Anti-abortion group wins case in North

Authorities in the North were ordered to withdraw medical guidance on abortion today after a High Court Judge ruled it was potentially misleading.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) had taken the case against the Department of Health, claiming the advice to medical professionals did not accurately reflect the law.

Unlike the rest of the UK, abortion is illegal in the region and is only permitted when the life or long-term mental well-being of the pregnant woman is at risk.

Lord Justice Girvan found that, while the guidance on when termination was lawful – which was issued to doctors earlier this year – was correct on a number of matters, it was misleading in two respects, namely counselling and conscientious objection.

Stopping short of quashing the document outright, Lord Justice Girvan ordered that the department withdraw it and provide further clarity on the two outstanding points.

The document had stated that non-judgmental non-directive counselling should be available to women before, during and after termination of pregnancy.

The judge said this was unclear and could lead to the adoption of counselling procedures that were arguably unlawful, such as giving advice as to the availability of abortion services elsewhere in the UK.

Lord Justice Girvan also ordered that the guidance on conscientious objection should be reconsidered.

He said while a doctor or other staff member had the right to refuse to take part in an abortion procedure, the language used in the guidance was ambiguous and left medics unclear as to what is expected of them.

A spokesman for the Lord Chief Justice’s office said: “Lord Justice Girvan concluded that, having regard to those aspects of the Guidance dealing with counselling and with conscientious objection which fail to give fully clear and accurate guidance, the court should order that the Guidance be withdrawn with a view to it being reconsidered by the Department taking account of the contents of his judgment.”

The judge also ordered that the Department of Health pay court costs.

The SPUC welcomed the court ruling.

Liam Gibson, of SPUC Northern Ireland, said: “We are very pleased that the court has highlighted some of the problems with the health department’s abortion guidance.

“We hope that the department will now take seriously many of the concerns which were largely disregarded when the guidelines were being drafted.

“In illegal abortion the primary victim is the unborn child and any new guidance that the department brings forward needs to take fully into account the duty of care and the legal protection owed to the child before birth.”