“I firmly believe women and girls must have access to safe, high-quality abortion care in Northern Ireland. It is unacceptable that access to basic abortion healthcare is not available as it is across the rest of the UK.” Brandon Lewis.
We welcome the announcement (24.03.2022) that the Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis is preparing to work on further regulations to ensure abortion services are made available following the election in May if the Department of Health does not make urgent progress. We further welcome the establishment of a team of experts in the Northern Ireland Office to monitor progress and assist the NI Department of Health in commissioning abortion services.
We note however that the Westminster government is the body responsible for implementing international human rights treaty obligations in Northern Ireland. The 2018 Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women recommended that the UK Government take steps to ensure access to abortion services for women in NI and it is unacceptable that those services have still not been commissioned.
Interviews conducted by Her Loyal Voice provide evidence that 98% of loyalist women surveyed are pro-choice and we are frustrated that the commissioning of legal and essential abortion services have been continually delayed through the inaction of the Department of Health. We accept that the Covid-19 pandemic placed an unprecedented burden on the Department, but abortion was decriminalised in NI in October 2019, five months before the first Lockdown.
In 2018 CEDAW Vice-Chair Ruth Halperin-Kaddari stated ‘the situation in Northern Ireland constitutes violence against women that may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,”. Due to the inaction of the Department of Health and the blocking by the DUP in May 2021 of Robin Swann’s request for the executive to explore the commissioning of services, this situation of state sanctioned violence against women and girls continued. Commissioning of abortion services should have been a priority for the Department and because it was not 371 women and girls were forced to travel during a pandemic to England or Wales (in 2021 alone) to access abortion health care. We demand an explanation from the Ulster Unionist Party.
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Sources
UK Government announces preparations to ensure availability of abortion services in Northern Ireland, UK Government, 2022
Northern Ireland Update: Statement made on 24 March 2022, Brandon Lewis, Northern Ireland Office, 2022
