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MPs speak out against attempts to force more abortion on Northern Ireland

The Government in Westminster is coming under increasing pressure to commission abortion services in Northern Ireland despite the devolution of abortion power in the region and the majority of sitting Northern Ireland MPs in Westminster opposing it.

In a debate in Parliament on Tuesday 14 December, Labour MP for Pontypridd and former Northern Ireland Shadow Minister, Alex Davies-Jones MP, put the Government under pressure to commission abortion services in Northern Ireland.

She said: “The Secretary of State has clearly stated that fully commissioned services must be provided by March next year. If it becomes clear before that deadline that the Department of Health, or indeed the Northern Ireland Executive, are not making progress, he will have to take further steps to ensure that his legal duties are upheld”.

However, a number of MPs from Northern Ireland and elsewhere argued against a further imposition of Westminster on the region where abortion is supposed to be a devolved issue.

As DUP MP Carla Lockhart said: “Both the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 and the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 were passed despite the overwhelming majority of MPs representing Northern Ireland who take their seats in Westminster voting against the regulations on both occasions, despite the overwhelming majority of respondents to the consultation on the legislation being opposed to its imposition in Northern Ireland and despite the Assembly being back up and running prior to those regulations becoming law”.

She went on to argue that, since the legislation was based on non-binding international law, “[t]he very premise for the legislation was flawed”.

Lockhart also pointed out the discrimination against babies with disabilities and the fact that 100,000 people are alive today because Northern Ireland did not introduce abortion in 1967 like the rest of the UK did.

She argued that the fact that the Severe Fetal Impairment Abortion (Amendment) Bill was being discussed in the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland at the same time as this debate in Westminster “indicates the Assembly’s capacity to legislate for itself on abortion…”

Fiona Bruce MP also drew attention to the direct discrimination against babies with even minor disabilities, like club foot, present in the Northern Ireland abortion law.

“The fact that abortion up to birth for serious foetal disability is already in effect in GB is no reason to implement it in Northern Ireland—particularly as it is now considered to be deeply concerning and ill-defined legislation. I know that because my son was born with a club foot. I do not consider that to be a serious disability. We have seen it corrected; no one looking at my son today would know that he had been born with that disability”.

Since abortion was imposed on Northern Ireland in 2020, the Conservative Government in Westminster has given additional powers to the Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis MP, to commission abortion services in the region despite the fact that abortion is a devolved matter. The Department of Health in Northern Ireland must now ensure that abortion services are commissioned across the region by March 2022.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “Abortion was introduced into Northern Ireland on extremely shaky legal grounds and at every turn, devolution has been completely ignored. This is made worse by the fact that the majority of Northern Ireland’s sitting MPs in Westminster opposed the introduction of abortion in the first place as well as there being no popular support for it either”.

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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 begins this 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?

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Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help stop three major anti-life threats.