No change to NI abortion law, says Woodward

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward has insisted the Government will not make any moves to extend the abortion laws. 

Questioned on what the policy is for dealing with the highly sensitive issue, Woodward said the Assembly was the best place to examine the law banning women from having the procedure, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

But he used the opportunity to highlight once again that responsibility for the matter will only come under Stormont’s brief when criminal justice powers are transferred.

Responding to a parliamentary question Mr Woodward said:

“Successive government have consistently said that extending the Abortion Act 1967 to Northern Ireland would need the most careful consultation there and that no change to the current arrangements should be made against the wishes of the people in Northern Ireland. The Government believes that the best forum for taking decisions on this matter is the Northern Ireland Assembly once it has taken responsibility for criminal law.”

Pro-choice and anti-abortion campaigners want to make changes to the Abortion Act 1967 that would affect the whole of the UK. But despite indications that the Government would make time on the floor of the Commons to debate abortion in the near future, after the strength of feeling shown by both sides in October, Chris Bryant, Deputy Leader of the House, did little to boost hopes of further debate.

He said: “Plans for debates will be announced through the session in the usual way. I understand the interest in this issue and I am aware that for many years that matter of abortion has been raised from the backbenches. The Government has no plans to legislate.”

The Government’s position is viewed as a further block to any last ditch attempts to give Northern Ireland women the same rights as those in the rest of the UK, while responsibility for such a change still remains in parliament.

London MP Diane Abbott, however, has pledged to continue to fight for reform by tabling a private member’s bill after the Government killed off her amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

Woodward: Abortion won’t be extended to Northern Ireland. Belfast Telegraph, 14 November 2008

Also read:

1967 Abortion Act section, Abortion Review