Anti-abortion campaigners have called for an end to Northern Ireland’s “extreme abortion regime” after official figures recorded the best ever variety of abortions within the province.
For a few years abortion was heavily restricted in Northern Ireland, nevertheless in 2020 Westminster passed an act that brought the province’s abortion rules into closer alignment with the remainder of the United Kingdom.
The Department of Health in Northern Ireland has released statistics showing that within the 12 months ending 31 March 2024 there have been 2,792 abortions, a 28.78% increase on the previous 12 months. Since the law was liberalised, the variety of abortions has risen every 12 months.
Campaign group Right To Life identified that the “extreme abortion regime” was imposed upon Northern Ireland by Westminster as not a single Northern Irish MP voted in support of the change.
Research commissioned by one other group, Both Lives Matter, has suggested that because of Northern Ireland’s previously stringent anti-abortion laws, 100,000 individuals are alive today who would otherwise have been aborted. It was also estimated that 10% of those under 50 years old would have been aborted under the present dispensation.
Carla Lockhart, MP for Upper Bann, has called for the Westminster-imposed law to be repealed.
“I’m calling on MLAs to take urgent motion to bring forward laws to Stormont to repeal this horrific abortion law that was forced on Northern Ireland by Westminster and return Northern Ireland to being a rustic with a robust pro-life law that protects and supports each lives – mother and child,” she said.
She added, “Numerous babies with disabilities have also had their lives ended by abortion. Tragically in Northern Ireland, babies with Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot could be aborted all the way through to birth.”
Prior to the changes, Northern Ireland was described as “the safest place in our United Kingdom to be diagnosed with a disability before birth” by Conservative member of the House of Lords, Lord Shinkwin, who was born with brittle bone disease.
