Abortion row: Ian Paisley predicts trouble for Irish Language Act after London takes control of abortion in NI

Secretary of State Brandon Lewis has laid regulations in Parliament today which will give him power over the NI Executive to enforce the roll out of full abortion provision across NI.

MPs controversially passed legislation to relax NI’s abortion law while the Assembly was suspended in 2019.

The move was narrowly rejected shortly afterwards by MLAs in a non-binding vote.

Since then the Executive has been deadlocked over implementing the legislation, with some women still travelling to GB for abortions from NI.

Mr Paisley said that yesterday’s move by Mr Lewis would have “serious consequences” for devolution.

He said a “dangerous game” is being played and that the move does not “create a good atmosphere” for progress on controversial issues such as “language acts and things to do with our culture and our identity”.

“If the government is going to cherry pick elements of the New Decade, New Approach agreement, if it is going to cherry pick other issues and force them on to Northern Ireland, it does not augur well for those of us who may be in a position to influence what matters the Northern Ireland Executive decides to take on next.

“And it does not create a good atmosphere to allow for something as controversial as creating language acts and things to do with our culture and our identity,” Mr Paisley told BBC News NI.

“It is a very dangerous game and that is why the secretary of state should stop it. I think it would be incredible if the secretary of state thinks that the actions that he is taking is going to create and result in an easy ride for everything else. I would predict stormy weather ahead.”

“It is a very dangerous game and that is why the secretary of state should stop it. I think it would be incredible if the secretary of state thinks that the actions that he is taking is going to create and result in an easy ride for everything else. I would predict stormy weather ahead.”

It is not clear to what extent Mr Paisley’s comments reflect his party position. However, they come amid reports the DUP will block the Irish language act while the NI Protocol remains, and his party did not contest his threats.

Mr Lewis’ regulations empower him to implement all 13 recommendations from a United Nations committee on abortion provision in NI.

Government holds that he has power to direct the first minister, deputy first minister, any NI minister or department, the regional Health and Social Care Board and the regional agency for public health to roll out full abortion services.

Health Minister Robin Swann says that as abortion is a controversial issue, commissioning must be approved by the Executive.

The UK government does not intend to use the powers immediately but hopes the move will press the Executive into rolling out provision of its own volition.

Mr Lewis said yesterday: “I have taken forward these regulations today because women and girls in Northern Ireland are still being denied the right to access high-quality abortion and post-abortion care locally.

“The devolution settlement does not absolve us of our responsibility to uphold the rights of women and girls, particularly given the nature of the legal duties placed upon me in this context.

“My strong preference remains for the Northern Ireland Department of Health and the Northern Ireland Executive to take responsibility for commissioning these services and it is a matter of regret that they haven’t yet done so and I have had to take these steps to deliver on our shared moral and legal obligations.”

The move by Mr Lewis has been broadly supported by Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance but opposed by the DUP, UUP and TUV.

Labour MP Stella Creasy, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, SDLP MP Claire Hanna and Alliance MP Stephen Farry sent a letter to Health Minister Robin Swann yesterday, signed by over 80 MPs, calling on him to commission full abortion provision in NI.

The Presbyterian, Methodist, Church of Ireland and Catholic churches have come out against Mr Lewis’ move.

While pro-choice groups argue that the move is essential to fulfull UN human rights obligations on NI, critics have pointed out that Mr Lewis’ stated UN aims include compulsory sex education in schools, an intensive publicty campaign for abortion and clamping down on pro-life protests around abortion related facilities.

Stormont’s Department of Health has said that almost 1,400 abortions have been carried out in Northern Ireland in the period when full services have not been in operation.

A departmental spokesman told the PA news agency: “Since the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 came into force on March 31 2020, the Department of Health has received 1,345 notifications of termination.”

It is understood that before MPs relaxed NI abortion legislation the typical annual figure of abortions in NI was in low double figures.

First Minister Arlene Foster yesterday accused the secretary of state of “overreach into a devolved space” by taking powers over abortion provision.

“The action that’s been taken today by the secretary of state is, from our perspective, very much overreach into a devolved space,” she told reporters at Stormont.

“It is up to the devolved administration how they deal with these issues and therefore he is acting beyond what he should be doing.”

Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill said it was unfair that NI women have been denied “modern and compassionate healthcare services” one year after MPs legislated for them.

“I hope this matter will come to a head in the Executive on Thursday, I think that’s where we should be making the decisions around what is modern and compassionate healthcare for all women who are entitled to have that service whenever they find themselves in the most challenging of circumstances,” she added.

DUP MP Carla Lockhart said Mr Lewis had undermined NI’s entire system of government.

“It is particularly surprising that the SDLP, who complained two weeks ago about devolution being undermined by the government’s plan to open an office in Belfast, are championing this drastic action by Westminster to commission abortion services,” she said.

Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw said Mr Lewis’ intervention was “a necessary move towards providing clarity around the provision of abortion services in Northern Ireland”.

And Green Party leader Claire Bailey said his actions were fully justified on human rights grounds. “The focus must remain with women still denied reproductive healthcare and forced to travel for abortion services,” she said.

English abortion charity the British Pregnancy Advisory Service welcomed the move to legislate for the commissioning.

CEO Clare Murphy said: “Women in Northern Ireland need access to the abortion services they were promised more than a year ago, and we welcome the steps taken today. No-one should be forced to make the physically and emotionally arduous trip to our clinics in Great Britain to obtain the care and support which should be available to them at home – least of all during a pandemic.”

Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International’s NI campaigns manager, also welcomed the move. “Yet again, women and girls in Northern Ireland have been failed by the inaction of Stormont ministers,” she said. “And once again, action at Westminster is necessary to ensure abortion rights are realised in Northern Ireland.”

But the Presbyterian Church has called on the Secretary of state to step back from “undermining” NI’s devolved institutions with “new sweeping powers that ride roughshod over local decision making”.

Moderator Rev Dr David Bruce described the new regulations as “ill-considered and irresponsible” and said that they should be withdrawn.

Mark Lambe of the Centre for Bioethical Reform said Mr Lewis’s actions were “an astonishing move that effectively gives him absolute control over all Stormont departments on this issue”.

Bernadette Smyth, director of pro-life group, Precious Life, said: “Once again Westminster is attacking Northern Ireland’s unborn babies, and attacking democracy and devolution.”

Tim Martin, NI director of pro-life public affairs charity CARE, said Mr Lewis is taking on “very wide-ranging powers and even the threat of using them is deeply unacceptable”.

And Sandown Free Presbyterian Church in east Belfast said an NIO consultation in December 2019 found that 79% of respondents wanted no change to NI abortion laws.

Brandon Lewis unveils his new powers over NI Executive in relation to abortion

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