WESTMINSTER, UK, July 23, 2008 - A group of six pro-abortion activist MPs have tabled a motion in the House of Commons to try to force the legalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland, a move that is opposed by all the major political parties of the province, as well as the majority of the public.
The amendment proposed would use the Labour government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill to extend the British Abortion Act into Northern Ireland where abortion remains illegal. The MPs, Diane Abbott, Dr. Evan Harris, John Bercow, Jacqui Lait, John McDonnell, and Katy Clark, are known to be among the British Parliament's most zealous campaigners for abortion.
Pro-life advocates in Northern Ireland have called the move "a desperate attempt by the most extreme members of the anti-life lobby to legalise abortion on demand ahead of the devolution of criminal justice matters to the Northern Ireland Assembly." The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) is asking for local volunteers to flood the province with leaflets alerting the public to the attempt to impose legalised abortion.
Betty Gibson, SPUC Northern Ireland chairwoman commented, "This attempt to impose abortion on Northern Ireland is extremist, anti-democratic and arrogant."
She said that the effort, "flies in the face of the will of the people of Northern Ireland" who have repeatedly made it clear through their representatives and in polls that they do not want the same unlimited access to abortion in Northern Ireland that prevails in England and Wales.
The leaders of all four major political parties and the four main Churches in Northern Ireland have also demanded that the issue be decided not at Westminster, but by the elected representatives of the province's devolved Assembly.
None of the MPs tabling the motion are representatives of Northern Ireland, but all are well known for their aggressive pro-abortion campaigning. Gibson said that Dr. Evan Harris in particular, known to fellow MPs as "Dr. Death" for his work to liberalise abortion laws and introduce legal euthanasia, "is notorious for his anti-life extremism."
In 2007, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Paul Goggins promised that Westminster had no plans to extend British abortion law to Northern Ireland and that the Northern Irish Assembly is the best forum in which to discuss the issue. At the time, Mrs. Gibson reacted to the promise with scepticism, saying that "there is no guarantee that the government won't change its position."
SPUC is asking concerned people to contact their MPs and ask that the motion be voted down.
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