Petition to: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Stormont Party Leaders
Repeal Northern Ireland Abortion Law
Repeal Northern Ireland Abortion Law
Abortion is being imposed upon Northern Ireland by the Government in Westminster after politicians in the Province refused to break the political deadlock and reconvene the Assembly at Stormont.
An Act was passed in Parliament placing Westminster under a legal obligation to introduce a new abortion framework to Northern Ireland by the 31st March. The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) therefore carried a public consultation in advance of drafting the new framework.
The Government have ignored the fact 79% of those who participated in the consultation do not want any change in Northern Ireland’s abortion laws. These laws have come into imediate effect, and abortions will begin to take place from 1st April 2020.
These laws introduce:
- Abortion on demand up to 12 weeks (including sex-selective abortion)
- Defacto abortion on demand up to 24 weeks
- Disability-selective abortion up to birth, for any disability including Down’s Syndrome, cleft lip and club foot
- Abortions will be available in GP surgeries throughout Northern Ireland
- No requirement that a doctor must be involved in an abortion – midwives and nurses will be able to provide abortions
- Limited conscientious objection legal protection for health professionals who don’t want to perform abortions
- Legal abortion of twins - select one to live and one to die
- Young girls able to obtain abortions without their parents’ consent
- Babies born alive after abortion left to die
- Legalised partial birth abortion
- No pain relief given to babies during abortion
- Fast tracked abortions with no consideration period
- State authority to force women to have abortions
- No provision for independent counselling for women seeking abortion
A new poll, organised by the University of Liverpool and Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council, has shown that 58% of Sinn Féin voters and 54% of DUP voters want their country’s new abortion framework to only allow abortions when the mother’s life is at risk.
Only 5% of all voters support introducing abortion to 24 weeks - in line with the Government’s proposals.
It is vital that this extreme abortion regime is repealed. The regulations have come into force but will fall if a resolution affirming the regulations is not passed by both the House of Commons and House of Lords within 28 sitting days.
This must be stopped.
Introducing abortion on demand to Northern Ireland would cost over £5m a year, putting more pressure on an already stretched health service. Rolling out the service is likely to cost much more in terms of start-up costs and will take vital health service time and resources from fighting the Coronavirus.
We are calling on the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Party Leaders in Northern Ireland to respect the devolution settlement and not impose these undemocratic regulations on the people of Northern Ireland.
We are also calling on MLAs to bring forward the legislation as soon as possible to Stormont to repeal this extreme change to the law.
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Petition to: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Stormont Party Leaders
On the 25th March 2020, after reviewing a public consultation, your Government announced they would proceed in imposing the most extreme abortion regime on Northern Ireland (NI) with immediate effect.
The Government acknowledged that 79% of those who participated in the consultation did not want any change in NI’s abortion laws. Yet despite this, you have proceeded in imposing this undemocratic regime on the Northern Irish people.
In the past, you have clearly indicated strong opposition to Westminster making any changes to NI abortion law. When speaking at the Conservative Party leadership hustings in Belfast on 2 July 2019 you stated “this is for the people of Northern Ireland and for their politicians.”
We are asking that the UK Prime Minister stands by his former statement, and respects the devolved authority of the Northern Ireland Assembly. We ask that you do not pass the resolution that is required to be passed by both houses, within the next 28 sitting days of Parliament, for these regulations to become law.
We also ask that you Repeal Section 9 of the Northern Ireland Executive Formation Act, and allow the Northern Ireland Assembly to make their own abortion laws.
As you have clearly demonstrated deep care about the safety and well being of the people of the United Kingdom by locking down the nation to protect the lives of the most vulnerable from the corona pandemic, we ask that you do not fail the people of NI by imposing a far greater ideological pandemic which will take the lives of hundreds of thousands of unborn children in Northern Ireland.
We also ask the Stormont Party leaders to bring forward legislation as swiftly as possible to repeal this extreme change to the law which is not in line with the will of the people. We ask that the Assembly does not divert critical time and resources by burdening an already over-stretched health department with the enormous start-up costs that the introduction of this extreme legislation would entail.
If Northern Irish unborn children fail to be protected, the people of Northern Ireland are likely to step out onto the streets of Belfast and take a stand for the unborn as has been done in the past.
By stopping the resolution in Parliament, and repealing the law, your actions will prevent this from happening.
Yours sincerely,
