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UK abortion guidelines for N. Ireland ignore province's pro-life laws

Recently issued physicians' guidelines from the UK's Department of Health ignore the fact that abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland and presume that abortion is a legitimate form of healthcare for women say pro-life campaigners, who are in court today arguing their side of the issue, reports LifeSiteNews.com.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) is in the second day of a judicial review, where they are making the case that the "guidance effectively turns the law on its head."

SPUC's Liam Gibson spoke to LSN minutes before going into court in Belfast today. He said that SPUC is making the case that the guidelines have ignored the law in Northern Ireland and will put pressure on doctors and health trusts to "put in place procedures which will facilitate abortion." SPUC and other pro-life campaigners in Ireland say that the guidelines effectively knock down existing legal protections for the unborn and are a threat to the pro-life laws in the Republic of Ireland as well.

These guidelines, issued in March, "mislead people to think that abortion is much more available than it is," Gibson said.

The wording of the guidelines says that abortions can be committed either to "preserve the life of the woman," or if continuing a pregnancy will impose "a risk of real and serious adverse effect on her physical or mental health which is either long-term or permanent."

SPUC argues, however, that the guidelines should have started from the position of the existing law, which protect unborn children in Northern Ireland. Instead, the guidelines assume that abortion can be seen as "life-saving treatment" for women, Gibson said, and will result in "mechanisms being put in place to allow abortions to be done as a matter of course."

"To include abortion services as lifesaving treatment is to ignore the rights of the unborn child," he said.

The Department of Health representative has already stated in court that under the UK's laws, "unborn children have no rights." But this is not so, says SPUC.

Two statutes still in full effect in Northern Ireland provide legal protections for unborn children: the 1861 Offenses Against the Person Act, and the Criminal Justice Northern Ireland Act of 1945, "the relevant sections of which have no other purpose except to protect the unborn child," Gibson said. In addition, "abortion has been an offense under the Common Law for centuries."

SPUC is also concerned about the lack of provision in the guidelines for informed consent, saying that doctors are not being given information as to what they are to tell women who come to them seeking abortions. It provides, they argue, no advice to doctors about the risks and possible consequences of abortion.

SPUC is hopeful of a positive outcome. In yesterday's hearing, Gibson said, the judge made "one or two points" in addition to those brought forward by SPUC, "which make it clear that he has some concerns" about the guidelines under the existing law.

In the end, he said, "the question of whether the guidance is so faulty as to be unlawful, will be the judge's decision. But given a reasonable hearing, we believe that most people would believe that the guidance is inadequate and should be replaced."

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TAGS: United Kingdom Northern Ireland abortion guidelines healthcare for women abortion pro-life

[10/29/2009]

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