Currently, abortion is legal in Northern Ireland only in cases where the life of the mother is at risk. However, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission wants to change that because they believe abortion should be acceptable in cases of rape, incest and when the baby has severe fetal abnormalities.
In April 2013, the pro-abortion group notified Northern Ireland’s Department of Justice (DOJ) that they were planning to issue legal proceedings concerning abortion. In 1967, an Abortion Act was passed that legalized abortion; but Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom where the law not apply.
A DOJ spokesperson responded to NIHRC’s pending legal action and said, “The minister for justice is consulting the public on abortion, with a view to the elected assembly debating and passing legislation on this sensitive subject.”
The spokesperson continued, “An appropriate process is therefore under way which is seeking to review and adjust the current law. The legal action being taken by the NIHRC is therefore ill-timed and unnecessary. Given the vulnerability of women and girls in these situations, the commission considers it appropriate to use its powers and bring this legal challenge in its own name.”
Anti-abortion campaign group Precious Life said it planned to fight NIHRC’s legal challenge through the courts “to ensure that the rights of the unborn child will be protected in law, policy and practice in Northern Ireland”.
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The organisation’s director, Bernadette Smyth, said: “This move of the NIHRC is undemocratic, and Precious Life calls on the Northern Ireland Assembly to vigorously oppose any change in legislation that would destroy Northern Ireland’s unborn children.”
Last month, a group of parents whose children had been diagnosed with “life-limiting” medical conditions took their anti-abortion campaign to Stormont.
Organised by the Every Life Counts support group, the campaign opposes any liberalisation of the existing abortion law and calls on the health authorities to provide better perinatal hospice care for terminally ill babies and their families.
It is very disconcerting that this region of Ireland is taking steps to make abortion more and more accessible. Unfortunately, women are often exploited by abortionists who seem to really care about their difficult pregnancy, when in reality they are only concerned about making their six-figure income. Women who’ve been raped should not be exploited again and re-traumatized by having an abortion.
Additionally, not only is it wrong to kill unborn babies who have fetal abnormities, it’s incredibly discriminative because it involves eugenics. According to Merriam Webster, eugenics is defined as the science that deals with the improvement of hereditary qualities of a race or breed. Before Ireland accepts abortion in cases of fetal abnormalities, they should remember that killing children because they are disabled is eugenics at its worst. Furthermore, since many fetal abnormalities aren’t discovered until a woman goes in for her 20-week ultrasound, if the NIHRC wins their suit, these babies will die excruciatingly painful deaths in late-abortion.
