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UK: House of Lords committee concern over extreme abortion regulations

May 12, 2020

By Marie Smith, Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues

Editor’s note. Since this was written, the UK Government’s vote on the abortion regulations in Northern Ireland has been put on hold. How long that stay will last is uncertain.

A committee in the House of Lords tasked with legislation scrutiny published a report on the abortion regulations that the British government imposed on North Ireland which previously allowed abortion only for the mother’s life or serious physical or mental health risks. The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’s April 23 report by the committee, which includes members of the Conservative Party, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats and crossbenchers, found that the regulations are more expansive than were required and that opposition to the change was not given the attention it deserved. 

The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020, enacted on March 31, allows abortion on demand up to 12 weeks of pregnancy; abortions up to 24 weeks for the mother’s physical or mental health; and abortion without time limit in cases of severe fetal impairment or fatal fetal abnormality.

The committee noted that nearly all the submissions it received were critical of the regulations’ provision for conscientious objection which is allowed only for direct participation in abortion. The committee found that the exclusion from conscientious objection of those who perform ancillary, administrative, or managerial tasks may be “too narrow and does not adequately protect” the rights to religious or philosophical beliefs under the European Convention on Human Rights.

It wrote, “Given the sensitivity of the issues around conscientious objection, the House may wish to ask the Minister to consider further the scope of the policy and how it will be interpreted.

The regulation of abortion in cases of severe fetal impairment or fatal fetal abnormality was also found to be contrary to EU law by the committee. It stated that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) “extends to those in the womb”, in contrast with the recommendations to legalize abortion by the CEDAW committee, the basis for the change. However, the Northern Ireland Office believes that the UNCRPD is not binding law stating: “we do not agree that the provision extends protection to those in the womb.”

Other submissions noted that “severe disability” could be interpreted differently and could include cleft lip or Down syndrome, and that the CEDAW recommendation requires the provision of abortion for “severe foetal impairment”, while not “perpetuating stereotypes towards persons with disabilities.”

Lord David Alton of Liverpool commented [that Northern Ireland’s abortion law “should have been decided in Northern Ireland not imposed by Westminster. Both Parliament and the Northern Ireland Office have shown great contempt for the people of Northern Ireland – and for normal constitutional and parliamentary good practice – in seeking to impose, by diktat, laws which in the rest of the UK have led to one child in the womb being aborted every three minutes.”

Lord Alton wrote that the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’s report highlights “that this issue needs to be reconsidered in Northern Ireland by the Assembly which is responsible for what the law and policy on this issue. Riding roughshod over the Assembly in this way shows contempt for devolution, power sharing, proper political process, and the people of Northern Ireland.”

The bishops of Northern Ireland have expressed their opposition to new regulations in a letter to Members of Northern Ireland’s Legislative Assembly in which the bishops call on the legislators to revise the “extreme Regulations” so that they reflect the position of the majority of the people in Northern Ireland. According to the Northern Ireland Office, during a government consultation last December, 79 per cent of people in Northern Ireland expressed a desire for regulations that protect the life of the unborn child.

Categories: Abortion
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