A high court judge has declined to insist that politicians end Northern Ireland’s near-total ban on abortion, despite ruling it was incompatible with the UK’s 1998 Human Rights Act.
Mr Justice Horner’s judgment on Wednesday morning instead put the onus on the Northern Ireland assembly to take on board his decision – but there is no legal compunction on the politicians at the Stormont parliament to change the law.
At present, under a 19th-century law, local medical teams could be jailed for life for carrying out abortions even in extreme circumstances. Unlike the rest of the UK, the Abortion Act 1967 has never applied to Northern Ireland and since devolution was restored to the Stormont assembly, has resisted any attempt to relax the ban on terminations in hospitals.
Horne is the same judge who at the end of last month ruled that Northern Ireland’s ban breaches the human rights of women and girls, including rape victims.
Abortions are only permitted in the region’s health service if the life of a mother is directly under threat or in cases in which there would be lasting long-term negative effects on her health by continuing with the pregnancy. Many women go to the UK to obtain abortions.
However, with the prospect of an appeal against Wednesday’s judgment and the judge’s ruling in November, Stormont is unlikely to debate the matter further for the forseeable future.
