1Background
Why an inquiry?
1.Since January 2017, when the Northern Ireland Assembly ceased functioning, there has been an accumulation of significant developments relating to abortion in Northern Ireland. These include:
- a report in 2018 from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women finding ‘grave’ and ‘systematic’ breaches of women’s rights under the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW);
- the UK Supreme Court in 2018 identifying a breach of human rights in relation to cases where there has been a diagnosis during a woman’s pregnancy of fatal foetal abnormality, or where the pregnancy was as a result of rape or incest. The case itself was dismissed as the Court found that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission did not have standing to bring the case in its own right;
- the UK Government’s announcement in 2017 of funding for women and girls from Northern Ireland to access free abortion services in England and an increase in the number travelling to seek abortion;
- evidence that significant numbers of abortion pills purchased online are being sent to Northern Ireland;1 and
- a lack of follow-up to the report of the Working Group on Fatal Fetal Abnormality commissioned by the Northern Ireland Ministers for Health and Justice which found that unless there is a change in the law, medical professionals are unable to fulfil their duty of care to their patients.
2.The absence of an Executive in Northern Ireland means that there is no devolved government to respond to these significant developments; there are no scrutiny bodies to make sure that policies are working well; the use of UK Government funds for women and girls seeking abortion in England has not been scrutinised for efficacy; and there is a failure to respond to international human rights obligations. It is in this context that the Committee has undertaken an inquiry into matters relating to the health and lives of women and girls.
Terms of reference
3.The inquiry’s terms of reference are as follows:
- What are the views of the general public, women impacted by the law, and medical and legal professionals in Northern Ireland about the law and how views have changed over time?
- What are the experiences of women in Northern Ireland affected by the law on abortion?
- What are the responsibilities of the UK Government under international obligations and how should these be reconciled with devolution?
About the inquiry
4.The inquiry into Abortion law in Northern Ireland was launched in September 2018 and closed for written submissions on 10 December 2018. We were keen to seek a wide range of views, in particular from those directly impacted by the law.
5.We visited Northern Ireland twice during the inquiry, in November 2018 and January 2019. We held oral evidence sessions in three different locations in Northern Ireland (in Antrim, Derry/Londonderry and Belfast), and held two further oral evidence sessions in Westminster. We also held a series of private meetings and roundtables with individual women, professionals, statutory bodies, campaigners, politicians and service providers. We are very grateful to all of those who gave their time to speak to us, in particular the women who gave testimony about their very personal experiences.
6.We received a large volume of just under 700 written submissions reflecting the views and experiences of individual women impacted by the law, members of the public, campaign groups, churches, medical and legal professional bodies as well as the UK Government, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. In addition, the Committee has received 2,260 identical submissions from different people via the Right to Life website which have been published under the submission of Robert Eaton.2 A wide range of views are expressed in the evidence received which we have not been able to cover fully in the report. Some of the arguments in support of the existing law include:
- Abortion law in Northern Ireland should be decided by the NI Assembly, not Westminster;3
- The law on abortion in Northern Ireland saves lives and protects against disability discrimination; an estimated 100,000 individuals are alive today who would otherwise not be if Northern Ireland had adopted the 1967 Abortion Act;4 and
- There is no basis in human rights law to overturn the devolution settlement; the CEDAW Committee report is not binding, and nor is the Supreme Court judgment.5
7.Other evidence we have received in support of a change to the law include the following views:
- Placing abortion within a criminal, rather than health, framework is a breach of women and girls’ human rights and the law on abortion is not effective;6
- Healthcare professionals in Northern Ireland are not able to fulfil their duties towards their patients because of the law and environment in which they are working;7
- It has been a long time since there was a functioning Assembly and Executive in Northern Ireland, and the UK Government is responsible for compliance with the UK’s international obligations and should act in the absence of devolved government;8 and
- Marginalised groups of women and girls are particularly impacted by the law.9
Use of terms
8.This report is on a sensitive subject about a very personal matter that has a profound impact on people’s lives. We have tried to use terminology that is appropriate to the context. This means that, for example, we spell ‘foetal’ consistently, other than in relation to the Working Group on Fatal Fetal Abnormality where we have used the spelling that the Working Group uses in its report. We have mostly used the term ‘foetus’ except where witnesses or individuals themselves have used other terminology to describe their own situation, such as ‘unborn child’.
1 Dr Abigail Aiken (ANI0017), Alliance for Choice (ANI0377), Amnesty International UK and FPA (ANI0008), ARK (ANI0343)
3 Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (ANI0689), Norma McMurray (ANI0128), Dr Alan Mitchell (ANI0395), Evangelical Alliance NI (ANI0307), Iona Institute NI (ANI0324)
5 CARE Northern Ireland (ANI0190), Precious Life (ANI0366), Catholic Union of Great Britain (ANI0220),
6 British Pregnancy Advisory Service (ANI0265), Dr Lynsey Mitchell (ANI0347), Dr Claire Lougarre (ANI0024), Humanists UK (ANI0348), Equality Commission for NI (ANI0359)
Published: 25 April 2019