A last-minute amendment, added to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill, which would see abortion being forced on Northern Ireland up to 28 weeks gestation, is being debated today (17/07).
Baroness Barker has brought forward a series of amendments to this Bill, which, if passed, will implement an extreme abortion law in Northern Irelandm making abortion available up to 28 weeks. This is more extreme than the law in the rest of the UK which has legal abortion up until 24 weeks and the Republic of Ireland which allows abortion up until 12 weeks gestation.
In an on-going saga in the Houses of Parliament, a Bill designed to extend the period for the formation of an Executive, has been hijacked by pro-abortion politicians to force abortion on Northern Ireland.
The original amendments, brought forward by pro-abortion MP Stella Creasy and widely thought to be outside the scope of the Bill, were only introduced and made known less than an hour before they were debated.
In spite of the fact that abortion remains a devolved issue in Northern Ireland, and the fact that every single MP representing Northern Ireland in Westminster voted against this amendment, 332 MPs in Westminister – who don’t represent Northern Ireland – voted to force abortion on Northern Ireland.
However, for technical legislative reasons, Creasy’s amendment to the Bill would have been unable to function as intended and therefore, would not have been able to introduce abortion into Northern Ireland.
Now pro-abortion campaigner Baroness Elizabeth Barker and colleagues have brought forward a series of amendments to the Northern Ireland Bill in the Lords which would make Stella Creasy’s abortion amendments from the Commons far worse.
Not only would it force abortion on Northern Ireland, it would not allow the Northern Ireland Assembly to have any say on the matter.
Baroness Barker’s amendments propose to remove sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act (1861). This would remove legal protections for the unborn child in Northern Ireland, and abortion would be legal up until 28 weeks under the Infant Life Preservation Act/Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Act (1929).
Right To Life UK have set up a function so that you can email a member of the Lords, urging them to vote against these amendments
Clare McCarthy from Right To Life UK said:
“If you can, it is vitally important that you email a member of the House of Lords. If this amendment is not defeated, abortion legislation could be imposed on a region which does not want it. Lives are at stake.”
“There are 100,000 people alive today because Northern Ireland rejected the 1967 Abortion Act, but the Houses of Parliament in Westminster apparently do not care about that at all.”
