LONDON (CNS) A proposal to extend abortion to Northern Ireland could result in a collapse of public confidence in attempts to restore peace and democracy, said the leaders of the country’s four main parties. Protestant Loyalist and Catholic Republican leaders united to voice their concerns in a joint letter to every member of the British Parliament. They urged politicians to vote against a proposal to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland, the only part of the United Kingdom where the law does not apply.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, Peter Robinson of the Democratic Unionist Party, Sir Reg Empey of the Ulster Unionist Party and Mark Durkan of the Social Democratic and Labor Party insisted that any abortion laws in Northern Ireland must be decided by the Northern Ireland Assembly, not by politicians in London.
In the Oct. 14 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Catholic News Service, they said they believed that any future legislative provision "for the termination of pregnancy here should be a matter for the devolved legislature, taking into account the particular needs of our community."
"There is strong opposition right across the community here to this proposed amendment to extend the 1967 act," they said.
"The imposition of legislation on abortion that excluded the assembly and the public in Northern Ireland from having a say would reduce public confidence in the progress that we have made here," they said. "As leaders representing the overwhelming majority of our people we would urge you to vote against this proposed amendment."
Legislation to extend the Abortion Act was proposed by Labor politician Diane Abbott. It will be considered as an amendment to the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill, scheduled to be heard in the House of Commons Oct. 22.
A spokeswoman for Abbott would not comment on the politicians’ letter.
The Northern Ireland Assembly was convened and disbanded several times after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that established it. The assembly finally was reconstituted in 2007, with some powers reserved by the British Parliament.
Phyllis Bowman, director of Right to Life in London, told CNS in an Oct. 17 telephone interview that the imposition of an unwelcome abortion law on Northern Ireland could provoke a constitutional crisis.
"You have got all the parties together saying very clearly that they don’t want abortion and an arrogant group of pro-abortionists saying that, regardless, they are going to impose it, and you just don’t know what is going to happen," she said.
"We would hope that the government would do everything it could to block it," she added.
In a statement released Oct. 17, the day before a pro-life rally at Northern Ireland’s Parliament Buildings in Belfast, Northern Ireland’s Catholic bishops appealed "to every person of good will to reject this attempt to set aside the democratic wishes of the people of Northern Ireland."
"We ask Westminster MPs (members of Parliament) to respect the particular cultural, historical and political circumstances of Northern Ireland and to avoid any action which may be seen as intruding on the carefully negotiated settlement of political aspiration, representative participation and human rights here," the bishops said.
