Northern Ireland justice minister: allow disabled babies/babies conceived in rape to be aborted
BEFLAST, December 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com)
– Children suspected of being disabled or who were conceived in rape
are currently protected from abortion under Northern Ireland’s laws, but
the Justice Minister for the province has said he will be undertaking a
“consultation” to consider changing that.
David Ford, the Northern Ireland Justice Minister and head of the socially liberal Alliance Party, told BBC Radio that he started to consider the change after he heard the story of two women, promoted as a cause célèbre by the secular media, who complained that they had not been allowed to abort their babies in Northern Ireland, even though the babies had been diagnosed with anencephaly. Instead, they said, they had to come to the UK for abortions.
Abortion was refused under Northern Ireland’s laws because the
diagnosis for the child of anencephaly poses no medical threat to the
mother.
“Long before I became minister for justice, long before I met Sarah Ewart, I have said that there are clearly some very difficult cases in Northern Ireland which are not covered by the law as it applies in Northern Ireland,” he told the BBC last week.
“Now this is not talking about a wholesale introduction of the 1967 Abortion Act as applies across the water, it is simply saying that in a very narrow range of cases, I do believe we do need to consider whether it should be lawful to have an abortion in those circumstances where there is no chance of the foetus being delivered and having a viable life.”
In his interview, Ford added that he would be considering opening the law to abortions in cases of pregnancy due to rape and incest. “It’s clearly a slightly wider area than just the issue of fatal foetal abnormality,” he said.
He said that a “consultation document” was being considered to look into any “potential for change.” The document, he said, could be ready by next March.
In the Republic of Ireland, the government ran such a “public consultation” that resulted in the passage of the new abortion law allowing abortion without time limits for any woman who claimed to feel suicidal. The change came despite overwhelming expert testimony saying that abortion is harmful both to women’s mental and physical wellbeing.
The announcement, made first to the BBC instead of through the normal parliamentary channels, has roused anger in the Legislature. Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Justice Committee chairman, Paul Givan, accused Ford of holding the National Assembly “in contempt.”
On Friday Givan said, “David Ford treated the Assembly with contempt by making this announcement in the way in which he did.”
“He didn't take it to the Assembly, he didn't speak to the Justice Committee, he didn't brief his chair of that committee. So on an issue of such gravity as this, one would have thought that he would have sought some degree of consensus in the first place and he has failed to do that,” Givan said.
Liam Gibson, the representative for Northern Ireland of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, (SPUC) called the situation “very grave,” but added that while the All Party Pro-life Group is concerned, the announcement was “not entirely unexpected”.
“David Ford is Northern Ireland’s Minister of Justice, so in some ways this is more serious than if the UK minister was trying to impose a new law from the outside.”
“Any new law will have to get the agreement of the DUP to be accepted by the Executive,” Gibson added, “but the situation is very grave.”
The proposal to allow the UK’s abortion regime into Northern Ireland is opposed as a matter of policy by both Sinn Féin and the DUP, which holds the 1967 Act allows “the delivery of abortion on demand”. A DUP spokesman said, “We want to see as few abortions as possible take place in Northern Ireland.”
“We will participate in the consultation process, as it is important that there is as much consensus as possible across society built on this issue,” a Sinn Féin spokesman said. “I'm sure all of the other parties, and wider society in general, will do likewise.”
In Northern Ireland abortion is governed by the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which specifies life imprisonment upon conviction of deliberately “procuring a miscarriage.” The law, which is normally narrowly interpreted, does allow direct abortion but only when “necessary to preserve the life of the woman or there is a risk of real and serious adverse effect on her physical or mental health, which is either long-term or permanent.”
Although the province, while part of the UK, is exempt from the Abortion Act 1967 and the public is broadly opposed to liberalising the law, pressure from abortion lobbyists to introduce a UK-style legal regime has been relentless.
After the interview, however, a Department of Justice spokesman backpedalled away from the Minister’s last comment, saying that there is no question of imposing the full Abortion Act on Northern Ireland.
“David Ford believes there is a question whether, in certain difficult but closely defined cases, the law’s line has been drawn in the right place. The consultation will therefore focus on cases of terminal foetal abnormality.”
Source: NRLC News
David Ford, the Northern Ireland Justice Minister and head of the socially liberal Alliance Party, told BBC Radio that he started to consider the change after he heard the story of two women, promoted as a cause célèbre by the secular media, who complained that they had not been allowed to abort their babies in Northern Ireland, even though the babies had been diagnosed with anencephaly. Instead, they said, they had to come to the UK for abortions.
Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford
“Long before I became minister for justice, long before I met Sarah Ewart, I have said that there are clearly some very difficult cases in Northern Ireland which are not covered by the law as it applies in Northern Ireland,” he told the BBC last week.
“Now this is not talking about a wholesale introduction of the 1967 Abortion Act as applies across the water, it is simply saying that in a very narrow range of cases, I do believe we do need to consider whether it should be lawful to have an abortion in those circumstances where there is no chance of the foetus being delivered and having a viable life.”
In his interview, Ford added that he would be considering opening the law to abortions in cases of pregnancy due to rape and incest. “It’s clearly a slightly wider area than just the issue of fatal foetal abnormality,” he said.
He said that a “consultation document” was being considered to look into any “potential for change.” The document, he said, could be ready by next March.
In the Republic of Ireland, the government ran such a “public consultation” that resulted in the passage of the new abortion law allowing abortion without time limits for any woman who claimed to feel suicidal. The change came despite overwhelming expert testimony saying that abortion is harmful both to women’s mental and physical wellbeing.
The announcement, made first to the BBC instead of through the normal parliamentary channels, has roused anger in the Legislature. Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Justice Committee chairman, Paul Givan, accused Ford of holding the National Assembly “in contempt.”
On Friday Givan said, “David Ford treated the Assembly with contempt by making this announcement in the way in which he did.”
“He didn't take it to the Assembly, he didn't speak to the Justice Committee, he didn't brief his chair of that committee. So on an issue of such gravity as this, one would have thought that he would have sought some degree of consensus in the first place and he has failed to do that,” Givan said.
Liam Gibson, the representative for Northern Ireland of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, (SPUC) called the situation “very grave,” but added that while the All Party Pro-life Group is concerned, the announcement was “not entirely unexpected”.
“David Ford is Northern Ireland’s Minister of Justice, so in some ways this is more serious than if the UK minister was trying to impose a new law from the outside.”
“Any new law will have to get the agreement of the DUP to be accepted by the Executive,” Gibson added, “but the situation is very grave.”
The proposal to allow the UK’s abortion regime into Northern Ireland is opposed as a matter of policy by both Sinn Féin and the DUP, which holds the 1967 Act allows “the delivery of abortion on demand”. A DUP spokesman said, “We want to see as few abortions as possible take place in Northern Ireland.”
“We will participate in the consultation process, as it is important that there is as much consensus as possible across society built on this issue,” a Sinn Féin spokesman said. “I'm sure all of the other parties, and wider society in general, will do likewise.”
In Northern Ireland abortion is governed by the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which specifies life imprisonment upon conviction of deliberately “procuring a miscarriage.” The law, which is normally narrowly interpreted, does allow direct abortion but only when “necessary to preserve the life of the woman or there is a risk of real and serious adverse effect on her physical or mental health, which is either long-term or permanent.”
Although the province, while part of the UK, is exempt from the Abortion Act 1967 and the public is broadly opposed to liberalising the law, pressure from abortion lobbyists to introduce a UK-style legal regime has been relentless.
After the interview, however, a Department of Justice spokesman backpedalled away from the Minister’s last comment, saying that there is no question of imposing the full Abortion Act on Northern Ireland.
“David Ford believes there is a question whether, in certain difficult but closely defined cases, the law’s line has been drawn in the right place. The consultation will therefore focus on cases of terminal foetal abnormality.”
Source: NRLC News
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