Pro-life campaigners bringing a legal challenge against the 2021 Northern Ireland Abortion Regulations are warning that the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of their case has dealt another body blow to Northern Ireland’s devolution settlement by handing unlimited power to the Secretary of State.
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, the UK’s oldest pro-life campaign lobby group, says that the Secretary of State fundamentally changed the balance between the devolved institutions and central government in London when he gave himself the power to direct Ministers in the Stormont executive to implement a dramatic expansion of the provision of abortion.
In July 2021, the then Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis, directed Stormont Ministers to implement the London government’s abortion agenda which includes abortion up to birth on the grounds of disability, compulsory sex education in all schools and a strategy to change public opinion on abortion, gender, sexuality and motherhood.
SPUC’s legal team told the Court of Appeal that the course of action taken by the Northern Ireland Office goes to the heart of the devolution settlement. SPUC says that by directing Stormont Ministers to disregard the Ministerial Code and the requirements of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and the St Andrew’s Agreement, the Secretary of State exceeded his lawful authority.
Former Attorney General, John Larkin, KC, told the judges that it would be a violation of the principle of legality for fundamental constitutional rights in the devolution settlement to “be overridden by general or ambiguous words” in section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act, 2019, that introduced abortion to the Province. The Court, however, dismissed this saying that the Northern Ireland Act had not been changed.
Responding to the Court’s decision, Liam Gibson, SPUC’s Policy and Legal Officer based in Belfast said: “It cannot be right that a badly drafted piece of fast-tracked legislation like section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Act should be used to brush aside the terms of the Belfast Agreement. In its present form, section 9 received just 17 minutes of debate in the House of Commons while the devolution settlement was the result of years of painstaking negotiations. It is absurd to say that giving the Secretary of State the power to direct Stormont Ministers to ignore their pledge of office does not change the law when in real terms this is exactly what has happened.
“Northern Ireland’s policy on abortion is a devolved matter yet the Secretary of State, who is not accountable to the people of Northern Ireland, now has complete control over this matter and a range of other highly contentious issues. The same law that introduced abortion also calls for compulsory sex education and this judgement could be used to expose children to pornography or promote the “trans” agenda in Northern Ireland schools. There isn’t even an obligation to carry out a public consultation. This sets a very dangerous precedent and will further undermine confidence in the devolved institutions.
“The Secretary of State has given himself the power to advance his abortion agenda in any way he sees fit, regardless of what the people of Northern Ireland think. Westminster has already imposed one of the most radical abortion laws in Europe on us. That law would never have secured a majority in the Stormont Assembly and a large section of the public remains steadfastly opposed to its implementation. The Court says that unborn children are not part of the community and therefore have no legal rights. That is an opinion that a large section of the population of Northern Ireland rejects but because of this judgement the Secretary of State can completely ignore them.
“The London Government has effectively seized control over abortion policy by stripping locally elected Ministers of any say on the matter. Such an unjust situation is unsustainable so it’s deeply disappointing that the Court of Appeal has refused to defend the devolution settlement,” Mr Gibson said.