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Act Now to Oppose Expansion of Abortion in Northern Ireland
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Dear SPUC supporter,
Please urge your MP to vote against the UK Government’s latest attempt to dictate abortion policy in Northern Ireland.
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Extreme abortion regulations
When Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Belfast on 16 May he declared his determination to enforce the extremist abortion regulations introduced to the Province in 2020. Political opposition within the devolved institutions has so far prevented those regulations from being fully implemented.
No 10’s frustration over this situation is a direct result of Westminster’s decision in July 2019 to ignore the unanimous opposition of Northern Ireland’s sitting MPs to the plan to impose abortion on demand in the Province. The 2020 regulations are so extreme that they would never have been passed by the Stormont Assembly. It was inevitable, therefore, that they would face serious difficulties within devolved structures that depend on consensus and cooperation.
Forcing NI officials to act
On 19 May, Brandon Lewis, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, brought forward new legislation that will give him the power to compel Ministers in the devolved government to implement the 2020 regulations.
In 2021, when the power-sharing structures prevented funding from being made available for late-term abortions, Mr Lewis took the unprecedented move of ordering Northern Ireland authorities to speed up the killing of unborn children. A legal challenge brought by SPUC against the 2021 Abortion Regulations is due to be heard by the Court of Appeal later this year. Mr Lewis is not prepared to wait for the outcome of that case. Instead, he intends to bypass the Ministerial Code, an important safeguard built into the Province’s constitutional settlement.
Urgent action needed
Although the regulations are already in effect, they must be voted on within 28 days, or they will lapse. This vote will take place next Monday, 20 June, which makes this an urgent task.
Please contact your MP and ask him/her to vote against The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2022 and to speak against them when they are debated in Parliament.
Some points you might make in your letter:
- 79% of respondents to the public consultation on introducing abortion opposed any change to Northern Ireland’s pre-existing pro-life laws.
- Powers over abortion are reserved to the Assembly under the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Brandon Lewis’s actions fly in the face of the devolution settlement.
- Undermining the Ministerial Code will damage the credibility of the devolution settlement.
- The abortion regulations Mr Lewis is seeking to impose are even more extreme than those in the rest of the UK - permitting abortion on demand and even abortion up to birth in some cases.
- Abortion advocates must not be allowed to dismantle the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement by undermining the Ministerial Code.
Please contact your MP now (you can find their contact details here) asking him/her to speak out against this extreme abortion regime and to vote down the Northern Ireland (Abortion) Regulations 2022.
With all good wishes,
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Liam Gibson
Legal and Policy Officer (Belfast)
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