Supreme Courts hears Northern Ireland abortion challenge

The Supreme Court heard a legal challenge from a Northern Irish mother and daughter on Wednesday, who believe that they should be given access to NHS-funded abortions in England.

The daughter and her mother brought the original challenge to the court in 2014. The daughter, who was 15 at the time, had travelled with her mother to Manchester to have an abortion, costing her around £900. 

The challenge was unsuccessful at the High Court and the Court of Appeal, but they were granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Judgment has been reserved to a later date.
 

'Discrimination'

The daughter believes that she has been discriminated against, because she is being treated differently from other women in England.

Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland with very limited exceptions, and NHS-funded abortions in England are not available to residents of Northern Ireland.

Last year, the Court of Appeal ruled that there is no legal obligation on health services in England and Wales to provide publicly funded abortions which would be unlawful within Northern Ireland.

 A lawyer for the two women claimed that women in A's position "find themselves in desperate and stressful practices and become second-class citizens in abortion".

And ‘A’ and ‘B’ argued that not being able to access NHS-funded abortions violates Articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which cover the right to private and family life as well as the right to not be discriminated against.

The British Humanist Association (BHA), the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), Alliance for Choice, Birthrights, the Family Planning Association and the Abortion Support Network, all intervened in the case.
 

'Serious implications for the rule of law'

Liam Gibson, the development officer for SPUC in Northern Ireland, commented: "A bad decision in this case would not only lead to more children being killed by abortion, it will also have serious implications for the rule of law and the value of Northern Ireland's devolved institutions."
 

'Culture of abortion'

Liam Gibson continued by saying that women should be given greater support, so that they do not turn to abortion as what they perceive to be their only option.

"More and more people, and not just in Northern Ireland, are appalled by the culture of abortion which has taken root in Britain where around 98 percent of abortions performed on vague ‘mental health’ criteria that Department of Health research suggests fall short of legal grounds. The British Government has even been ambivalent about ending the scandal of sex-selective abortions where babies are targeted simply because they're girls.

"Women in crisis pregnancies don't need free abortions, they need help and support so that they don't feel they have no choice but to kill their babies."

Related Links:
Abortion case: Supreme Court hears NI women 'second-class citizens' (BBC)
Supreme Court hearing challenge to NI abortion law (SPUC) 
UK Supreme Court hearing challenge to Northern Ireland abortion law (Life Site)