Victory for Northern anti-abortionists
Mr Justice Kerr rejected an attempt by the Family Planning Association (FPA) to force health chiefs into setting out the circumstances in which abortions were legal.
He said: “None of the grounds in which the judicial review has been sought has been made out. The application must be dismissed.”
But even though he accepted the British Department of Health was under no obligation, the judge stressed that such a move may help end the confusion.
As the FPA considered launching an appeal against the ruling, director
Audrey Simpson insisted there were positive aspects to the outcome.
“The judge made it clear that it would be prudent for the department to issue guidelines and he also pointed out that abortion is legal in Northern Ireland under certain circumstances,” she said.
“Those who suggest it’s not should not be under that illusion any longer.”
Under current laws, women can only have a termination in the North if their life is at risk or if there is a serious threat to their mental or physical health by continuing the pregnancy.
But, as he delivered his ruling, Mr Justice Kerr pointed out that only four out of 8,000 women who travelled from the North to England and Wales between 1993 and 1997 could lawfully have had the operation in the North.
This helped to show there was no confusion about the circumstances, he told the court.
Liam Gibson, from the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, who intervened in the judicial review, praised the judgment and insisted the law was already perfectly clear.
He said: “Guidelines were not required and what the FPA were really looking for was a change in the law in Northern Ireland against the will of the people and politicians.”
The FPA had claimed the law was dogged by uncertainty and had demanded the same access to abortion facilities enjoyed by Britain.
Doctors in one part of the North may take a different decision on whether an abortion should be carried out from those in another part of the country, they argued.
But Mr Justice Kerr declared: “It is in my view beyond dispute that the issuing of guidelines will not resolve these difficulties.”
He added: “It has been shown that there’s any insignificant uncertainty among the medical community as to the principles that govern abortion.”
However, Ms Simpson insisted that the ruling did not fully take into account the huge discrepancies that exist.
“If you live in rural towns they are refusing to carry out a termination for foetal abnormality.”
She was backed by Breda Hughes, the Northern Ireland Board secretary of the Royal College of Midwives.
She said: “As it stands an abortion for foetal abnormality may not be legal in Northern Ireland unless the woman’s life is seriously endangered. But with technology now being able to tell at 20 weeks if a baby has no brain or no kidneys, it is inhumane to ask her to carry on with that pregnancy.”
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