The decriminalization of abortion in Northern Ireland became effective at midnight on October 22 and regulations must be decided by March 31, 2020. The law took effect after the October 21 deadline passed without the Northern Ireland government re-forming in order to stop Westminster (UK) from forcing legal abortion on the country.
In July, Westminster passed a law to forcibly legalize abortion in Northern Ireland because the country’s two major ruling government parties had a falling-out and hadn’t met since 2017. As Live Action News has previously reported, the issue of abortion was one that Westminster did not have authority to decide on for Northern Ireland, yet the UK government used a loophole to push legalized abortion and attempt to get the government of Northern Ireland to reconvene. Then the High Court of Northern Ireland ruled on October 4 that restricting abortion is a breach of human rights.
Before Tuesday at midnight, abortion was only legal in Northern Ireland in cases in which the mother’s life or health were at risk — a false narrative from the abortion industry. Abortion (the direct and intentional killing of a preborn child) is never necessary to save the life of the mother. All that is necessary in an emergency is that the child be removed from the mother’s body, not that the child be killed first. Some babies may not survive, but after 21 weeks, the chances of survival increase each week for the baby.
READ: Westminster’s new abortion guidelines for Northern Ireland lack conscience protections
With the threat of decriminalized abortion looming, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and some other politicians attempted a recall of the Northern Ireland Assembly in order to block the law. However, they failed to elect a new speaker. Pro-abortion Sinn Féin, Alliance, the Green Party and (ironically) People Before Profit did not meet. Sinn Féin called it a “cynical political stunt.”
Pro-lifers in Northern Ireland have been vocal in speaking out against the decriminalization of abortion; however, Stella Creasy, a UK Member of Parliament (MP), was insistent that the people of Northern Ireland not have a say.
According to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, Creasy said, “It is really important for this House to be clear that, just as we would not ask non-medical professionals to consult on how to conduct a vasectomy, we should not do so when it comes to an abortion.” She shared the same nonsense claim on Twitter, failing to realize that vasectomies don’t kill human beings. Abortion does.
Since the deadline for regulations to be set by the UK government isn’t until March of 2020, abortion is now decriminalized in Northern Ireland with no protections for women and essentially no law regulating abortion in the country at all. Instead, Westminster has published abortion guidelines for Northern Ireland, including the recommendation that abortion be allowed in cases of rape and incest as well as when the baby is diagnosed with a disability in the womb. The guidelines also urge doctors to make abortion available up until 28 weeks.
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