Review recommends changes to abortion laws in Northern Ireland

Abortion should be allowed in Northern Ireland in cases of fatal foetal abnormality - that is the recommendation from a working group which has been released today.

The review is a result of a Stormont report commissioned in 2016 by the then Health and Justice ministers, to help the Executive make policy deliberations. Today it was finally made public - despite a lack of government at Stormont.

The departments said they decided to take the action "on public interest grounds and in line with Freedom of Information responsibilities."

The working group was comprised of medical and legal experts.

It recommends: “That a change is made to abortion law to provide for termination of pregnancy where the abnormality is of such a nature as to be likely to cause death either before birth, during birth or in the early period after birth."

It also states: "Where a diagnosis has been made of such an abnormality, it is to be accepted that the continuance of such a pregnancy poses a substantial risk of serious adverse effect on a women's health and wellbeing."

The group has defined fatal foetal abnormality as "an acceptable description of a diagnosis made, usually around 20 weeks gestation, of a foetal abnormality which will result in death in utero, at birth or shortly after birth." And it says modern diagnostic resources allow for very accurate information to be provided to women regarding the condition of the foetus and its viability.

The review did not take other reasons for abortions into consideration

The medical and legal experts in the group included the Chief Medical Officer, Michael McBride; Chief Nursing Officer, Charlotte McArdle; Chief Social Services Officer, Seán Holland; DOH Secondary Care Directorate, Jackie Johnston; Departmental Solicitor's Office, Hugh Widdis; and Brian Grzymek and Amanda Patterson from the Department of Justice.

They held meetings with professional bodies, women who had experience of fatal fetal abnormalities, and their families.

Key findings and conclusions of the report include:

• Some improvements can be made to the care and support of women with a fatal foetal abnormality diagnosis through proposals to improve the standard of care under the existing legal framework;

• Health professionals said that, in their professional opinion, retaining the existing legal constraints would continue to place an unacceptable burden on women's health and wellbeing.

• One of the most compelling cases for change was the overall recognition by those health professionals who spoke to the group that the existing legal framework prevents them from fully meeting their duty of care to all women in this situation and therefore denies those women who wish to terminate the pregnancy, access to proper standards of health care.

• In summary, health professionals considered the current situation to be professionally untenable.

David Ford MLA has welcomed the publication of the report. The former Stormont Justice Minister, who attempted to bring changes to the law when in office, said it was long overdue.

“The report provides full justification for the actions I took as Minister of Justice to allow abortion in cases where the foetus has no prospect of a viable life. I believe that would have eased the trauma some women go through every year, though - of course - any such decision would have been for the individual woman based on a full medical assessment.

“Unfortunately, the Executive blocked my proposals, which were based on firm evidence from a detailed consultation process. The question needs to be asked of how many women have suffered since I made a promise to Sarah Ewart I would try to change the law some years ago.

“While we unfortunately have no Executive currently in place to take this forward, I believe we now have irrefutable evidence of the need to legislate to allow women in Northern Ireland to access abortion in the traumatic circumstances where they are given a diagnosis a child will not survive.”

Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson, Doug Beattie MLA, has welcomed the publication of the report but has slammed the fact that no Executive is in place to consider or implement any of its recommendations.

Mr Beattie said:

“The matter of abortion is, and will remain, a matter of conscience for all members of the Ulster Unionist Party.

“Now that the report has at long last been published it makes for sobering but thought-provoking reading and we should all sit up and listen when a report such as this conclusively states that our health workers simply find the current situation to be professionally untenable.

“It now simply rubs salt into the wounds that in the continuing absence of an Executive or functioning Assembly, the report had to be published by the Civil Service and none of its conclusions or recommendations can be implemented.

Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill has also welcomed today’s report.

She commented: “There is obviously a need for a more compassionate approach to the issue of fatal foetal abnormalities as was highlighted by the heart-breaking Sarah Ewart case.

“It was also very evident during my time as Health Minister that medical professionals and clinicians need clarification on the legal position regarding these cases.

“This report from, health professionals validates all of that and what we need to see now is the restoration of the power-sharing institutions so that we can get on with legislating on matters such as this and all those other areas that impact on public services and the lives of our citizens."

However, Precious Life's Bernadette Smyth has said that the report released today by the Department of Health advocating abortion for sick babies is a "renewed attack on our pro-life laws.

Mrs Smyth pointed out that the extreme proposals repeatedly employ the term “fatal foetal abnormality” which she says is blatantly wrong and dishonest, and is under no means a medical term.

“Abortion campaigners have been asked again and again to stop using this term, which is not and never has been medically recognised. This term should not be employed in the report as not only is it incredibly misleading, but it is not medically sound.”

She continued, “The language used is appalling. Children with a poor prenatal diagnosis are not ‘fatal foetal abnormalities’ – this choice of wording is dehumanising, insensitive, and quite frankly, offensive. Every child is unique in his or her own right and does not deserve to be referred to in these terms."

"The cruelty and depravity of the report is thinly veiled, and it recommends a change in abortion law for sick babies up to birth," Mrs Smyth said.

"Women and babies in Northern Ireland do not need abortion. What women really need is access to holistic, life-affirming and compassionate healthcare that cares for both lives when faced with a difficult prenatal diagnosis. This report makes absolutely no mention of the need for improved and more comprehensive perinatal hospice care, which should be the priority here," Mrs Smyth concluded

The full report can be accessed here.

• abortion
• northern ireland
• fatal foetal abnormality