We are extremely disappointed, but sadly not surprised that those professional bodies charged with caring for both lives in pregnancy appear to be driven solely by a pro-abortion agenda which recognises only one life.

Whilst we acknowledge the reality of the new legislation within which we are living, there is no legal requirement for Northern Ireland to implement an abortion framework, which goes far beyond the British model of abortion provision. Rather than imitate something drawn up in the last century, that is out of step with modern advances in medical science and which is failing women and discarding preborn children, Northern Ireland can offer better.

Westminster imposed on Northern Ireland the removal of every explicit protection for unborn babies up to and beyond the point at which a child is capable of being born alive. These professional bodies are calling for an unrestricted ability to end the lives of preborn babies up to 24 weeks.

Today’s report calls for evidence based best practice and we agree; our question is: What evidence are these bodies considering?

Numerous studies and reports within the last ten years highlight concerns over the negative impact of abortion on women’s mental* and physical health.

Advances in medical science have increased the chances of survival for babies born below 24 weeks**; are enabling fetal surgery to save and improve the lives of seriously ill babies; reveal new understandings of neural development and fetal pain***.

Dawn McAvoy, co-founder of Both Lives Matter commented, “Whose life matters? There are some questions that science alone cannot answer. Terminations of pregnancy based on choice alone may be legal, however they are a crime against our very humanity. Women deserve better than medical bodies aligning more closely to pro-abortion ideologies than science-based evidence. We urge our newly formed Northern Ireland Assembly and the Secretary of State to seek to maximise protections and enable both lives as far as humanly possible, because both lives matter.”

*https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/abortion-and-mental-health-quantitative-synthesis-and-analysis-of-research-published-19952009/E8D556AAE1C1D2F0F8B060B28BEE6C3D
** https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50144741
***https://jme.bmj.com/content/46/1/3