Abortion issue must be separated from forced return of Stormont

The tweet accompanied a video clip in which someone from the group explains that they have just had a positive meeting with Stormont politicians. However, the clip continues, Northern Ireland could within days go from having one of the most restrictive abortion policies in the western world, to one of the most liberal.

The group is urging politicians to get devolution up and running within 95 days to prevent this.

CARE has like other Christian and other pro life groups done excellent work to try to prevent the Province from having the sort of abortion regime that prevails in Great Britain.

The rest of the UK has nominally one of the most restrictive termination policies in the western world, but in reality one of the most slack. This is because the system is fundamentally dishonest. Legally, two doctors have to sign off a termination on the basis that there is a risk to foetus or mother.

In reality, this is a formality that obscures the fact that there is abortion on demand — abortion on demand all the way to 24 weeks. It leads to some horrifically late term abortions (that are so unpleasant few doctors will perform them).

Most other western nations only allow abortion on demand early in the pregnancy.

It would be tragic if Northern Ireland ended up with as slack, or perhaps more slack, an abortion policy. But we must be clear. Sinn Fein has made an Irish language act non negotiable. There can be no paying of the republican ransom within or without 95 days. It has been paid before. We are now so in hock to republicans that pensions to Troubles injured have been held up unless terrorists get them too.

This issue has come about because the government has been too timid to introduce direct rule of a variety that does not foist extremist termination policies on NI. It should be governing NI matters in a restrained way prior to the consensual, and perhaps gradual, return of devolution.