Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Lord Field of Birkenhead Excerpts

Tuesday 5th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Jim Shannon]

I thank my hon. Friend for his comment.

[Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Lab)]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that if this is such an important issue for Northern Ireland, it had best get its Assembly up and running quickly, otherwise we will increasingly find that this Chamber decides issues on behalf of Northern Ireland that should legitimately be decided by the Assembly itself? My vote is that we should never put women in the position of seeking back-street abortions—many of us will have older relatives who were in that position. This goes back to the fact that Northern Ireland needs to get its Assembly running.

[Jim Shannon]

I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that the Assembly should make that decision. I think we all want that to happen, and if the Assembly were making the decision, I am sure nothing in the existing legislation would change.