Abortion Northern Ireland: Methodists urge Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris not to add to democratic vaccum at Stormont

The Methodist Church has urged the Secretary of State not to add unnecessarily to the current democratic vacuum at Stormont by intervening to roll out abortion facilities across NI.
By Philip Bradfield
Published 25th Oct 2022, 15:26 GMT
Updated 25th Oct 2022, 16:50 GMT
Methodists have made a plea to Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris after he promised that Westminster would roll out abortion facilities across NI.Methodists have made a plea to Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris after he promised that Westminster would roll out abortion facilities across NI.
Methodists have made a plea to Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris after he promised that Westminster would roll out abortion facilities across NI.

On Monday the Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris MP announced that the UK Government would now direct health chiefs in NI to provide full abortion facilities across the Province.

Liberalised laws were imposed on NI by Westminster in 2019 however full abortion facilities have still not been provided. The Stormont Executive currently lies suspended over the NI Protocol.

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The Northern Executive of the Methodist Church in Ireland's Council on Social Responsibility has now responded to the Government, saying that the church “has long recognised that there are very limited and rare circumstances in which the termination of a pregnancy might be morally permissible and that women in such a situation should be treated with great care and compassion”.

It added: "Like all our sister churches we greatly lamented the introduction from Westminster, over the heads of our devolved democracy, possibly the most liberal abortion legislation in Europe.

"We are not surprised that the Department of Health here have been reluctant to commission services in line with this liberal abortion legislation imposed upon Northern Ireland without local due process and political consensus.

"We understand the Secretary of State’s frustration with the lack of an Executive at the moment but we implore him to tread carefully and slowly and not to add unnecessarily to the democratic deficit that this sensitive issue already highlights."

The Presbyterian, Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic churches issued similar statements on Monday, while pro-choice campaign groups such as Amnesty International welcomed the announcement.

Related topics:Chris Heaton-HarrisGovernment