The politically sensitive issue of abortion in Northern Ireland

Pro-British politicians in Northern Ireland are on course for a fight with their governing Conservative ministers in London over a dispute that threatens an already bad relationship that has been strained in recent weeks by the consequences of Brexit. At issue is not ongoing calls from Irish republicans for a Referendum on unifying Ireland or if British union jack flags should fly over public buildings but the politically sensitive issue of abortion, as Ken Murray reports from Dublin.

It was former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who said in 1981 that “Northern Ireland is as British as Finchley [London]”.

The Conservative & Unionist Party, to use its proper title, took the view that if Northern Ireland wants to function in the UK like England, Scotland and Wales, then it must do so under primary legislation passed in Westminster.

Roll on 40 years and the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party in NI is kicking up a fuss as Conservative legislators in London plan to introduce abortion to the one part of the UK that remains out of line with GB on this matter!

Stephen Farry, an MP with the centrist Alliance Party in Northern Ireland said last week that despite resistance from the DUP, most women in Northern Ireland are in favour of the London Government stepping in on this matter.

"I would stress that there is large-scale support in Northern Ireland for these actions.

"It is simply not tenable to have a right on paper but not in practice and for different reproductive rights to exist across the UK."

The current controversy stems from measures agreed in Westminster in 2019 which would see terminations of pregnancies in Northern Ireland in all circumstances in the first 12 weeks.

However, the NI health Minister Robin Swann did not activate the legislation thus denying women in the province access to such services.

The Northern Ireland Assembly recently passed a DUP bill aimed at preventing abortion where a foetus has a non-fatal disability including Down's Syndrome.

Matters became heated last week when legislation, published by Boris Johnson’s Government in London, allows Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis to intervene to ensure safe abortions take place across the UK in order to meet United Nations human rights principles.

The ultra-conservative and Presbyterian-influenced DUP in Northern Ireland threw a tantrum and vowed to strongly oppose the UK government's intervention in what it says is interference in a local devolved matter.

Speaking to media last week, Northern Ireland’s First Minister and DUP Leader Arlene Foster told the British Secretary of State for NI Brandon Lewis to keep his nose out of this issue.

"This is a hugely complex, controversial, legally challenging issue for the [Northern Ireland] executive,".

"But let us be very clear, it is for the executive. It is not for Brandon Lewis.

"He should back off."

The row has already caused division within the British Conservative Party. Former Transport Minister Sir John Hayes said it was "unjust" while Scott Benton MP for Blackpool South added that the new regulations were "a democratic and constitutional assault on Northern Ireland".

In response, Brandon Lewis responded by saying he had spoken to women and healthcare professionals in Northern Ireland whose experiences are "truly harrowing" with some attempting suicide after their flights to England to have an abortion were cancelled.

"Too many women and girls are still having to travel to other parts of the United Kingdom, to mainland Great Britain, to access this care.

"One story was of a much-wanted pregnancy where sadly doctors informed the mother that the baby would not survive outside of the womb. This woman had to travel to London without her network of family support in order to access healthcare.

"She described to me a harrowing ordeal. Unable to travel back on a flight to her home because of complications and bleeding, [she was] stranded in London alone, grieving and in pain," he said.

In contrast, pregnant women in Northern Ireland can now travel across the border in to the Republic where abortion is legally available on demand since December 2018.

The contentious issue comes to prominence as three unionist parties club together to seek a judicial review against the British conservative-led Government for creating the Northern Ireland Protocol or notional ‘border’ in the Irish Sea for trade purposes only.

They argue it isolates NI from GB and amounts to another incremental step towards a united Ireland, a development they would strongly oppose.

Defeat for unionists in this case is likely to further strain existing tense relations between Belfast and London and all that before the abortion issue is formally addressed.

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