individuals with personal experience.
The initial regulations were replaced by the Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020, which came into effect in May. The regulations, approved by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as required by the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019, will remain in force in Northern Ireland. These regulations outline the legislation on abortion under any circumstances by a registered doctor, nurse or midwife up to 12 weeks and up to 24 weeks where there is a risk to physical or mental health in the opinion of two registered medical professionals. Thanks to this change, abortions with no gestational limit are also now legal in Northern Ireland, where there is an immediate necessity to save a life or to prevent a grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of a pregnant woman, or in the case of severe foetal impairment or fatal foetal abnormality.
I had the great privilege of responding to those regulations on behalf of the Opposition in Committee earlier this year. At that time, I and a number of other colleagues spoke about the heartbreaking challenges that many women and girls requiring abortions face thanks to the delays in delivering safe and local abortion services. It would be remiss of me not to pay particular tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow —my good friend—who has led the way in her commitment to women and girls in Northern Ireland. It is only thanks to her amendment to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019—I must add that the amendment was passed overwhelmingly by the House —that the situation changed, in theory, for women and girls. Finally, women and girls would no longer be required to use unsafe, unregulated services or to make the heartbreaking journey across the Irish sea to seek an abortion in Britain. Those changes were a very welcome move and a critical step for women’s rights and, ultimately, equality across Northern Ireland. However, years down the line, these women and girls are still waiting.
I fully recognise concerns around the devolution settlement, especially as a Welsh MP, and I am sure colleagues will want to raise such concerns today. Put simply, however, in the prolonged absence of a functioning Executive in Northern Ireland, it was right that the law was amended to reflect the UK’s human rights obligations. Despite the legislative progress that has been made, we all know that the reality for women seeking abortions in Northern Ireland is fundamentally unchanged. The law simply is not being properly implemented. The Department of Health in Northern Ireland has not commissioned or funded termination services for the purposes of implementing the abortion regulations across Northern Ireland.
According to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, the Department has also failed to issue any guidance to health and social care trusts on the provision of abortion services, including when and in what circumstances medical staff may exercise their freedom of conscience when delivering a service. These are basic asks, and ultimately the Executive must abide by their responsibilities around abortion services, especially since they are now enshrined in law.
When it comes to service delivery, the five health and social care trusts across Northern Ireland simply do not have the resources to uphold their responsibilities. Earlier this year, the health and social care trusts collectively applied for additional funding to meet the new legislative requirements for abortion services, but frustratingly, the Health and Social Care Board did not consider that. Across the trusts, abortions were offered within existing services and only where resources allowed. Staff were transferred from other sexual and reproductive services that were on hold as a consequence of coronavirus. A simple glance at the reality of the situation suggests that that short-term plan is completely inadequate.
Colleagues will be aware of the timeline that various health and social care trusts across Northern Ireland have followed over the last year or so. In October 2020, the Northern Health and Social Care Trust was forced to transfer staff back to other sexual and reproductive healthcare services, meaning that it ceased to take any new referrals for abortion services. At that time, the remaining four trusts were unable to provide abortions for between 10 to 12 weeks, because of the lack of resources.
Just months after the regulations legalising abortion came into effect, barriers were clearly already in place for those requiring support, and that is simply not good enough. It is utterly frustrating that legal action from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission was required before any proper action was taken to fix the problem, which persists today.
Colleagues will be aware that in November 2020, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission initiated legal action against the Secretary of State, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Department of Health for Northern Ireland for failure to commission and fund abortion services in Northern Ireland. The judgment in that case was finally reached in October this year and, as we all know, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the right hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis) was found by the High Court to have failed to uphold his duties to provide full abortion services in Northern Ireland.
Although it is not ordinarily the Opposition’s role to defend the Government—I hope Members will understand that this is a particularly rare exception for me—the failures of Northern Ireland’s Department of Health must be included in the dialogue. We all know that without funding, public services will undoubtedly suffer. That is a fairly basic linear pattern. Without funding or a commissioned framework, health trusts across Northern Ireland simply cannot provide these much-needed services.
In October, the High Court made its will clear—enough is enough. The Secretary of State must work with the Department of Health in Northern Ireland to push it to act. He must act swiftly if he is to comply with the law and stop those who oppose it from denying people access to the abortion process through bureaucratic channels. I am pleased to see that after the legal proceedings were launched, the Secretary of State formally directed Stormont to commission abortion services before the end of March 2022, but the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission says that the situation has not yet improved. That absolutely must change.
The reality that is often lost in the conversation is that the decision to have an abortion is an emotive one. It is rarely an easy one. The pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact on both the commissioning and the delivery of abortion services in Northern Ireland, and that is understandable to a certain extent. What is not understandable is the cruel effect that delaying the availability of these services is having every day on women and girls in Northern Ireland. Many will have been forced to travel to unfamiliar cities, and at the height of the pandemic they would have had to do so alone, without a consoling hand or a smile to support them during this very difficult time. That is the case thanks to sheer political failure.
My final point, which I am sure other Members will refer to in their remarks, relates to abortion exclusion zones. Freedom of speech and the right to protest is a very important human right, and I know from having spoken on this topic before that there are many Members in this place today who will disagree with my position on abortion. When it comes to exclusion zones, however, I want to highlight the comments made by the Chief Commissioner to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Alyson Kilpatrick, who said last week that a law to introduce safe access zones outside abortion clinics would not stop pro-life campaigners taking part in public protest.
Let me be clear: as someone representing a devolved area, I understand well the sensitivities around the devolution settlement. The balance of our political system relies on the deep respect for devolved powers. Contrary to what other Members may think, I truly believe that that respect is not a contradiction to my overwhelming belief that the United Kingdom is at its best when we work together to uphold fundamental rights. The obligation to uphold said rights lies with this Parliament and this UK Government. Where those rights are denied, as they currently are, the Government have a moral and legal duty to act.
We all need to be honest here. The Northern Ireland Executive are failing women and girls in their obligation and that cannot continue. Quality healthcare and safe, local abortion services are a basic right, and the time to act has long come and gone. For the sake of women and girls in Northern Ireland, it is vital that access to services is commissioned immediately. It is clear that we cannot rely on the Northern Ireland Executive to do so alone. I, therefore, urge the Minister to provide an update on her discussions with the Minister for Health in the Executive. I hope she is able to provide the reassurance that I and so many women and girls in Northern Ireland desperately seek.
“about perceptions in society that stigmatize persons with disabilities…and about the termination of pregnancy at any stage on the basis of fetal impairment.”
By allowing for abortion up to birth—think of it—in cases of non-foetal disabilities such as Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot, the regulations are deeply offensive to the values of Northern Irish people and their politicians.
The House is currently considering a private Member’s Bill that the Government have given fair wind to, introduced by the right hon. Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), on the rights of children with disabilities. I am honoured to be the secondary sponsor of that Bill. On the one hand, Parliament is trying to introduce laws to protect children with Down’s syndrome, to honour them and to give them their place in society. At the same time, this House says, “Destroy that Down’s syndrome child.” That is what is perverse and wrong, and it is why people are so agitated.
We shall see evidence of that in the latest progress of the Severe Fetal Impairment Abortion (Amendment) Bill, which is being debated as we speak in Stormont. There is a myth that a majority of Northern Ireland politicians are for these liberal laws, when, in fact, the only vote that has taken place in the Legislative Assembly since these laws were introduced was on a law to amend them and to remove some of the most horrible liberal policies that affect the unborn. That point, and that sense of irony, is not lost on us.
I welcome the fact of this debate. I also welcome the fact that the Opposition are not here in force today. I think that is surprising, because the Opposition have made a habit of trying to push these matters on to Northern Ireland. I think that, perhaps, under their leader the penny is starting to drop that they cannot keep interfering in the devolution process. They cannot keep saying on the one issue—the protocol—that they cannot get involved in a debate because they are defending the Belfast agreement, and then the next day come into this place and say, “We want to interfere in the Belfast agreement, set its issues aside, and interfere in a piece of legislation in Northern Ireland.” They cannot have it both ways—that is the message that we send out. This House cannot have it both ways, because that would be obscene and it would be wrong.
Today, I proudly proclaim my defence of, and give my voice to, the unborn. The unborn have a right to life. It is not a health issue to remove the life of an unborn child. It is a moral issue, and this House should have the moral compass to do what is right.
People know, in their heart of hearts, that to deny these services is simply exporting the issue. They know that this legislation does not actually reduce the number of people who require an abortion; it just has the impact of making a stressful situation even worse for those who are going through it. Despite the pandemic, we know that 371 women and girls still travelled to Britain for abortions, which by law, they should have been able to access in Northern Ireland. We know that many others had to resort to unregulated abortion pills—with all the potential health and legal complications that would result from that.
I am a deep believer in devolution, and it is a matter of regret to me that the Executive failed to commission services in line with their legal obligations. It is also a matter of regret to me that in 23 years, to the best of my knowledge, the Executive have not delivered any piece of equality legislation. Those who believe they are holding some imaginary line should realise that in fact, they are growing the belief among many people in the centre ground in Northern Ireland that the only way they can have the rights and entitlements they wish to have is by changing the constitutional paradigm.
Tomorrow, we will be back in this Chamber discussing the impact of Brexit in Northern Ireland, and there are Members who will rehearse in that debate a very uncompromising position about the need for there to be no divergence whatsoever between Britain and Northern Ireland. As recently as yesterday, the Democratic Unionist party leader repeated his calls to bring down the Assembly over the principle of divergence between Britain and Northern Ireland. The mantra is that there can be no divergence in Northern Ireland—that everybody in Northern Ireland has to have the right to exactly the same sausages as people in Britain have—yet they are willing to fight and stand against people in Northern Ireland having the right to the same healthcare services as those in Britain. The prospect that many more women will be forced to either travel or go to court in order to change the current situation is cruel and distressing.
I will briefly reference the Severe Fetal Impairment Abortion (Amendment) Bill, which in a weird echo is being debated in the Assembly as we speak, and which targets some of the most distressing cases of women seeking an abortion. Those cases are incredibly rare—less than 0.1% of abortions, as I understand it—but that Bill has still invited hours and hours of discussion by MLAs about the plight of those women. By all credible assessments, the Bill is legally incompetent and unlikely to receive Royal Assent. It is found by many disability campaigners to be a fairly cynical and exploitative move that undermines many of the efforts that are being made for people with disabilities, and I believe it is effectively a campaigning opportunity for some people to play out the most distressing experiences in the lives of people who, in nearly all cases, are facing a heartbreaking diagnosis after a much-wanted pregnancy.
The hon. Member for Pontypridd has also referenced the safe spaces—the exclusion zones. While abortion is a conscience matter for the Social Democratic and Labour party, that is a piece of legislation that we are all strongly in support of, and I welcome the ruling of the Human Rights Commission that it does not diminish the right of people to protest if they so wish.
In conclusion, the issue of abortion is not something that I take lightly. I know that many people who have arrived at a different position than I have arrived at come from a place of sincerity and compassion, but I also have no doubt that the decision that many women take requires the same level of compassion and dignity, and it is long past time that we make available the services that the law provides for them. There are clearly wider conversations to be had about how we can improve the circumstances of people who are faced with these sorts of choices, such as more adequately securing people’s belief that the state will meet their needs and support them if they are dealing with a very disabled child, because that is not the case at the moment. I am sure that every Member of this House meets families who are living a hell, given the inadequacy of the services that are provided to their families. Perhaps if those services were more comprehensive, people would not feel that abortion was the best choice for their family.
We also fully support better reproductive services, better education, and better information around relationships and consent in school—all the things that we should do to reduce the number of occasions on which people feel abortion is the only choice for them—but quite clearly, for those who do, that is their choice, and the services should be there to meet that choice.
“Abortion is a sensitive matter throughout the United Kingdom, but no more so than in Northern Ireland to which the Abortion Act 1967 has not been extended”.
The Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020
“radically alter the framework for abortion services in Northern Ireland”,
and
“its provisions exceed those already available elsewhere in the UK. For example,”
that includes unconditional access to abortion where
“the pregnancy has not exceeded its 12th week”.
We hear about Northern Ireland’s stance on pro-life and about the number of people who have had to make a difficult journey to GB for access, but we do not often hear about the 100,000 lives who are alive today in Northern Ireland because we did not sign up to the 1967 Act. One hundred thousand lives—people working in our hospitals and the NHS, teachers, and those right throughout our society who are alive today and contributing to society because they were not aborted. Our law values life.
Tragically, the radical regulations permit sex-selective abortion, since the sex of a foetus can be determined through non-invasive prenatal testing. Imagine, baby girls—in the main—being aborted just because they are girls. We call ourselves a progressive society; there is nothing progressive about having a law that allows for babies to be aborted because of their sex.
On the subject of disability, Lord Shinkwin noted during the debate in the other place on the latest version of the abortion regulations imposed on Northern Ireland earlier this year:
“The regulations…threaten me because they challenge that right by devaluing my existence. The narrative of the regulations is that I should not really exist. Indeed, I would be better off dead.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 28 April 2021; Vol. 811, c. 2271.]