NRL News
202.626.8824
dadandrusk@aol.com

Following High Court decision, Scottish Government repeats intention to consider giving Northern Ireland women free abortions

Jun 19, 2017

By Dave Andrusko

Scottish First Minister looking to provide abortions for Northern Irish women

Scottish First Minister looking to provide abortions for Northern Irish women

The forces that attack protective abortion laws never cease in their campaigns. Their motto is if one door closes, try prying open another.

Last week we reported that England’s highest court narrowly decided that its National Health Service [NHS] was not obliged to pay for the abortions of women coming to England from Northern Ireland.

So it was not surprising that the Sunday Times reported yesterday that “Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, is examining ways to offer the service on the NHS, along with Catherine Calderwood, the country’s chief medical officer.” The free “service”? Abortions to women traveling from Northern Ireland.

The Sunday Times’ Jason Allardyce reports

Sturgeon believes all women should have the right to a safe and legal termination and sources say her administration wants to help Northern Irish women, who face bills of between £600 and £2,000 for private abortions in England.

Last November, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children [SPUC] reported that Sturgeon already flatly stated she would consider using Northern Irish women access to abortions in Scotland paid for by the NHS.

During what is called First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood [The Scottish Parliamentary building in Edinburgh], Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie asked Ms. Sturgeon what could be done to ensure that Northern Irish women could access abortion in Scotland without facing “unacceptable financial barriers.” According to the BBC

Ms. Sturgeon told the chamber: “I am happy to explore that with the NHS. To explore both what the situation would be right now in terms of accessing safe and legal abortion for women from Northern Ireland within NHS Scotland and whether there’s any improvements that are able to be made.”

The Sunday Times’ Allardyce also inadvertently revealed how cynical the entire operation is.

Some Northern Irish women already obtain free abortions by giving the address of a Scottish friend as their own. Medics turn a blind eye to the fact they are not ordinarily resident in Scotland.

The Scottish government is said to be anxious that consulting on a policy change does not “disrupt” this unofficial practice and make access more difficult. A spokesman said: “We are supportive of all women having access to safe and legal abortions. We will carefully consider [last week’s] Supreme Court judgment and the implications it may have in Scotland.”

In SPUC’s response to the story, John Deighan (CEO of SPUC Scotland) said

“It would make no sense for Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP Government to finance abortion from women in Northern Ireland. Such a policy would be completely contrary to calls for respecting the autonomy of a nation. How the SNP [Scottish National Party] could square that with their own aspirations for an independent Scotland is beyond reason. It would also be another waste of precious NHS resources, which I’m sure Scots would prefer to see being used for those most in need, the sick and frail, rather than terminating healthy lives.”

Editor’s note. If you want to peruse stories all day long, go directly to nationalrighttolifenews.org and/or follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/daveha. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com.

Categories: Abortion Ireland