Northern Irish Bishops Decry Vote Allowing Abortion of Disabled

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - APRIL 07: A Pro Life campaigner displays a plastic doll repres
Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.

The Catholic Bishops of Northern Ireland (NI) denounced a vote by the NI Assembly denying protection from abortion to babies affected with non-fatal disabilities.

“The effect of similar legislation in other parts of the world has been to screen out of existence an entire sector of humanity,” the bishops said in a statement this week. The Abortion Law in Northern Ireland “will send a message to all citizens that unborn disabled babies, are fundamentally less valued than those who are able-bodied.”

“This is the opposite of a commitment to equality, professed by so many who support this unjust legislation,” they said.

The Severe Fetal Impairment Abortion (Amendment) Bill, which the bishops described as “a measured and reasonable attempt to address this injustice and remove from the current abortion regulations discrimination against unborn children with non-fatal disabilities,” was defeated last week by a vote of 45-42.

The bill’s defeat “represents a profound and fundamental failure to respect the equality of all persons, born and unborn, in our society,” the bishops said.

The prelates noted that the current legal framework in Northern Ireland “permits abortion, to the point of birth, where an unborn child is found to be suffering from a serious but non-life-threatening disability,” which includes such conditions as Down syndrome.

A Pro Life campaigner displays a plastic doll representing a 12 week old foetus as she stands outside the Marie Stopes Clinic on April 7, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The anit abortion supporters have protested outside the clinic where women can go for advice concerning terminating their pregnancy since it opened in 2012. The abortion laws in Northern Ireland are in the news again after a 21 year old Northern Irish woman was convicted and sentenced earlier this week for procuring a miscarriage. The woman who cannot be named for legal reasons had pleaded guilty to two charges of procuring her own abortion by using a poison and of supplying a poison with intent to procure a miscarriage, she was ten-twelve weeks pregnant at the time. She was given a three-month prison sentence by Judge David McFarland at Belfast high court, which was suspended for two years. Unlike the rest of the United Kingdom, the law in Northern Ireland rules that terminating a pregnancy is illegal except in very limited circumstances. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

A Pro Life campaigner displays a plastic doll representing a 12 week old foetus as she stands outside the Marie Stopes Clinic on April 7, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Charles McQuillan/Getty)

“To dispose of unborn human beings on the grounds that they are disabled is morally abhorrent and indefensible in a civilised society,” the bishops stated. “Laws that discriminate unjustly against persons with disabilities at any time, including the time they spend in their mother’s womb, are completely unacceptable.”

The bishops reiterated their commitment to “the equal right to life and compassionate care for a mother and her unborn child.”

“The genuine difficulties experienced by some women in pregnancy are not addressed by ignoring the existence of the other life, or by supporting the fiction that abortion is exclusively a ‘health care issue’ or solely a matter of individual choice,” they added.

The bishops ended their statement by appealing to Christians and all people of good will to “redouble their efforts to defend the most vulnerable in our society from this unjust legislation.”

“As we look to a new year in which we will all have the opportunity to elect those responsible for our legislative values and framework, we shall all need to reflect carefully on the central importance of these fundamental human values in the decisions we make,” they said.

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