The Catholic Bishops of Northern Ireland have appealed to politicians to speak out against “the extreme and profoundly discriminatory nature” of abortion regulations announced by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, this week.
Mr Heaton-Harris said the British government had been clear that it would commission abortion services if Northern Ireland’s department of health did not act to provide them. His predecessor, Brandon Lewis had set a deadline of 31 March for services to be commissioned.
The move comes three years after the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland by the Westminster parliament when the power-sharing executive in Stormont was suspended.
Explaining the reason for the move, the government said it had been forced to act because Stormont’s department of health had not ensured the availability of abortion services in those three years and had “shown no indication that they will act to provide them”.
Mr Heaton-Harris has now formally taken over responsibility for this as he said he was under statutory obligation to ensure that safe abortion services are available
Northern Ireland’s Health Minister Robin Swann is a member of the UUP. The main unionist party, the DUP, is opposed to abortion.
“It is unfortunate that we have been forced to commission these services, in what should be a matter for the department of health to implement,” Mr Heaton-Harris said.
“However, the government has been left with no other option, as women and girls of Northern Ireland have been without safe and high-quality services, with many having to travel to the rest of the UK to access healthcare to which they are legally entitled. That is unacceptable.”
In a statement, the six bishops of Northern Ireland said: “The abortion regulations introduced by Westminster, against the will of the majority of people here, are predicated on the assumption that the unborn child in the womb has no right to love, care and protection from society, unless the child is wanted. None of us acquire our humanity, or our fundamental right to existence, on the basis of whether or not we are wanted. This is not a time for silence or strategic opting out.”
Elsewhere in their statement the bishops said an important mark of any humane and compassionate society is “our ability to work through difficult challenges in a way which is life affirming, not life destroying. What Westminster seeks to impose, against the clear will of a majority of people here, is a law which blatantly undermines the right to life of unborn children and promotes an abhorrent and indefensible prejudice against persons with disabilities, even before they are born.
“As followers of Jesus, we believe that as a human family we have the capacity to love and care for one another, especially for mothers facing crisis in pregnancy, in a way that does not involve bringing about the death and destruction of vulnerable children in the womb.”
In the wake of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland’s announcement on commissioning abortion services, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland has expressed its “deep concern and dismay” at the number of abortions that have taken place in Northern Ireland since the legal change in 2020.
Speaking after a meeting of Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s Council for Public Affairs in Belfast, Rev Daniel Kane said: “As a Church with a strong pro-life position, over the last number of years we have consistently put on record our total opposition to Westminster’s imposition of the most destructive liberal abortion legislation in these islands.
“Figures provided recently by the Department of Health show that over 4,100 abortions have taken place across the five health trusts in Northern Ireland between 31 March 2020 and 26 September this year, an average of 340 per month. This compares to an average of around 86 per month in 2018 and 2019 of those accessing abortion services from Northern Ireland in England.”
Mr Kane added: “The genuine fears and concerns expressed by PCI about the removal of the legal protection of future generations of Northern Ireland’s unborn children have, unfortunately, come to pass. We deeply regret that Mr Heaton-Harris, like his predecessor, has recently indicated his intention to continue to override our fragile devolved settlement in relation to such sensitive issues.”
He added that in doing so the Secretary of State proposes to use powers not only to direct Northern Ireland Executive Ministers and Departments on this issue, but also potentially interfere with matters which stretch beyond the provision of abortion services, in education and other areas.
He said this was “clearly worrying” and that such a scenario would be unthinkable in the Scottish or Welsh devolved contexts.
Noting that there are many challenges facing Northern Ireland and its Health Service in particular, including waiting lists, staff recruitment and retention, services that are under resourced, Mr Kane said: “It is curious to note that no interventions appear to be forthcoming in these areas.”
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