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Bill making it illegal to offer assistance to women outside abortion clinics delayed

A Bill in Northern Ireland, which would allow for the introduction of censorship zones that will criminalise offers of assistance outside of abortion clinics in the region,  has been delayed after the Attorney General for Northern Ireland raised concerns about whether this Bill was within the legislative competence of the Stormont Assembly.

The Bill, introduced by former Green Party MLA Claire Bailey, who lost her seat in the most recent local elections, makes it a criminal offence to “influenc[e]… a… person [seeking an abortion], whether directly or indirectly” within “safe access zones”. The Bill will effectively criminalise offers of assistance and prayer within 150m of abortion clinics or hospitals where a censorship zone is in place.

The Bill was approved by the Northern Ireland Assembly in March but an intervention by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland, Dame Brenda King, has asked the UK Supreme Court to determine whether part of the Bill is within the “legislative competence” of the Stormont assembly.

Specifically, the Attorney General is concerned about the omission of a “reasonable excuse” defence in the legislation.

In a statement, the Attorney General’s office said it had to be determined whether offences created by the Bill were a “proportionate interference with the rights of those who wish to express opposition to abortion services in Northern Ireland”.

As the Bill was being debated, TUV MLA Jim Allister attempted to amend the Bill to allow for a “reasonable excuse” within the legislation. However, the amendment was rejected.

The Bill is now delayed until the Supreme Court is able to make a judgement on the matter.

A public consultation on the Bill found that only 13 out of 6,412 respondents were supportive of the Bill.

“[This] bill… will shut down options open to women who find themselves in crisis”

Prior to the Bill being voted through in March, Alina Dulgheriu, who was herself scheduled to have an abortion but decided to not go ahead with it after receiving help from pro-life volunteers outside an abortion clinic in London, said:

“The day that I turned up to my abortion appointment, a volunteer outside the clinic gave me a leaflet. It offered the help that I had been searching for. I weighed up the two options I had before me, and I chose motherhood. I chose to accept help to get housing, help to find a job and help to obtain a pram, a cot and nappies. It wasn’t easy. But with the support of the group who had given me that leaflet, I couldn’t be prouder of the life my daughter and I have charted out together”.

“[This] bill, designed to prevent us from hearing about offers of support to continue our pregnancies, will shut down options open to women who find themselves in crisis. Such legislation would have been detrimental to the course of my life”.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “Former MLA Claire Bailey was very keen to fast-track her Bill and ensure that there was as little scrutiny as possible. It is no wonder that it has been stalled by the Attorney General. Hopefully the Supreme Court in the UK will judge that Stormont did not have the legislative competence to omit a defence of ‘reasonable excuse’. This draconian legislation will be marginally less bad if it retains this defence”.

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Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland was defeated in March by 69 votes to 57.

Then, in April, the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill fell in the House of Lords.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, governments in England, Scotland and Wales would now be preparing to roll out assisted suicide services.

Over the coming decades, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people.

But that is not what happened.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

These were two very significant victories. But sadly, they are not the last battles we face this year.

The new Parliamentary session began on Wednesday. We now face three major threats.

  1. Attempts to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill and bypass the House of Lords

    The assisted suicide lobby, led by Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made it clear that it is going to attempt to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill in the next parliamentary session.

    It then plans to use the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords and force the Bill into law.

  2. Labour Government plans for a major expansion of abortion provision, including financial incentives for ‘lunch-hour’ abortions

    Under these plans, the Government would financially incentivise major abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices, to provide ‘lunch-hour’ or ‘same-day’ abortions.

    ‘Lunch-hour’ abortion services are walk-in abortion services designed to fit into a woman’s lunch hour.

    Women facing an unplanned pregnancy need time, care and support, not a system that gives abortion clinics a financial incentive to rush them through consultations, scans and abortions on the same day.

    If these plans go ahead, many more lives are likely to be ended by abortion here in the UK.

  3. Extreme abortion up to birth proposals in Scotland

    In Scotland, plans are moving forward to introduce an extreme abortion up to birth law. This would go far beyond the abortion law change recently backed by the Lords for England and Wales.

    A review of abortion law in Scotland, commissioned by Humza Yousaf when he was Scottish First Minister, recommended that the Scottish Government scrap the current 24-week time limit – and abortion be available on social grounds, including for sex-selective purposes, right up to birth.

    The final plans are expected to be brought forward as a Government Bill in the new Scottish Parliament, which began on Thursday.

If these three major threats succeed, thousands of vulnerable lives will be lost.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We can only defeat these three major threats with your help.

We ran our biggest campaigns ever to help defeat the assisted suicide Bills at Westminster and in Scotland.

That work has made a serious dent in our limited resources.

To cover this gap and ensure we can effectively defeat these three major threats in the coming months, we are aiming to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (17 May 2026).

We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can.

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in saving the lives of the unborn and many others. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

By stopping these threats, YOU can save lives during this new Parliamentary session.

Will you donate now to help protect vulnerable lives from these three major threats?

EMERGENCY
APPEAL
to SAVE
lives

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help stop three major anti-life threats.