In Depth:  Right to Life

The influential Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee released a report in April which is highly critical of the UK Government’s approach to imposing abortion on Northern Ireland.

The Committee highlighted a number of concerns with the new regulations.

On 3 October it was ruled that Northern Ireland’s abortion law breaches the UK’s human-rights commitments.

Sarah Ewart challenged the law after she was denied a termination. The judge said that she ruled in Mrs Ewart’s favour as it was not right to ask another woman to relive the trauma that she had already experienced. Mrs Ewart had travelled to England for a termination when tests showed her baby had a condition that meant life beyond the womb was unlikely.

Marie Stopes International’s (MSI) chief executive, earned a 100% performance-related bonus on his salary in 2018, effectively rewarding him for increasing the number of abortions MSI undertook. According to accounts released by Companies House in August, Simon Cooke earned £217,250 as his basic salary which was doubled to £434,500.

MSI performed 4.8 million abortions in 2018 across the 37 countries in which they operate. This figure is up from 4.1 million the previous year, an increase of 17.1%. In the UK, MSI performed approximately a third of all abortions.

Member of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group David Amess received, in mid-October, an answer to his Written Parliamentary Question asking Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt about the circumstances in which abortions are carried out on the grounds that the foetus is female.

The question also asked about investigations into such abortions and further steps that will be taken regarding cases of sex selection abortions.