Discrimination abortion restrictions proposed in Northern Ireland

Washington D.C., Feb 16, 2021 / 04:16 pm (CNA).- Lawmakers in Northern Ireland are seeking to ban abortions in cases of non-lethal fetal abnormality. 

Paul Givan, a member of the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland’s legislative assembly, proposed the Severe Fetal Impairment Abortion (Amendment) Bill on Monday. The bill would remove “severe fetal impairment” as an exception to the country’s abortion laws.

Presently, Northern Ireland’s law allows elective abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. Abortions up to 24 weeks are legal when the mother’s physical or mental health is determined to be at risk. Abortions up until the point of birth are legal in cases of severe fetal impairment or lethal fetal abnormality.

Under the current statute, an unborn child who has been diagnosed with a condition such as Down syndrome or cleft palate can be aborted past the 24-week legal limit.
 

Givan’s bill would still permit late-term abortions in cases of fatal fetal abormality. It is supported by the disability rights group Don’t Screen Us Out.

“The current law tells those with disabilities that they are worth less than other people, their contribution is less valuable, their lives less important, less full,” Givan said in a statement. 

“The idea that Down’s syndrome is some huge problem that should be addressed by abortion is chilling,” he said. “You don’t have to look far to see the full lives those with disabilities lead; they enrich our communities and families.”

Speaking on Good Morning Ulster, Givan said that his bill is “an opportunity for people to come together and fight a prejudicial, discriminatory piece of legislation,” referring to the existing abortion law. 

Laws such as the Disability Act of 1995 have provided “support” for “people with disabilities,” he said – support which should be extended to the unborn.

“I believe that those rights – and these are human rights – ought to be conferred upon people before they are born and that is what this campaign is going to be about,” he said. 

Abortion became legal in Northern Ireland in April, 2020, after the British parliament imposed changes to the region’s abortion and marriage laws and the local devolved legislature failed to block the changes. 

Before March 31, abortion was legally permitted in Northern Ireland only if the mother’s life was at risk or if there was risk of long term or permanent, serious damage to her mental or physical health. The region was not included in the United Kingdom’s Abortion Act of 1967, which legalized abortion.