Northern Ireland Assembly rejects move to liberalise abortion

Published: February 12th, 2016

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- Abortion

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly have voted against a move to liberalise the region’s abortion laws.

Currently, abortion in Northern Ireland is illegal.

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) had proposed to legalise abortion in cases where it is believed by doctors that the baby will have a fatal foetal abnormality (FFA). It is believed that a baby with FFA will die inside the womb or soon after birth.

This change to Northern Ireland abortion law, proposed as an amendment to the Justice Bill, was defeated 59 to 40 on Wednesday.

A proposal to allow abortion in cases of rape or incest was also rejected.

A Vigil for Life, organised by pro-life group Precious Life, was held outside Stormont on Tuesday night ahead of the debate.

Effect of law would have been 'devastating'

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children’s (SPUC) Northern Ireland development officer commented on the decision:

"It would be difficult to overestimate the significance of this vote by the Northern Ireland Assembly. Had these proposals become law, their effect would have been devastating.

"Although they were presented as allowing abortion only for a limited number of so-called hard cases, in reality they were an attack on some of the most vulnerable of children and would have led to widespread abortion."

Liam Gibson went on:

"Experience around the world shows that this kind of proposal is only the thin end of the wedge, and that abortion activists seek to exploit any loophole in the law, to discredit pro-life laws and deny legal protection to all unborn children. Their aim is to erect a false 'right to abortion' in law.

"International law recognises that all members of the human family share the right to life, and that children deserve special protection, including legal protection before as well as after birth. This vote is a clear rejection of the idea that some children are less worthy of the protection of the law."

FFA is 'not a medical diagnosis'

Philippa Taylor of Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) has previously spoken against liberalising abortion laws in cases of FFA.

In an informative piece, she lists the dangers of allowing abortions for FFA, explaining that this diagnosis is subjective, unpredictable and discriminatory.

Below are two examples of the risks of liberalising the law in this way:

"Labels such as 'fatal fetal abnormality' are not a medical diagnosis. No doctor can say with certainty that an unborn child, however severe their disability, would not live until birth. A 2012 paper entitled 'Fatally Flawed?', published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, similarly found that a term like 'lethal anomaly' is not a medical prognosis. If it is not a medical diagnosis, legality relies on an arbitrary, haphazard, decision-making process (as in the UK).
"Even with prenatal scans and where the diagnosis is clearly known, there are unpredictable variations in survival times. There is no agreed list of lethal or fatal conditions in medical literature because, for almost all conditions, there are mixed outcomes and babies often survive beyond birth, sometimes for longer than anyone expects."

Ms Taylor goes on to argue that legalising abortion for FFA would be "dehumanising" to babies with severe disabilities.

Attorney General John Larkin QC, Stormont’s chief legal adviser, has also outlined concerns that the move could breach obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Women who are carrying a baby with an FFA, argues Philippa Taylor, should be offered greater support and palliative care, making the most of their time together with the child, as long as it lives.

Ms Taylor also presents strong arguments against allowing abortion in cases of rape.

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Northern Ireland Assembly rejects move to liberalise abortion

Effect of law would have been 'devastating'

FFA is 'not a medical diagnosis'