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4 December 2017 Submission to British Irish Parliamentary Assembly London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign - British Irish Parliamentary Assembly Committee D 4 December 2017 Submission to British Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA) Committee D (Environmental and Social) Review of cross-jurisdictional implications of abortion policy in the BIPA jurisdictions Email: [email protected] ​ Twitter: @LdnIrishARC ​ Website: https://londonirisharc.com/ ​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/londonirishARC/ ​ 1 London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign - British Irish Parliamentary Assembly Committee D 2 London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign - British Irish Parliamentary Assembly Committee D INTRODUCTION 4 ABORTION LAW AND POLICY IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND IRELAND 5 Committee Question b: How would you summarise the different abortion regulatory regimes across the BIPA jurisdictions? What is the political, logistical, statistical and societal impact and interaction of the different regimes? 5 Northern Ireland 5 Ireland 7 COMMITTEE QUESTIONS 10 Committee Question a: The Committee is investigating the cross-jurisdictional implications of abortion policy in the BIPA jurisdictions. What would you identify as the key issues that we should be aware of? 10 Travel for abortion services causes harm 10 The Effect of Criminalisation 12 Violence Against Women and Girls 14 Ireland 17 Committee Question c: How would you respond to arguments that the comparatively restrictive nature of the abortion regimes in Northern Ireland and Ireland has meant that the issue is, in effect, exported to Britain for a solution? 22 Ireland 22 Committee Question d: How would you respond to arguments that the issues surrounding abortion are best dealt with not through liberalisation of the law, but by other means, such as more effective support for women? 24 Increased sex education and contraception 24 Adoption 24 Increased social care/amelioration of poverty 25 Quality of life 25 Autonomy and dignity 25 Putting the positive case for abortion 26 Committee Question e: How would you summarise and respond to recent developments in relation to abortion in Northern Ireland, including the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal ruling on the Northern Ireland abortion law, and the UK 3 London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign - British Irish Parliamentary Assembly Committee D Government’s decision (since echoed by the Scottish and Welsh Governments) to fund abortion services in England for women from Northern Ireland? 27 Committee Question f: Following the announcement by the Taoiseach that a referendum on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution will be held in May or June next year, how would you assess the current state of the debate as regards abortion policy in the Republic of Ireland? 29 Committee Question g: To what extent is the increased availability and proliferation of online abortion pills affecting the level of demand for access to abortion services in Great Britain from women in Ireland, North and South? Are there sufficient safeguards in place to support and ensure the health and safety of women who choose to take this medication? 34 APPENDIX 1 – Notable court cases & legislative developments in Ireland 37 4 London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign - British Irish Parliamentary Assembly Committee D INTRODUCTION 1. The London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign is a grassroots organisation of over 1,000 members based in and around London, founded in November 2016. We campaign for free, safe, legal abortion in Ireland and Northern Ireland. We are actively involved in advocacy, media, legal, fund-raising, awareness-raising and direct action activities in London. We work closely with a number of key stakeholder groups in Great Britain, Ireland and Northern Ireland. We are not affiliated to any political party. 2. The BIPA jurisdictions are Ireland, Northern Ireland, England & Wales, Scotland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. These submissions relate principally to abortion law and policy in and between Northern Ireland, Ireland and England and Wales. 3. Abortion rights in Northern Ireland and Ireland have been and continue to be affected by a range of intersecting factors, many with a cross-jurisdictional flavour. These include legal, political, religious, social, economic, geographic, historical and cultural factors, the most important of 1 which we set out in this submission. As a result of these factors, in relation to abortion, women in Ireland and Northern Ireland face on a daily basis discrimination, harm to their health, levels of hardship, discrimination and breaches of their human rights almost unique in the developed world. 4. We set out below our responses to the seven specific questions provided in advance by the Committee D Secretariat. To aid the flow of our evidence and by way of scene-setting, we set out our response to the Committee’s question b, a summary of abortion law and policy in Ireland and Northern Ireland, in our initial substantive section (paragraphs 5 - 32). We then turn to the Committee’s specific questions in subsequent sections. 1 While we use “woman” and “women” throughout this paper, the London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign supports access to abortion for everyone who needs it, whether they be cis, trans, non-binary or gender fluid. 5 London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign - British Irish Parliamentary Assembly Committee D ABORTION LAW AND POLICY IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND IRELAND Committee Question b: How would you summarise the different abortion regulatory regimes ​ across the BIPA jurisdictions? What is the political, logistical, statistical and societal impact and interaction of the different regimes? 5. We set out below a summary of the laws and policy governing abortion in Northern Ireland and Ireland. This is the first part of the Assembly’s Question b. Referring to the second part of Question b, our submissions regarding “the political, logistical, statistical and societal impact and ​ interaction of the different regimes” are contained in some detail in the paper as a whole. ​ Northern Ireland 6. The law governing abortion in Northern Ireland is one of the most restrictive in both the 2 European Union and the Council of Europe , and the maximum criminal penalty imposed – life imprisonment for both the woman undergoing the abortion, and for an individual who assists 3 4 her – is the harshest in Europe and amongst the harshest in the world . ​ ​ 7. Attempting to procure an abortion, having an abortion, and performing an abortion are criminal offences in Northern Ireland under ss.58 and 59 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (OAPA) as is the “destruction” of a child then capable of being born alive, under s.25(1) Criminal Justice Act ​ ​ (Northern Ireland) 1945. Both offences carry sentences of up to life imprisonment. 8. Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland unless the continuance of a pregnancy threatens the life of the pregnant woman, or would adversely affect her mental or physical health. The adverse effect on her mental or physical health must be “real and serious” and must also be “permanent 5 ​ ​ ​ or long term” . ​ 9. Section 5 of the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 places a duty and legal obligation on medical professionals to report to the police an ‘arrestable offence’. These penal provisions ​ ​ ​ ​ contained within the legislation relate to a medical procedure and health risk only experienced by women. 10. The Abortion Act 1967 (the Abortion Act) which allows women in England and Wales to access abortion legally under certain circumstances did not apply to Northern Ireland when passed for 6 the rest of Great Britain and was never extended to Northern Ireland. 11. The general prohibition on abortion applies to all forms of abortion; there is no distinction 2 Amnesty International, Northern Ireland: Barriers to Accessing Abortion Services (February 2015), p. 6; see also D. Petrova and J. Clifford, Religion and Healthcare in the European Union: Policy issues and trends (2009, Network of European Foundations), Appendix D: National policy on abortion in some EU states. 3 See further Amnesty International, Northern Ireland: Barriers to Accessing Abortion Services (February 2015), p. 6. 4 Center for Reproductive Rights, Abortion Laws Worldwide, http://worldabortionlaws.com/map/ ​ 5 Family Planning Association of Northern Ireland v Minister for Health and Social Services and Public Safety [2004] NICA 37, at §12 6 Section 7(3) Abortion Act 1967 6 London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign - British Irish Parliamentary Assembly Committee D between surgical and medical abortion (the latter being known as the “abortion pill”). 12. There is no exception to the general prohibition on abortion in Northern Ireland in cases of fatal foetal abnormality or where pregnancies are a consequence of rape or incest. In December 2015, failure to provide exceptions in these specific cases was found to be incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by the Belfast High Court, following a claim brought by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC). This judgment was overturned by the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal in June 2017. An appeal to the Supreme Court was heard on 24 – 26 October 2017. Judgment is awaited. 13. In 2015/2016 only 16 legal abortions were carried out in Northern Ireland, the same number as 7 in 2014/2015 . 14. Abortion policy was devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA) in 2010 as part of wider policing and justice powers under the Hillsborough Castle Agreement. The reform of abortion policy in Northern Ireland has been a major area of political debate. 15. Lengthy legal challenges by the Family Planning Association for Northern Ireland to address the lack of clarity in the law for medical professionals resulted in the publication of guidance by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in 2016. 16. Of the parties represented in the NIA, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) oppose any change to the law on abortion in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin passed a motion at its most recent Ard Fheis (annual party conference) in November 2017 extending the party’s support for abortion to when a woman or girl’s physical or mental health is at risk.
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