Anti-abortion campaigners have called for an end to Northern Ireland’s “extreme abortion regime” after official figures recorded the highest ever number of abortions in the province.
For many years abortion was heavily restricted in Northern Ireland, however in 2020 Westminster passed an act that brought the province's abortion rules into closer alignment with the rest of the United Kingdom.
The Department of Health in Northern Ireland has released statistics showing that in the year ending 31 March 2024 there were 2,792 abortions, a 28.78% increase on the previous year. Since the law was liberalised, the number of abortions has risen every year.
Campaign group Right To Life pointed out that the “extreme abortion regime” was imposed upon Northern Ireland by Westminster as not a single Northern Irish MP voted in support of the change.
Research commissioned by another group, Both Lives Matter, has suggested that thanks to Northern Ireland's previously stringent anti-abortion laws, 100,000 people are alive today who would otherwise have been aborted. It was also estimated that 10% of those under 50 years old would have been aborted under the current dispensation.
Carla Lockhart, MP for Upper Bann, has called for the Westminster-imposed law to be repealed.
“I am calling on MLAs to take urgent action to bring forward legislation to Stormont to repeal this horrific abortion law that was forced on Northern Ireland by Westminster and return Northern Ireland to being a country with a strong pro-life law that protects and supports both lives - mother and child," she said.
She added, “A large number of babies with disabilities have also had their lives ended by abortion. Tragically in Northern Ireland, babies with Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot can be aborted right through to birth."
Prior to the changes, Northern Ireland was described as “the safest place in our United Kingdom to be diagnosed with a disability before birth” by Conservative member of the House of Lords, Lord Shinkwin, who was born with brittle bone disease.
