Abortion Services Commissioning: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 14th December 2021 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to speak in the debate on an issue that is very close to my heart. I will replicate the opinions of my colleagues and of the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce). I am my party’s health spokesperson. As a Northern Ireland MP—I was born and bred there and I still live there—I have listened to the views of those around me: of women and men; of young and old; of those who are affected by the meddling of this House in one area and cry out for help in other areas, only to be told that the issues are devolved. There is no justification for interference in the devolved settlement in Northern Ireland in this matter.

The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 conferred egregiously wide powers on the Secretary of State to

“direct a Northern Ireland Minister, a Northern Ireland department, the Health and Social Care Board and the Public Health Agency to take any action capable of being taken that is required for the purpose of implementing the recommendations in paragraphs 85 and 86”

of the CEDAW report. The regulations note that the Secretary of State will have powers to direct any “relevant person” to take any action that they are capable of for the purpose implementing the recommendations in paragraphs 85 and 86 of the CEDAW report. It is not clear that Parliament intended to allow such wide-ranging powers to be created, given the obligations voted on in section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019, which outlines such powers as applying to Ministers and Northern Ireland Departments only, while the 2021 regulations extend these powers to direct public health organisations.

That sets a dangerous precedent for commissioning on a devolved issue. There is no clear limit to the sweeping powers granted to the Secretary of State; they are potentially indefinite. The Northern Ireland Office states that

“the statutory duty imposed on the Secretary of State by section 9 of the NIEF Act is such that until all of the recommendations in the CEDAW Report are implemented in Northern Ireland, he will not have complied with his statutory duties in full.”

That is very concerning and very worrying. These are wide-ranging powers across a spectrum of issues that extends well beyond abortion. The list under paragraph 86 of the CEDAW report, for example, also includes sex education. The powers taken by the Secretary of State in the 2021 regulations allow the UK Government to override Stormont on devolved issues on an ongoing basis, even though the Assembly is functioning. We may not like all the things happening at the Assembly, but it is a functioning Assembly and it has a cross-section of political support in Northern Ireland.

Notably, consent for constitutional change is one of the fundamental principles of the 2005 St Andrews agreement, which restored the political institutions of Northern Ireland in July 2006. The radical abortion amendment to the 2019 Act has not received the consent of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Repeatedly laying these statutory instruments glosses over the deeper issues related to devolution and that abortion is devolved to Northern Ireland, but seemingly now in name only.

Abortion is an immensely sensitive issue in Northern Ireland, a place where both lives matter—both the life of the pregnant woman and the life of the unborn child, the baby yet to be born. It is an issue that crosses the bounds of political persuasion, class or creed. At the walk for life at Stormont, which I was happy to attend with my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart), I stood shoulder to shoulder with nationalists, Alliance voters and Unionists alike. We rose above the politics because life matters, including the life of the unborn baby. I was thankful for the thousands and thousands who came out to respectfully plead that we did not implement the most liberal abortion laws in Europe, to no avail.

I respect the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones)—she knows that, I spoke to her beforehand—and I want to be respectful to everyone because it is my nature to be so. With that in mind, I say this. The hon. Lady referred to consensus. First, back on 2 June 2020, 75 of the 90 Members of the Legislative Assembly demonstrated cross-community opposition to the imposition of abortion legislation that discriminated against those with non-fatal disabilities, including Down’s syndrome, and an absolute majority voted specifically against the imposition of abortion regulations that allow disability discrimination, as the 2021 regulations have done. Secondly, I am aware of a poll earlier this year that indicated that 60% of the people of Northern Ireland were against abortion on demand for any purpose. Those are two reasons why the consensus that the hon. Lady referred to does not hold up.

Thirdly, a poll by the University of Liverpool and Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council showed that only 5% of the public in Northern Ireland support introducing abortion up to 24 weeks, which is what the UK Government implemented through their regulations. Fourthly—my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann made this point, but it is important that I put on the record that I feel the same; it has never been contradicted, and indeed has been enhanced—it has been reported that an estimated 100,000 people would likely not be alive today had Northern Ireland been subject to the same drastic expansion of abortion legislation as the rest of the UK has experienced since the Abortion Act 1967. With abortion on demand, those people would not have jobs and would not be contributing to society. I thought that was a very salient tale of just how important that is.

In effect, it seems that abortion in Northern Ireland has become a reserved matter, predicated on the consent of Westminster, and by extension, the CEDAW recommendations, rather than a devolved matter of full legislative control as before 2019. In the last two days, from my constituents in Strangford, I have been contacted with some 400 emails on this issue—I say that honestly. How many emails have I had in favour of abortion in the last six months? Three. Three in favour of abortion, and 400 in the last few days. Indeed, in those six months, thousands spoke against it.

I want to reflect the opinion of those in Strangford and across Northern Ireland. I am very proud to represent everyone on this issue, and people do take the time to come and tell me their views. I have had nationalists come to my office who pleaded with me to stand firm against this most liberal abortion regime in the world. The case is clear. The majority are against abortion.

One of my constituents tells me that she emailed one Member of the House who has spoken out passionately, telling this House that she spoke for the women of Northern Ireland. I will not shame anybody, because that is not what I do, but my constituent, who wrote to that Member and asked her to represent her, is still waiting for a reply. There is a pick-and-choose when it comes to Northern Ireland that goes from Government right down to individual Members. I am not picking and choosing. I can speak with authority and say with certainty that the overwhelming majority of those who have contacted me are appalled at this legislation. They are appalled that the wishes of a cross-section of the Assembly have been ignored by the Government. They are appalled that the legislation means that a reason for taking a life at 27 weeks can be a cleft lip. Does anyone really think that that reason could be condoned legislatively or in any other way?

My hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann speaks with passion, compassion and sense, and I commend her for that. My voice should not carry any less weight because I am a man. I speak for my constituents—male and female, young and old. I represent them very well, I believe, and I am fervently urging Members to consider what they are asking to be implemented expressly against the democratic will of the people of the Province.

There is coming a day shortly when the day-to-day business of Northern Ireland could well be the responsibility of this House, and all decisions could be made here, but not now and not at this time. Today is not that day. It is the place of the Northern Ireland Assembly to make a decision on abortion. It should be up to Assembly Members to respect them. They should be respecting the thousands upon thousands of my constituents who say that they do not want abortion on demand, that they want to speak up for the unborn and, above all, to respect life. The life of the unborn baby is so important to all of us.