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1,345 abortions in Northern Ireland since March 2020

The Department of Health in Northern Ireland has revealed that there have been 1,345 abortions in Northern Ireland since abortion was imposed on the region in March last year.

As part of the ongoing row between Westminster and Stormont over the commissioning of abortion in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland released figures showing that since 31st March 2020 there had been 1,345 abortions in the region.

Concerns have been raised regarding devolution because abortion is supposed to be a devolved matter. However, on Tuesday the Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis, announced that the Conservative Government had introduced regulations to Parliament that will give the Northern Ireland Secretary new powers to enable him to force Stormont to to expand abortion access across Northern Ireland through the commissioning of abortion services.

A number of parties, including the DUP and Aontú, have been highly critical of this move, with leader of the DUP in Westminster, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson saying: “It creates a very dangerous precedent when the government at Westminster intervenes to go over the head of the Executive and Assembly in circumstances where that Executive and Assembly is fully functioning and has the right and and the power to take those decisions”.

In a letter from earlier this week to his colleagues in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, Brandon Lewis, commenting on his new powers and how he intends to use them, made it clear that he intends abortion to “become embedded into the health and social care system in Northern Ireland in the longterm”.

After expressing his gratitude to those who helped make over 1,000 abortions in the region possible, Mr Lewis went on to say “this is not enough”.

Widespread disapproval of abortion policy in Northern Ireland

There is little appetite for further Westminster intervention in Northern Ireland on this issue as shown by the passing of the Severe Fetal Impairment Abortion (Amendment) Bill. Earlier this month, the Bill passed its second stage at the Northern Ireland Assembly by 48 votes to 12.  The Bill, launched by Paul Givan MLA, will provide protections for babies in the womb with disabilities, who currently can be aborted up to term.

Over 27,500 people have signed a petition in support of the Bill and 1,608 people with Down’s syndrome and their families signed an open letter to party leaders in Northern Ireland urging them to support the Bill.

Since the imposition of a new extreme abortion regime last year, abortion has been available in Northern Ireland throughout the first 12 weeks of gestation on demand. The abortion provision also allows abortion on the basis of the sex of the child.

Polling from 2020 showed that the majority of voters only want abortion to be available in cases where the mother’s life is at risk, a position in line with the law before the Westminster Parliament imposed a change on Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland was the last region of the British Isles to have widespread abortion introduced into the country. It is estimated that 100,000 people are alive in Northern Ireland today who would not have been if abortion were available as it was in the rest of the U.K. This figure was confirmed by the Advertising Standards Authority in 2017.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “100,000 people are alive today in Northern Ireland because of their historic strong pro-life laws, laws which sadly no longer exist”.

“The new abortion regime in Northern Ireland is nothing short of tragic and the 1,345 lives lost to abortion in the region are sadly just the beginning”.

Dear reader,

You may be surprised to learn that our 24-week abortion time limit is out of line with the majority of European Union countries, where the most common time limit for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds is 12 weeks gestation.

The latest guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine enables doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks. The latest research indicates that a significant number of babies born at 22 weeks gestation can survive outside the womb, and this number increases with proactive perinatal care.

This leaves a real contradiction in British law. In one room of a hospital, doctors could be working to save a baby born alive at 23 weeks whilst, in another room of that same hospital, a doctor could perform an abortion that would end the life of a baby at the same age.

The majority of the British population support reducing the time limit. Polling has shown that 70% of British women favour a reduction in the time limit from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or below.

Please click the button below to sign the petition to the Prime Minister, asking him to do everything in his power to reduce the abortion time limit.