Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Monday 26th April 2021 General Committees

[Sir John Hayes]

It is a cause of regret when a confused Parliament does the wrong thing, but it is a cause of sorrow when a Government make that worse. The prevailing parliamentary confusion is based on a calumnia. To highlight the absurdity of where we stand, the Government now effectively acknowledge that today’s vote was secured on the basis of a misunderstanding, a misinterpretation, a mistaken grasp of what we had to do and must do. The argument of its protagonists on 9 July 2019 about section 9, to which these regulations pertain, was that it was vital to ensure that we met “our international obligations”. Indeed, after 9 July, even the Government suggested that that was the case. When confronted with the Stormont vote of 2 June 2020, the Secretary of State explicitly told the BBC that it made no difference because of our convention obligations.

However, the explanatory notes for today’s Committee make it crystal clear that none of that is the case. They say, of paragraphs 85 and 86 of the CEDAW report—I draw the Committee’s attention to these explanatory notes, for the purpose of clarity—that

“those recommendations are not binding and do not constitute international obligations.”

That directly contradicts what the House was told by the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy) and others in July 2019. I have here her speech, in which she describes them as just that, “international obligations” that must be addressed.

The most striking thing about the regulations before us is how different they are from the last section 9 regulations—those of 2020. The 2020 regulations were concerned with abortion, but these regulations are much wider in scope, as my hon. Friend the Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge said. A clumsy, catch-all, calamitous approach is typical of the way Westminster has handled this topic. It still seems extraordinary to me that we should have greeted the restoration of Stormont in January 2020 with a vote only five months later to undermine devolution in respect of such a sensitive policy area.

We have heard from the Northern Irish representatives here, who after all speak directly for those who are affected by the regulations we are debating. Quite what the feeling is like in that place, a feeling expressed both in public consultation and in the votes in the now reconstituted Assembly—

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

rose—

[Sir John Hayes]

I will come back to those matters in a moment; first, I happily give way to the hon. Lady.

[Charlotte Nichols]

The point that the right hon. Gentleman made regarding people being directly affected by this is, I think, false. When I was a teenager and had my own abortion at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, there were women and girls from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland who had travelled to Liverpool for that service, and we have heard today about the number of people who are travelling over. It is not only people in Northern Ireland who are affected by this, because in areas such the one I represent, in GB, there will be people who are struggling to get on the waiting list for these services because people who should be able to access them in their own communities in Northern Ireland are having to travel here to get them. That is what we are seeking to address today.

[Sir John Hayes]

But these regulations apply to Northern Ireland, and what I said was that the people in the Committee who are elected in Northern Ireland by the people of Northern Ireland have spoken with absolute clarity about the views there—expressed not only in the Assembly and by both communities in Northern Ireland, by the way, but in every poll and test of opinion that has been taken in Northern Ireland, including among women. I think we have to pay some heed, rather as I pay heed to the hon. Lady’s experience from her own part of the country, to those who speak for and represent Northern Ireland.

It is unsurprising—

Abortion in Northern Ireland

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Thursday 25th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. I absolutely respect that point and his feelings on the issue. He is right that abortion remains a devolved issue, as others have rightly outlined. The Assembly can therefore seek to amend the regulations in a way that is compliant with convention rights. I absolutely recognise the sensitivities on the issue and take them very seriously, but the regulations, as he has highlighted, do not allow abortions on the grounds of sex selection. We will continue to work with the Department of Health to ensure that the right and proper official healthcare can be provided for women and girls in Northern Ireland on what is a very sensitive issue.

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab) [V]]

Women in Northern Ireland have waited decades for the same rights as women in the rest of the UK. Since the regulations became law at least 200 women have had to travel to Britain in the middle of a pandemic to access abortion services, and the Northern Ireland abortion and contraception taskforce reports that two women attempted suicide after their flights were cancelled and they were unable to travel for abortion in the absence of safe and legal healthcare in their own area. For those listening today, how long will they now have to wait for abortion services in Northern Ireland to be commissioned? Will the Secretary of State put a deadline on using the powers outlined in the written ministerial statement on Tuesday?

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Lady has outlined some of the harrowing examples that too many of us have heard or read about. We need to ensure that that does not happen to women and girls in the future. That is why we are bringing forward these regulations now. I fervently hope that we will be able to work with the Northern Ireland Executive, and that the Department of Health with the Executive will find a way to take this forward. The timeframe for the regulations is now a matter for this House, as it is an affirmative procedure situation, but it is clear from the fact that we are bringing this forward that the situation described by the hon. Lady will not be allowed to continue. We are putting these regulations in place so that we are able to take this action should we need to; it is a clear indication. If the Northern Ireland Executive are going to sort this out themselves, they need to do so swiftly—otherwise, once the measures have been through Parliament, we will be looking to ensure that these services are provided in Northern Ireland.