Debate held in the Northern Ireland Assembly
20 June 2000

The Northern Ireland Assembly

Motion: that this Assembly is opposed to the extension of the Abortion Act 1967 to Northern Ireland

Mr Speaker:

Given the substantial number of Members who want to participate in the debate this afternoon, I have had to introduce some time limits. Mr Wells will have 15 minutes to move the motion, and 15 minutes at the end to wind up.

There is one amendment on the Marshalled List, which I have accepted for debate. Ms McWilliams will have 10 minutes to move the amendment, and 10 minutes to wind up at the end. All other Members will have seven minutes, and we will have as many contributors as possible. The House will adjourn at 6.00 pm in any case.

Jim Wells DUP: I beg to move:

Tuesday 20 June will be a very bad day for 530 unborn children in Great Britain because, today, their lives will be aborted. Every 24 hours in hospitals in England, Scotland and Wales an average of 530 human beings are legally killed and disposed of under powers granted by the 1967 Abortion Act. By the time this debate concludes at 6.00 pm, another 88 children will have been killed through abortion. In hospitals throughout Britain, teams of surgeons will be trying to save the lives of unborn children in one ward, while down the corridor in the same hospitals, other teams will be destroying the lives of unborn children. Since the 1967 Act became law, 5.3 million abortions have been carried out in Great Britain — more than the populations of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic combined, and almost the same number as the number of Jews who were murdered in Hitler’s death camps.

The main purpose of my motion is to ensure that this legalised carnage is not permitted in Northern Ireland by way of an extension of the 1967 Act to this part of the United Kingdom, and I am moving it today in support of the right to life of the unborn child, and knowing that both communities are perhaps more united on this issue, than on any other.

On leaving Northern Ireland, Dr Mo Mowlam said that her biggest regret was that she had failed to find an appropriate time to extend the Abortion Act here. It is my hope that her wish will never be granted. Human development is a continuous process, which starts at the moment of conception when a unique human being is created. Within two weeks of conception a child’s head is distinct and he has the basic functions of liver, brain and lungs. After 50 days he has fingers and toes, and by 11 weeks he can make facial expressions and even smile. By 20 weeks he has well-developed eyelids and fingernails, and 75% of the babies born between that time and 25 weeks survive. The chilling fact under the 1967 Abortion Act is that any of these babies can be killed, and legally. I said earlier that there have been 5·3 million abortions in Great Britain since 1967. The sad reality is that 98·6% of these children were perfectly healthy human beings carried by perfectly healthy mothers.

The vast majority of abortions have been carried out on the grounds of a perceived risk to the physical and mental health of the woman. However, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has said

"there is no such danger in the majority of these cases, as the reason for termination is purely a social one".

When David Steel introduced his Bill in 1966 he claimed

It was claimed that the Bill would merely clarify the law, enabling doctors to abort in borderline or difficult cases without the fear of prosecution. What has happened under the Abortion Act 1967 in the rest of the United Kingdom has in effect been abortion on demand. A Gallup opinion poll carried out in 1988 involved the interviewing of 746 gynaecologists — 40% of those practising at the time — and found that 85% either had worked or were working in NHS hospitals where abortion on demand was practised. As private clinics were opened, staffed by doctors prepared to operate on anyone ready to pay the fee, Britain became the abortion capital of the world.

Fortunately, the situation in Northern Ireland is quite different. The Abortion Act 1967 was never introduced here, and we do not have abortion on demand in the Province. Our law is a combination of statute — including the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 1945 — and the 1939 case involving Dr Bourne. In Northern Ireland an abortion can take place only if one of the following conditions is satisfied: first, where the continuation of the pregnancy would lead to serious medical or psychological problems which would jeopardise the woman’s life; secondly, where there is mental subnormality in the case of the mother; thirdly, where there is proven contact with rubella or, as it is generally known, German measles; or where there is substantial genetic risk of having a mentally handicapped child.

As a result of this more restrictive legislation in Northern Ireland, the number of abortions carried out in the Province is quite low. There were, for instance, 77 in the year 1997-98. In addition to this, women can travel from Northern Ireland to England for an abortion. The total number carrying out this journey peaked in 1990, when 1,855 women went to Liverpool or London. This declined substantially to 1,572 in 1997. It is estimated that, in total, 45,000 women from Northern Ireland have had abortions in Britain since the passing of the Abortion Act 1967. What is quite clear from these figures is that the number of Northern Ireland women having abortions since the passing of the Act is much lower because it has not been enacted here.

If the Abortion Act 1967 had been introduced in the Province 33 years ago we could have expected some 140,000 abortions, yet the number is less than a third of that. We have quite detailed information as to the reasons why women from Northern Ireland have travelled to the rest of the United Kingdom for abortions. In a parliamentary written answer to a Mr Blunt, a Conservative Member of Parliament, Miss Hewitt, Director of the Office of National Statistics, gave details of the abortions carried out on women from Northern Ireland in the period 1993-97. The total number of abortions in that period was exactly 8,000, of which 7,725 gave as their reason the threat to the physical or mental health of the woman.

In the rest of the United Kingdom that is generally regarded as abortion on demand. There were few genuine medical reasons for those abortions; they were carried out for social reasons. Undoubtedly there will be those who highlight the difficult cases. Using the small number of difficult cases as examples, they will argue that it is right to have abortion on demand for any woman in Northern Ireland.

Time does not permit me to deal with all the issues at this point, though I hope, by means of intervention and summation, to deal with as many as I can. The point that will always be raised in this type of debate is that abortion may be required to save the life of the mother. As I pointed out earlier, the law in Northern Ireland currently allows abortion in those situations. I must emphasise that this is an extremely rare occurrence. There have been 5·3 million abortions in Great Britain since 1967. In just over 200 of those cases — 0.004% — the abortion was carried out to save the life of the mother. That is a tiny fraction.

In the Irish Republic a study was carried out on 21 deaths which occurred amongst 74,000 pregnant women in the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin. It was found that not one of those 21 mothers’ lives would have been saved by abortion.

There are those who will argue that the introduction of the 1967 Act will prevent what are known as backstreet abortions. The evidence indicates that that is not correct. From 1968 until 1988 the police in Great Britain recorded 968 offences of the procurement of an illegal abortion. The corresponding figure for Northern Ireland, where the 1967 Act did not apply, was five. In the Irish Republic, where there is no abortion on demand, the equivalent figure was two.

Claims with regard to the number of people dying from illegal abortion have been widely exaggerated by the pro-choice campaign. In 1982, for instance, in Portugal, it was claimed that 2000 people had died as a result of illegal abortions. Yet when the statistics were examined more closely they revealed that the number of women aged between 15 and 45 who died from any cause in Portugal that year was 1,887. Clearly those statistics were absolute nonsense.

There are those who will argue that it is important to have abortion in order to allow for the termination of a pregnancy should there be a likelihood of a handicapped child being born. In those situations, I believe, abortion is an attack on the most vulnerable. I do not believe that those children are inferior, or of any less value, than the able-bodied.

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a reception that Assembly Member Roy Beggs organised for Mencap. Anyone who attended will, I am sure, agree that the highlight of the event was a speech made by Hilary Gammon, a young lady with learning difficulties. Anyone who listened to her contribution could not fail to be impressed by what she said. Hilary works for North Down Borough Council and lives a very full and fulfilled life. Many people who have disabled children or children with learning difficulties will testify to the fact that as a result of having those children, their lives have been enriched. I have very little time for those who say that because a child is likely to be born handicapped he or she should automatically be aborted.

The pro-choice lobby would say that every child should be a wanted child, and there are many who would agree with that, but the evidence indicates that abortion on demand does not achieve that. A study carried out in southern California discovered that 91% of battered children referred to clinics were the result of planned or wanted pregnancies. A study of the child protection register carried out by the NSPCC from 1973 until 1990 showed a three-fold increase in child abuse during that period. If abortion on demand meant that every child was a wanted child, why has there been a trebling in the number of abused children in the United Kingdom? Why is that happening? Abortion does not seem to be working in that case.

Many will raise the very difficult issue — and I accept that it is a difficult moral issue — of pregnancies caused by rape or incest. The 1938 Bourne judgement permits abortions to be carried out in Northern Ireland in those very difficult circumstances. No one can possibly underestimate the trauma of a pregnancy brought about by rape. However, such a tragedy cannot be undone by the killing of one of the innocent victims of the violent act. When put together, all the difficult cases in Northern Ireland still add up to very few individual children.

The sad reality is that there are far more parents on the register of those seeking adoption than there are those difficult cases. There are homes for these children who would otherwise be aborted. We can all testify to having friends and relatives who have adopted children and have provided excellent homes and very fulfilled upbringings for them, so this idea that you go for abortion in these difficult cases frankly holds no water.

There are other victims associated with abortion beyond the 5·3 million children who have been denied the right to life. There is a psychological impact on the mothers. Ten per cent of those who have had abortions have subsequently had long-term psychological problems. In addition, there are moral problems for many people involved in the Health Service in Northern Ireland who would find it difficult to carry out, or assist in the carrying out of, abortions. Their views also have to be taken into consideration.

Time is rapidly running out. I hope to deal with the Women’s Coalition’s amendment by means of an intervention at some stage, but I ask the House to give this motion its full support.

Mr Speaker: The Member will, of course, have the opportunity to deal with all the comments made in the course of the debate, including the debate on the amendment, in his winding-up speech immediately before the vote. However, as the Member has said, there is a single amendment on the Marshalled List standing in the name of Ms McWilliams.

Professor Monica McWilliams NIWC: I beg to move the following amendment: Delete all after "Assembly" and add

We tabled this amendment today because we do not want a heated, emotional, disturbing debate for the next four hours. We want this discussion to take place with as much access to information and advice as possible.

The current situation in Northern Ireland is a mess and desperately needs reviewed. Are Members going to address this issue in the same way that they would deal with any other issue that comes before the House? Could they in all honesty say that four hours was enough time to come to a considered opinion on what should be happening in Northern Ireland?

I want to deal with the complexities that exist in the whole area of reproductive health. It clearly needs a comprehensive inquiry. We need a range of advice from gynaecologists, those working in obstetrics, in public health, in primary and secondary schools, in education and in sex education. We also need the people from both the Alliance for Choice and Pro-Life to come before the Committee. All deserve to have their opinions heard. Many of you will never have heard from that range of professionals, non-governmental organisations and groups. Here is an opportunity to hear from them, to invite them to come, as you do in all other Committees, to answer your questions, ask for clarification and seek information in any hearing. The Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee would be the best one to do that.

It sometimes takes a great deal of courage in Northern Ireland, as it does anywhere, to say that we do not know it all. We do not have all the answers. We did not have them when we were dealing with the constitutional issues. We only got to the agreement after agonising hours and hours and hours of talking and listening to those who even today, are against the agreement and for the agreement, as is their democratic right. We should take time to do that with this issue also.

I am asking Members to have the courage to vote for our amendment. Let them say that they do not know it all, they are prepared to get that information and advice, contrary, challenging and confrontational as it may be to their beliefs. It is important that they take the opportunity to listen.

When the Assembly was set up I believed that we would craft well, anything we did and that we would take time to reflect on the realities of life for all the people in Northern Ireland before we formed our policies. We have said many times that we want a responsive democracy, that we want legislation on policies that do not create, in David Trimble’s words "a cold house" in Northern Ireland. We would prefer it to be a welcoming house, which acknowledges our diversity. How many times on this Floor have I heard people talk about the pluralism of Northern Ireland, the diversity of Northern Ireland, the different backgrounds that we come from, our different religious perspectives —

Patrick Roche NUIP: On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Is this a debate about the Belfast Agreement or about abortion?

Mr Speaker: I have to say that some Members have found all sorts of ingenious ways of bringing the Belfast Agreement into debate, as Mr Roche is very well aware.

Professor McWilliams: All I would say to Mr Roche is that we dealt with a very cold house here on many issues, and it is neither fair nor right to try to exclude people who have different views from him or me on this issue. I was using that as a very pertinent example.

Ethics will come into this debate today. Currently abortion is dealt with as a criminal justice matter, and it is a justice issue — there is no doubt about it. However, it is also a care issue, and the ethic of care is something that we should deal very carefully with.

Let me say something very briefly about the legislation here. Members may think that we are dealing with the Abortion Act 1967, but under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 the 1967 Act is not listed as a reserved matter. There is a reference to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology 1990 Act, which amended the previous legislation, so we are really having a debate on outdated legislation. The Northern Ireland Act is very specific as to the legislation to which it refers.

If Members support our amendment our amendment asking that the matter be referred to the Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee, they will not be promoting abortion. They will be asking for a considered opinion on the situation in Northern Ireland, and most Members probably do not know what that situation is. We are asking that this matter be referred simply to let the Health Committee end up with all the problems. No one in this Chamber should ever ask for that to happen. We are not relinquishing our responsibility; we are not transferring our responsibility; we are taking our responsibility very seriously.

We will have a debate about the illegality, or the legality, of what we currently have, but that will not lead us to a discussion on the causes. I am delighted that schools have recently taken on board a very, very tough issue for teachers, the issue of sex education. There was debated in both the Catholic schools and the state schools, on how they were going to introduce this to their pupils at the appropriate age. I know that in Catholic schools it is dealt with under the heading ‘Education for Love’. Much of this information are facts which those children never had before. It also leads young boys and girls to understand the meaning of a responsible, mature adolescent relationship. As we know, it is the lack of that information in the past which led to the tragedies many of us are discussing.

I will speak briefly about the current legal situation and, here, I would like to take issue with Mr Wells. Under our law for non-consensual sex, in terms of both rape and incest, termination should be permitted, but that is not the case. Indeed, it may be something that both the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Northern Ireland Bill of Rights have to look at.

Termination is an impossible situation for all mothers. All of us who work with disability groups — Mencap and many others — will always support those groups. In Northern Ireland, doctors making difficult decisions every day in relation to foetal abnormalities are performing illegally. We must consider this fact in our investigations.

We also need to address the question of technology and how it is overtaking us. How will a system based on judicial interpretations of a Victorian statute of 1861 stand in the face of changes in medical technology? Undoubtedly, it is the more recent piece of legislation of 1990 that the Northern Ireland Act refers to. Currently, judicial rulings are based on very hard and tough cases. If we want to leave it with the judges, so be it. The judicial rulings state that, where there is a probable risk of an adverse affect to the physical and mental health of pregnant women, then terminations are permitted, and so it goes. We are united in confusion. The whole area is shrouded in confusion. To get out of that confusion, it is very clear to me, we need to refer this to the appropriate Committee.

The Chairman of the Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee (Dr Joe Hendron SDLP): Firstly, I would like to congratulate Mr Wells on bringing this motion before the Assembly. I have studied the amendment put forward by Prof Monica McWilliams. My Committee will discuss this issue or any other issue that we feel is important. Of that, there is no doubt. This issue will not be resolved today irrespective of what happens, and I am sure our Committee will have plenty of opportunities to discuss it. I support the motion.

Not long ago an all-party delegation went to see John Major when he was Prime Minister. The DUP was represented by the Rev William McCrea. Seamus Mallon and myself and also the Conservative and Labour Governments were represented. We made it clear to the then Prime Minister that the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland were implacably opposed to the extension of that Act. Jim Wells made reference to Mo Mowlan and I agree with what he said. There are of course very deep rooted, social economic and personal reasons why people do seek abortion. In my own position as a doctor over many years, I am indeed familiar with the massive psychological trauma on a young girl with an unplanned pregnancy. I do understand the many hundreds who go to England from all parts of this island. As has been said, the beginning of life for each human being is fertilisation, when the father’s sperm fertilises the mother’s egg. It is a momentous event in the beginning of a completely new human being, unique in its own right from fertilisation; 23 chromosomes in the sperm, 23 in the egg, that is 46 chromosomes.

It is important to remember that the baby is genetically complete at that point. Nothing is added after that, other than nutrition and oxygen. It is genetically complete. Of course, there are major environmental influences, both intrauterine and after birth. Many of the characteristics of the individual are determined at conception, such as colour of hair, eyes and skin, et cetera. Growth is controlled by the child’s own genetic code: DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, as you would know, Mr Speaker. A single thread of human DNA contains information equivalent to half-a-million pages of five hundred words each. Between 21 and 25 days, the heart starts to beat. Fingers and toes are formed shortly afterwards.

Consider the methods of abortion that are used. I could go on about vacuum aspiration at 12-14 weeks, where parts of the human body are actually sucked out, but time is running out.

As regards the woman’s right to choose, I have nothing but the highest respect and understanding for women and young girls who have unplanned pregnancies. It is not for us, or anyone else, to condemn them. We should try to help them, but abortion violates a human being’s right to life. Human rights are universal. Unborn children are the most vulnerable human beings in our society.

As Jim Wells said, all the evidence suggests that providing abortions for people with psychiatric problems does more harm than good. Only five per cent of legal abortions are done on psychiatric grounds. That is a fact of life. Intellectual honesty is important, for the medical profession and beyond.

I will come to my final point. I appreciate that you have given me seven minutes, and my watch tells me I have a little while yet. I refer the Assembly to the Home Secretary’s consultation document ‘Supporting Families’. A copy of this was given to each member of the Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday. This is the first report of its kind issued by any British Government Minister. The Assembly and the Executive would do well to copy it. I commend this particular report to the House. It is fascinating reading and contains many suggestions. The problem lies with teenage parenthood. There is a group in Lurgan and Craigavon that has taken these matters on board:

It goes on to talk about contraception —extremely important:

The most important point of all is that

In the Family Planning Association document, Mrs Whitaker attacks the DUP for not developing a strategy for reducing unplanned pregnancy. I say to her that it is the Assembly and the Executive that must take action in that regard.

Joan Carson UUP: For the record, I must state that abortion is not a satisfactory way to avoid unwanted pregnancies. It should never be seen as the way out.

The debate on the controversial issue of abortion and its effects on women in Northern Ireland is of importance to the whole community — women in particular. It is ironic that a man, who will never have to go through childbirth or face the personal consequences of unwanted pregnancy, is proposing the motion.

The 1967 legislation was made by men for women and any future changes need to be made in consultation with the women of Northern Ireland.

The Assembly may pass the motion, but how is this motion going to persuade women that abortion is not an option? Abortion is here whether we agree with it or not. Abortions are already being carried out in Northern Ireland. In 1997-98, 77 medical abortions were carried out and in a survey 11% of GPs stated that they had experience of seeing women who had been involved in an amateur abortion. The morning-after pill is also an issue. How would the proposer of the motion suggest controlling that form of abortion?

The 1967 Act does not give women carte blanche for obtaining abortion on demand. The Act clearly states that a lawful abortion can only be obtained when two registered medical practitioners agree that the continuance of pregnancy would have a detrimental physical or mental impact on the woman, or that the child, if it were born, would be seriously handicapped.

It is simplistic to say that if the 1967 Abortion Act were introduced all pregnant women would wish to have an abortion. In Holland, where abortion is freely available, only six out of every 1000 women procure an abortion. That is the lowest abortion rate in the world. Why are such low numbers seeking abortions in Holland when it is freely available? In Holland they promote an ethic of personal responsibility with regard to sexual activity. Dutch teenagers, because of this culture of responsibility, tend to avoid sexual activity until they are older. This makes Dutch teenage pregnancy rates the lowest in Europe, with only four pregnancies per 1000 for women aged 15 to 19.

Compare this to Northern Ireland, which has about 29 pregnancies per 1000 women aged 15 to 19. If a woman from Northern Ireland wishes to have an abortion and she has enough money, all she has to do is look in ‘Yellow Pages’ and a number of English clinics providing that service are listed.

Almost 2000 women from Northern Ireland travel to Great Britain every year to use abortion services. One fifth are under 20 years of age. The fact that around 400 girls under the age of 20 are obtaining abortions every year highlights the wider social problems. A large proportion of children under the age of 15 are engaging in sexual activity resulting in unwanted pregnancies. In our schools sexual health must be promoted in a way that encompasses spiritual and emotional health as well as physical health and well-being. There is an obvious need for a sensitive and compassionate programme for sex education that must include parents, teachers and children.

The responsibility for an abortion — or a termination — lies primarily with the woman and not with the state. If the Assembly takes the simple moral high ground and agrees this motion it will do nothing to help those 2000 women who travel to Great Britain every year for an abortion. This attitude will do nothing to tackle the problem of teenage pregnancy. Once again the real issue — preventing unwanted pregnancies — will be swept under the carpet.

The amendment, if passed, will put pressure on the Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee, and a six-month debate in the Committee is not the way to address the abortion problem. In the Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee there are problems by the score to be addressed — acute services, children’s issues, and mental health to name but a few. I ask all in the Assembly building today to consider the wider implications of the necessity for having some form of legalized abortion. Simply passing this motion today is to be blind to the wider problems. We must have comprehensive sex education in our schools placing value on loving human relationships. We must make an effort to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies, and we must have a co-ordinated approach by all interested groups, agencies and parties to tackle the problem in a realistic way. I appeal, above all, for our politicians to have an understanding of those women who have to make a difficult decision. Those women should not have to leave home or have to leave Northern Ireland, and they should not be made to feel like criminals, having to hide their identities; they should not be ostracised by society. I cannot support the motion.

Mitchel McLaughlin SF: Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Every party approaching this debate will be able to testify to the intensity of emotion and conviction that arise when the issue of abortion is addressed. Elected representatives strive to the limits of their ability and experience to interpret constituency opinion and public will. We all come to it, as the previous Member indicated, with our own attitudes, perceptions and, indeed, prejudices. For that reason, the amendment is worthy of support. We need a very calm and reflective discussion — we have a collective responsibility. We must attempt to achieve a very difficult balance with the right of any person, man or woman, to have control over what happens to their own bodies and those who profess sincerely held convictions on the questions of pro-life or pro-choice. There can hardly be any dispute that an overwhelming majority of our community are opposed to the concept of abortion on demand and to the current practice in Britain of the creative interpretation of sections of the existing legislation, which achieves the same outcome.

That is one reason why Sinn Féin is opposed to the extension of this legislation to the North. Sinn Féin is supporting the amendment put forward by the Women’s Coalition because it believes that this issue should be addressed and managed in a much more considered and reflective fashion. This is an issue that invites harangues, emotional rants and playing to the gallery. However, we need a much more considered and honest debate that considers all of the issues that arise from this very difficult and complex issue. We believe that we must address the reality that so many from this community — up to 7, 000 women from this island — travel to access abortion services elsewhere. Most of us will know someone who has had that experience and had an abortion. In some cases they will reflect that they made an informed decision. In our roles as elected representatives through our various constituency clinics, we will also have met women who have had an abortion, but who were responding to intolerable personal, social and emotional pressures. For those women, abortion was not a free or informed option — it was not even a preferred option. We will also have become aware of the trauma that is so often a consequence of such situations. Sinn Féin believes that this issue should be addressed in a comprehensive manner, involving a multi-agency response that develops effective services for sexual health and sex education, fuller access to child support provision and specific support for single parents.

It is my party’s view that provision in the North is very inconsistent. We find that emergency contraception — the morning-after pill, for instance — may or may not be prescribed by doctors’ surgeries.

Some doctors prescribe emergency contraception for patients who do not normally use their practice, while others will not prescribe it at all. Accident and emergency departments are not required to provide emergency contraception, and many do not. Inconsistency in the application of resources is an issue that should be addressed. Those of us who are committed to dealing with the matter humanely actively support calls for sex education and resources for childcare and counselling.

It is Sinn Féin’s policy to accept the need for abortion if the woman’s life or mental health is at risk, or in grave danger, and also in cases of rape or sexual abuse. We strongly support the demand for full information and non-directive counselling. Opinion polls in the North have consistently demonstrated support for that position.

The current legal and health provisions enforced in the North should be radically re-examined and structured to deliver a service that will meet those criteria. The Committee on Health, Social Services and Public Safety should be asking whether it has developed policies, within legislative parameters, that adequately respond to the community’s needs. Clearly, it has not done so. Abortions are carried out in the North in very limited circumstances. Reference has been made to cases of severe foetal abnormality. The invisible multitudes of women who travel to other countries for abortions are prevented by our culture from discussing their experience. Abortion is very much a part of Irish life, and it is an indictment of our society that so many women from our community choose abortion. However, the issue remains unresolved.

The miserable history of backstreet abortions, and the statistics of those who travel to other countries seeking abortions, tell us plainly that we have not yet responded to the issue in a satisfactory way. I urge the House to support the amendment to the motion.

Seamus Close A: There are few issues that will be debated in the House about which I would feel more strongly or passionately than the issue that we are discussing this afternoon. Abortion strikes at the heart of society. It deals with the beginning of human life, but tragically it is also about the snuffing out of human life, even before birth. Abortion kills human beings. Abortion kills the unborn child. It does not matter whether it is six days, six hours, six minutes, or six seconds after conception. In my book, human life begins at conception. That human life which began then — not one hour, two hours, or a week later, but at the moment of conception — is killed by abortion. There is nothing arbitrary about that; it is a fact. It is a fact of life, but tragically, it is also a fact of death.

The tragedy is society today is that abortion has become almost respectable in some people’s eyes. It is accepted in many circles and demanded by those who ought to know better. In Northern Ireland, we have the crazy and absurd situation of people fighting for limited hours of work, shorter working weeks, the right to work, the equality agenda, and so on, also fighting for the right to abortion. They would deny the greatest right of all, the right of life to the unborn child. They are either misguided or hypocrites. They would not give the unborn child the opportunity of life. They spew forth their murderous arguments, without a care in the world for the lives that they would destroy. Worst of all, there are members of the medical profession who advocate and pontificate about this form of killing. They are a disgrace to their profession; a profession that is supposed to cherish life and heal it not kill it.

Strong and emotional arguments are advanced to justify abortion. There often seem to be strong reasons for such justification, for example, in cases of rape, or when the father is not the husband, when the girl is unmarried or when the parents do not have the emotional, physical or material resources to cope with another child.

I am the first to concede that anyone who has not faced these problems personally cannot begin to appreciate the intensity of the human dilemma that an unwanted pregnancy can generate. However, strong reasons are not necessarily good reasons. Strong reasons could be given to mitigate virtually every crime that is committed, but that does not make the crime right or justify it. In Northern Ireland, terrorists are threatening to go back to their murderous ways and they advance arguments to justify that, but murder and butchery are always wrong.

No human problem in society, whether in Northern Ireland or anywhere else, can be solved by killing another human being. Abortion is violent. Abortion is negative. It rests on the dangerous principle that the small and the weak are inferior and that some human beings are disposable. In a society that has made great steps in coping with handicapped and physically and mentally disabled people, the demand for abortion runs in parallel.

There is blatant abuse of ultrasonic scanning by the medical profession to pinpoint babies suffering from spina bifida, Down’s syndrome and other disorders. Aborted babies are killed before advantage can be taken of the advances made by medical science. Many people in our so-called compassionate society now regard these handicaps as unacceptable. What is the cure? The cure is disposal. The cure is murder. In what other circumstances do doctors prescribe death as the treatment and murder as the cure? It is another tragic example of man’s inhumanity to man.

What about the pro-abortion lobby? What are the arguments? How does it justify these demands? The most common argument is that it is the mother’s right to choose. The unborn child is, after all, part of her body. However, as Dr Hendron said, that argument fails to recognise that the unborn child is genetically distinct from its mother. It has its own sets of limbs and organs. Its mother’s blood does not circulate through the child as it does through her hand, foot, liver or any other part of her body. The mother and the child can die independently of the other. Therefore, the child is not part of her in the strict sense of the word. If the unborn child were part of the mother, the mother would be incomplete before conception and she would be incomplete after birth, which is clearly nonsense.

Simply because the child is defenceless and depends on the mother’s womb for security and protection does not make the unborn child any less human. It does not make it any less wrong to kill that unborn child. A woman has as little right to kill an unborn child as she has to kill a one or two-year-old child. No such right exists. She has rights over her own body, but the unborn child is another body.

The pro-abortion lobby argues that an unborn child is not a child but a foetus. That lobby obscures truth and reality with medical terms and fancy language. It avoids calling a spade a spade. A foetus is seen as less human and less real than the term "unborn child".

Norman Boyd NIUP: I support the motion introduced by the hon Member for South Down, Jim Wells, opposing the extension of the Abortion Act 1967 to Northern Ireland. I oppose the Women’s Coalition Amendment because I believe that the majority of Members have considered the issue very carefully.

The Northern Ireland Unionist Party is committed to the biblical principle of the sanctity of human life. The basis of Christian morality is that human life is sacred. We have pledged to protect the life of the unborn child. Following the Abortion Act 1967, 5 million abortions have taken place in Great Britain, where one baby is killed by abortion every 3 minutes — that is 500 every day, seven days a week. To put it bluntly, it is a massacre of the innocent. One baby is killed by abortion in Great Britain every three minutes. That is 500 every day, seven days of the week. To put it bluntly, it is a massacre of the innocents, that all too often leaves mothers mentally or physically scarred for life.

Birth does not mark the beginning of a new life. A new life begins in the womb. At conception all the hereditary characteristics of the new human being are established, eye colour and sex, for example. Birth brings about a change in the baby’s environment, not a change in the nature of the baby. The right to life is an inalienable right of which an innocent human being may not be deprived. All human life is of equal value. The life of the child in the womb is neither more nor less important than the life of the mother, but equally so. There is, therefore, no moral objection to measures aimed solely at curing a life-threatening condition in an expectant mother, even if this may indirectly lead to the child’s death.

The ethical treatments available in such circumstances do not involve deliberately killing the baby. Serious medical problems which may arise later in pregnancy, when the child is capable of surviving outside the womb, may justify early delivery of the mother as long as appropriate steps are taken to save the life of the baby.

Abortion is typically carried out by the dismemberment, poisoning or the premature expulsion of the unborn child. It is usually an invasive procedure for the mother, which, even in the best hospital conditions, carries risks to her physical health and often causes her psychological harm. Fathers and other family members may also suffer after an abortion. The ethics of health-care professionals who take part in abortions are compromised, and society as a whole is harmed by the tolerance of violence against the unborn child.

In 1996 there were nearly 190,000 abortions in England, Scotland and Wales. A further 1,600 women from Northern Ireland had abortions in England in the same year. In 1996 only 1% of abortions were carried out because there was a substantial risk of the child’s being seriously handicapped. Only 0.002% were carried out to save the life of the woman. When the 1967 Abortion Act was passed many felt it was necessary to deal with a small number of women in particular situations. The Act has, however, led virtually to abortion on demand.

Amendments under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 brought in a new upper time limit for most abortions of 24 weeks, and up to birth if mental or physical handicap is suspected. Yet at 18 days a baby’s heart is beating, by eight weeks all her body systems are established, at 11 weeks she is breathing fluids. She can also swallow, and her fingernails are present. By 13 weeks her taste buds are developed, and at 16 weeks she has eyelashes.

Abortion of the disabled is doubly discriminatory: it is a reminder of the inhumanity of abortion, the attacking of the most vulnerable, those most in need of protection, and an affront to all members of the community here who are disabled. It sends a message that they are inferior to and of less value than the able-bodied. There can be many physical complications with abortion including perforation, rupture of the uterus, pelvic infection, miscarriage in later pregnancies, infertility and death of the mother.

At a major conference in New Delhi in 1992 it was stated that legal abortion has killed 200,000 women world-wide. The Royal College of General Practitioners carried out a study over a 14-year period on attitudes to abortion, which found that women obtaining abortions were twice as likely to develop self-destructive behaviour, such as taking drug overdoses, as those who decided not to abort. They also had a 10 % increased chance of problems such as anxiety and neurosis.

Medical research also shows a link between abortion and breast cancer. Twenty-six studies out of 32 world-wide show an increased risk of breast cancer after an induced abortion. In the United States 12 out of 13 studies show the link.

I must refer now to the press release yesterday from the Family Planning Association for Northern Ireland. I take exception to its rather condescending tone when it says

Such attacks on elected representatives do nothing to resolve the issue. I am confident that my view on abortion is one that is held by the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland. The case against an extension of the 1967 Abortion Act is overwhelming, and the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland would oppose it. Once the sanctity of life is denied, the value of every human life is in question. The growing pressure for euthanasia is witness to this. It is essential, therefore, to maintain the sanctity of life as a first priority.

The people of Northern Ireland are hoping and praying for a new era of peace, but we must not let our desire for peace blind us to the death threat to our unborn babies. After over 30 years of terror and violence, the last thing Northern Ireland needs is legislation that will shed infinitely more lives than even the worst terrorist atrocities. I support the motion.

David Ervine PUP: The Member who introduced the motion set the scene clearly for me when he described the foetus as "he, he, he." Of course, we just had had the balance restored when the foetus was described as "she, she, she."

Abortion is an extreme symptom of the failures in society. Convince me that we offer adequate sex education? Convince me that we offer availability and accessibility for people to understand not only the reproductive system, but the relationships they will have throughout their lives with members of the opposite sex?

Mrs Carson eloquently stated that the Dutch seem to be somewhat ahead of us on this matter. They made abortion freely available, and when they did so, what happened? Did lots of women dive at the opportunity of having the most brutal form of contraception — abortion? Indeed they did not. Actually, the figures dropped. As it has been quoted, they have the lowest figures in Europe and possibly even in the world.

The Dutch matched their action with bombarding their children with the understanding of how the rest of their lives would have to be lived. They took control of their own destiny and of understanding the importance of decisions they might make as children and how those decisions might affect them in the future. We have not done that. We have not remotely thought of doing it. Those who are pro-life have a point — and I am not pro-abortion; I am pro-choice. They have, lying more deeply at their core, a desire for chastity and decency. I suppose they are reasonable aspirations, but just simply trying to get someone to cross their legs or keep their zip up does not seem to work.

In reality, there is an awful stinking, painful route that is travelled by people in our society — not just by women but by people. They are not women, they are people, they are equals, and, indeed, they are the majority. We sit here making decisions about their lives without one iota of the pain, sorrow or suffering that whatever decision they make in relation to abortion will blight the rest of their lives as they see it at that time. When they put their hands out like scales and try to make their decision, the moral arguments we create do not help them because there is right and wrong in each hand, or in each side of the balance. In many ways, they do not view it in terms of right or wrong or society’s moral values.

Essentially, it becomes an imperative for them. It is something they must do. The human being is faced, not only with trauma and difficulty, but then we heap upon them a degree of admonishment, bitterness and hatred. What I am hearing is that they are murderers. When we talk about murderers, what about Belgrade, which was recently pattern-bombed. What about Baghdad, which was just pattern-bombed, or Dresden, which was pattern-bombed in order to send a message loud and clear to Russia, or Hiroshima — when we devastated it.

We, the politicians, are the moral people who talk seriously about the ethics of the medical profession. Is this a joke, or what? Politicians who have consistently failed to bring peace to this society are admonishing those people who are trying to bring a better quality of life to our community. It just seems alien and incredible to me.

The arguments can all be emotional and I suppose I am getting emotional too, but the reality is that we all have choices to make as human beings. We would best be making those choices against the backdrop of having the capacity to do so. Perhaps then, people would not end up in the positions in which they find themselves, taking that awful route because they were not properly equipped.

I hear much said about the foetus, and I understand the arguments. Our party had to have two party conferences in order for me to be able to make a speech like this. In the last two years, 21 women have died as a result of domestic violence. The safe houses that society has to provide are packed to overcapacity as we speak, and there is not one word said about it. This male-dominated society is treating the majority like something it walked in on its heel, and that is not acceptable.

In 1982, when this issue was raised previously, it is my understanding — I dare say I will be corrected if I am wrong — one Member opposed the motion. More than one Member will oppose the motion today, and when it comes up again, as it surely will, more Members will oppose it. People are discriminated against by that evil awful Britain who killed 5 million, those with whom you want to be associated politically and socially, that murderous evil Britain will extend the act. The act will be extended eventually, and our people will be treated as equals. They will be given the same opportunity to have an abortion at the proper time, if one has to be had at all, and consequently, one would hope that the number of abortions would decrease rather than increase. But in reality what we are constantly doing is heaping pain and more pain on people who are incapable of taking that pain. There are many thousands of nameless people out there who have gone along that painful route. They will be listening today, and, unfortunately, unless we get our act together, there will be many thousands who will follow them. And what will we do? Will we make moral arguments that will make popes and moderators end up in the same camp?

Rev Dr Ian Paisley DUP: This debate is about the preciousness and sanctity of life. By that I mean the life of the mother as well as the life of the child. I know that many hon Members may not agree with what I will say today, for I take the traditional Protestant line on this issue. I disagree when many Roman Catholics in this House. I believe that the priority must always be given to the mother whose life must come first in all circumstances — that is the traditional Protestant view and always has been.

We need to dwell on one question today. Should the life of the babe in the womb, at whatever stage, be protected, safeguarded and preserved? It is interesting to note that all those who spoke in this debate in favour of the amendment and in favour of abortion never mentioned the child — they never mentioned the child. They had much to say about the mother, but they made no mention of the child. Should the child in the womb be protected, safeguarded and preserved, or should it be destroyed — at times wantonly and ruthlessly? It is not enough for people to say that they do not like hearing a description of what happens during an abortion. Such descriptions are based on well-established facts. If the baby were outside the mother’s womb, say in an incubator, and a member of the general public or of the medical profession came along and deliberately slaughtered it, such a person would be in breach of the law and would be tried for murder. Do those who are arguing for abortion say "No. Those who kill a child when it is outside the womb should be subject to the same laws as those who kill a child inside the womb"? They cannot have it both ways. Yet, because the child is inside its mother’s womb, we are told it can be slaughtered.

A mother has a voice and can use that voice to defend her case. The women in this House have spoken today and have made their points loudly and clearly. Other women would take a different view and make their points equally loudly and clearly. But who will speak for the child, who cannot lobby or be represented, whose voice cannot be heard? Yet that child will be the victim of a barbarous deed.

As a public representative, I shall speak for the child today, the child who feels, who can recognise its mother’s voice and know pain, who is a member of the human family and who has been given the unique gift of human life. We cannot get away from that. There may be some in this House who would like to do so, but who should consider it very seriously indeed. Some people misjudge the passion in our hearts today when we discuss this. There is no apology needed when people have deeply held views and express them sincerely and with passion.

Today we should listen to the silent cries of those who cannot speak for themselves. No matter how we vote at the end of this debate, we should all realise that we are on most serious and solemn ground. The Bible is the most ancient of all books, and I am old-fashioned enough to believe that it is what it claims to be — the Word of God. That will come as no surprise to any Member of this House. In the Book of Psalms, which is part of the Hebrew scriptures, covering both Judaism and Christianity, it says

"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, that I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."

That is the most beautiful description of life and its secrets. That is why I plead with hon Members today not to take upon themselves the destruction of God’s own handiwork. We should not take it upon ourselves to terminate that God-breathed vitality, nor should we lift our hand against the circumstances of special sanctimony. Clearly there are circumstances where physical or health problems must be considered. That is the traditional view of the Protestant Church. As I have already emphasised, the priority is the mother, whose life must come first in such physical circumstances. It has been argued that we should do this and that. In closing, I say that many will speak and say "Let the children die", but I wish to raise my voice with others in this House to say: "Let the children live".

Ivan Davis UUP: Mr Ervine referred to the last debate that took place here on this subject. For the record, it was 29 February 1984. When the Division was called, there were 20 votes for and 1 against. I quote the late George Seawright, who spoke in that debate. At the time, there was great trouble throughout the Province with murders being committed daily. He said

Many other Members said similar things on that day.

I am glad that the Assembly is tackling the abortion issue. It reflects well on Members to address difficult issues as well as those with which we can agree relatively easily. The abortion issue is probably the most difficult one of all. I am glad that my party, along with others, has extended a free vote. It would be wrong for abortion to become a party political issue in Northern Ireland.

Debates on the abortion issue usually revolve round the so-called hard cases — rape, in particular. However, since the introduction of the Abortion Act 1967, only 2% of the abortions performed have been a result of rape, severe handicap or a real threat to the life of the mother. Abortion is available to women in Northern Ireland in those circumstances. Today, we are discussing unlimited abortion on demand. The Lane Committee of 1974 concluded that that was the effect of the Abortion Act 1967, which is limited only by the 24-week rule.

Unfortunately, the abortion debate is often reduced to questions on when life begins. I have not read the stories of the German Lutheran theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but I agree with what he said:

"To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being."

To allow that intention to be taken away on an à la carte basis would be wrong. For all their differences, all religions would agree with that view, whether they are Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Muslim.

There are far too many unwanted pregnancies in Northern Ireland. We have the highest birth rate of any region in the European Union, but abortion is not the answer. Fewer than 3% of abortions in England and Wales are performed on women who have five children or more. We must encourage the proper use of family planning, and we should value our children more in our society.

I am not a medical expert, but I am concerned by what I have read about the effects of abortion on the mental and physical health of women. Women who have had abortions find it much more difficult to have children in later life. Of course, keeping the Abortion Act 1967 off the Northern Ireland statute book will not prevent women from seeking abortions across the water, but it is a major deterrent.

The number of women recorded as having travelled to England for abortions has fallen: even as abortion has become less of a taboo. The number travelling is far less than if the number of abortions in Northern Ireland was proportionately the same as in England and Wales, which are not such different societies from ours in Northern Ireland. There can be no doubt that we have a problem, but my favoured solution is for more funding for unwanted pregnancy counselling, rather than an extension to Northern Ireland of the Abortion Act 1967. That would create an abortion culture, resulting in more abortions in the long term. For all those reasons I support the motion.

Danny O’Connor SDLP: I rise to support the motion standing in the name of Jim Wells. I do so because I believe that abortion is fundamentally wrong and against all the principles in which I believe. I oppose the Amendment, Mr Speaker. We talk about pro-life and pro-choice. Why do we not talk about pro-death and pro-murder? That is what abortion is.

There are a few facts I would like to share with the House today. Mr Wells and others gave us facts and figures about the number of people going to England for abortion on demand. I do not want to see that happening in this country. We have heard about the terrible crimes of rape and incest, but an abortion will not undo those crimes. It will not take away the fact that a crime has been committed. To punish an unborn child because of that crime is morally wrong.

In Britain in 1996, out of 190,000 abortions only three were carried out to save the life of the mother. We have to think about the child in question here. Dr Paisley quite rightly referred to it as a child, other people tend to refer to it as a group of cells or a foetus in order to try to dehumanise it. That child is an individual growing in its mother’s womb — it is not a part of the mother. Many people say "Oh, it is the woman’s body; she should be allowed to choose what happens." Mr Deputy Speaker, if I were to give you a lift home today and decide to run my car into a brick wall, would that be my right because it was my car? Or would I have a moral responsibility to protect you? I feel that it is the latter.

Another issue I want to come back to is rape. In the United States the Supreme Court allowed an abortion in the case of Roe versus Wade. A woman known as Jane Roe, whose real name was Norma McCorvey, admitted that her claim of rape was a total fabrication. She was a woman intent on procuring an abortion. This is the danger of extending this Act to Northern Ireland.

Fred Cobain UUP: Is the Member saying that in order to obtain an abortion women will be claiming rape? What a disgraceful thing to say!

Danny O’Connor: The Member is deliberately misrepresenting what I am saying. I am saying that there is the potential for the situation to be abused. We have had calls for clarification of the abortion law from the former Ministers, Mo Mowlam and John McFall. Clarification of the abortion law will mean permissive abortion in Northern Ireland. That is quite clearly what it means. To say that handicapped children should be aborted is totally wrong. Who is to say that a handicapped child is less valuable or less loving than any other child? Certainly not I.

I would like to quote from the feminist author Mary Meekin, who stated in the Human Life Review in 1983

This is a rare situation in which injustice cannot be avoided, and the best thing that can be done is to reduce it. The first injustice lasts for nine months of a life that can be relieved both psychologically and financially.

The second injustice ends a life. There is no remedy for that. Yesterday and this morning I received what could probably be described as junk mail from Voice for Choice, from the family planning people and from Alliance for Choice — that is not the Alliance Party, I hasten to add — all saying how wrong it was for this motion to be brought forward. I am glad it was brought forward. This motion needs to be aired. I hope that it gets the full support of the House. There will be some dissenters, but I know where I stand on human rights. The human rights of an unborn child are as important as the rights of any one of us. I urge the House to support the motion.

Rev Dr William McCrea DUP: There are people on every side of this issue who hold deep and genuine views. There are also those who dismiss my right to come to the House today and express my views. They do so because I am merely a man, and therefore I have no right to speak on matters that affect women. I was not commissioned to come to the House by the men of Mid Ulster. I come on behalf of all my constituents, whether male or female. I have been lobbied by many ladies’ organisations on this issue. I make no apology for my views, which I hold passionately. I know that I represent the vast majority of my constituents. I shall vote for my Friend Mr Wells’ motion.

As a public representative it is my duty to give a lead to the people of this Province. The people of Ulster need their leaders to speak clearly on the issues of life and death. Should the Act that is operated in England be brought into legislation here, it would be a travesty of justice and democracy. The vast majority of people, across the community, do not want it. By having this debate, we are putting down a marker. I thank my hon Friend for giving us this opportunity.

We have heard many voices raised on behalf of those who desire abortion on demand. My party leader, Dr Paisley, posed a pertinent question: who will speak for the unborn child who has been silenced by murder? There are charges laid against us. We have heard them today. For example, it was said that this debate should not take place because it would simply be a heated debate. I have been here since the debate started, and I have heard people speak passionately, but I have not heard a heated debate. This place is all about debate. It is a debating Chamber. It should deal with the important issues, and what issue could be more important than the life or death of a child? I speak as the father of five children.

We are told that this debate should go upstairs. Why? Is this not the place for debate? Is this not the place where the decisions are made? We are told that we have no knowledge. Have we no knowledge of this Act that was passed in England in 1967? Are we somehow closed to knowledge, that we have not seen what it means?

There are those involved in this debate who do not want us to see what abortion actually is. You are walking on very dangerous ground if you happen to talk about the suction of a child from its mother’s womb or about tearing a child apart or about the dismembering of its body, but that is what actually happens, yet they do not want you to know that. They do not want you to know about the pain of the child, or the cry of a child, which is being taken from its mother’s womb where it was put by God. But man has decided that no, the child will not stay there. For some reason, it must be destroyed. Another aspect of the tragedy is the talk about the child’s being unwanted. Why is it unwanted? Is it because it does not suit their social life? Is the child unwanted because it will disrupt their plans for the future? So, for them to have their way, this unwanted child has to be removed, so they murder him. Make no mistake about it; call it whatever fancy name you want; the child is murdered! Indeed, that is what has happened to five million children.

I see a Member shaking her head. She is disgusted I suppose. What fancy name would you call it, I wonder? I hear people saying that men have no sensitivity for women’s needs. I have been a pastor of the same congregation for 32 years to the same congregation, the majority of whom are women. I have never been charged with being insensitive to the needs of those ladies, and thank God for the many children that are therein. However, I do remember a child being born once. You see, it was a mongol, and the doctor had suggested getting rid of it. I remember when the parents were told that they had a mongol child. I sat in the hospital overnight with that child, who is now 21 years old. Not an "it", "he" is 21 years old. That child has given the sweetest love to his mother and father for 21 years. It is not right that, because he is regarded as disabled, he is less entitled to the right of life than any of us in this Chamber. So I listen to the charge. I cannot stop them from going to England, but I can stop them from receiving my blessing to murder their children.

Mary Nelis SF: Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I am indebted to the many people, female individuals and groups who lobbied our party in respect of this debate. These responses illustrate that we need to open the door to honest and reasoned debate on what is a tragic dilemma for women. This is a dilemma that is not being addressed, nor indeed will it be resolved, by the DUP motion.

Using legislation that was enacted to deal with one set of social circumstances to deal with another set of social circumstances is illogical, especially if one considers that abortion is legally available in the North in certain circumstances. It must be stated though that accessibility to such services is very limited. However, there is no escaping the fact that around 7,000 Irish women, from the North and the South, travel abroad each year to get abortions. Travelling abroad to other jurisdictions has, therefore, become a safety valve for Irish women. The alternative for women who have chosen this course is a return to back-street abortions and all that that entails. It is unfortunate, but understandable, that there is such polarisation on the issue of abortion, with what have become the pro-life and pro-choice camps. People, particularly women, who have taken sides are motivated by a deep concern for the value of human life, even if they have different political perspectives.

Many people who are anti-abortion would consider abortion as an option in the case of rape or where the life of the mother is threatened. By the same token, many of those who are pro-choice, favouring the legislation, do not believe that abortion is the answer to the complex problems facing women in today’s society. There is also the view that abortion is, primarily, violence against women and a capitulation to the norms of patriarchy. However, those who subscribe to that view would oppose any form of legal sanction against it, because they recognise the need, so far unmet, for more adequate and widespread change in society at large, which would make abortion unnecessary.

As politicians, our response to the tragic situations where women are put into absolutist positions might be to work towards removing the conditions of shame, economic circumstances and lack of education, which place women in situations where they have no choice except abortion. Many women are forced to make such stark choices because motherhood, unlike fatherhood, is not easily combined with other aspects of daily living. If we are obligated to upholding the rights of women and children, we must work towards creating a society where those women who choose to have children can do so without economic penalties, and with support through nursery and childcare facilities and the recognition of the fundamental role of parenting. This may not end abortions, but it would do more to decrease their incidence than criminal sanctions.

Sinn Féin has debated this issue in its party structures for many years, and it will continue to debate it because the issue of abortion presents us all with emotional, social and political questions. Our party position is that we oppose abortion on demand or abortion as a form of birth control. We accept the need for abortion where a woman’s life and mental health is at risk or in grave danger and in cases of rape and sexual abuse. We believe that full information and non-directive pregnancy counselling, embodying all choices, should be freely available. We totally oppose those attitudes and forces in society that compel women to have abortions and criminalise them for making such decisions.

As a party, we acknowledge the complex nature of the abortion issue. We have attempted to deal with the matter in open and honest debate. Modern technology has created genetically cloned sheep; life is no longer arbitrary but planned; medical science has advanced dramatically, and people go to outer space. Women, however, are expected to bring children into the world irrespective of whether they have the means to clothe or feed them, whether their physical or mental health is broken and whether they have been victims of a violent sexual attack, whether they are suffering from AIDS or their children are suffering from, or have been born with, HIV, and irrespective of whether the children will die, before they are one year old, from starvation, disease or a neutron bomb that preserves buildings but wipes out human beings.

Life, and the right to life, is not only about biological reproduction; it is about the future child. This happens in an emotional and a social context. Life is a gift entrusted to women and men. It must never be reduced to a knee-jerk reaction. The tragic dilemma of abortion, which sees women boarding boats and planes, often in isolation and fear, is an indictment on us all. It should never be an exercise in political point scoring. My party therefore urges all Members to support the amendment by the Women’s Coalition.

Eileen Bell A: This afternoon we have heard a number of speeches, and their substance was based primarily on personal conscience rather than party attitudes. Therefore, I would like to put forward my personal perspective.

I speak as a woman who has lost children and who was told that she could not bear any more. I was then told that I could not adopt children because I was in a mixed marriage and therefore did not have a stable faith in the home. I have two healthy nephews, although they have difficult problems. One was born with no back passage and a deficient kidney, and the other was born with Down’s syndrome. They had no real security of future life, and their parents were advised to abort or to turn off their life support machines. They refused to do either, and those children are now living with difficulty but are surrounded with love and protected by us all. And I would not be without them for a moment. However, abortion, though personally unthinkable, is a complex issue for all of us in our capacity as legislators and politicans. Alliance has always been a party of freedom of conscience; a party which recognises that although there is strong personal opinion against an issue as sensitive as abortion, individual circumstances must also be taken into account before decisions are made and legislation is drawn up.

We as a party are not in favour of imposing our personal opinions or prejudices, especially before the needs of the public. Legislation should be drawn up to allow for all eventualities. The criteria of the 1967 Abortion Act are clear enough. Amendments could be looked at for a number of matters. The one which I have a problem with is the period of 24 weeks, which is considered as unsafe in some areas. But, abortion on demand is not an option under this legislation.

I do not know how Mr Wells can be so certain of his facts when he talks about how most women have their abortion under category c, which covers cases where the pregnancy has not reached its twenty-fourth week and where the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, or injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. Obviously Mr Wells has never had to prove that in his own circumstances. But I know women who have tried that and found it impossible to satisfy those criteria. His facts are sometimes a bit out of kilter.

At the moment, as others have said, abortion is governed by the 1861 Offences against the Person Act. As we are now in the twenty-first century, do we not deserve better than nineteenth century legislation? Currently we export the problem. Every year, thousands of women travel to England at great expense in terms of time, money and emotion.

Let there be no doubt about the fact that, in spite of Mr McCrea’s comments, women do not lightly choose to terminate any pregnancy. They do it because they feel they must for a number of reasons such as those already mentioned — rape, assault and age. Often these women receive little or no counselling until they arrive in England, because many of the organisations set up to help women with these problems, and perhaps to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, have suffered intimidation and abuse as a result of their efforts to help people in distress.

Suffering the pressures of travel and worrying about the expense that they have incurred, are we really to believe that these women are in the best situation and circumstances to think about and decide on the proper course of action? Are we really to believe that we are best serving their interests by keeping abortion largely illegal here? Because England is so close it is easy for us to keep abortions both illegal and uncommon, but it does not stop abortions from happening, and neither will this motion. All it will do is keep consciences clear.

It is time for us to do more than quieten our consciences. As my Colleague stated earlier, abortion kills. We all know that, but we must look at all of the issues and realise the ramifications of any decision. As politicians and legislators, we must examine the issue, listen to the needs of women and consult the medical profession. This is best done over time and in Committee. We do not seek to justify murder but to allow for the reality of abortion within our society.

After mature thought — not emotional, impassioned and political outbursts — the Committee would be best equipped to make recommendations to the Secretary of State. Let us bear that point in mind. We can make recommendations to the Secretary of State only if all in the Chamber can agree. He or she can then take our wishes into consideration and act upon them. As things stand, we have no power in respect of this issue and, in a sense, it matters not a whit what we say today. Power rests in Westminster, and so this debate could be said to be about sound bites, however impassioned, rather than the needs of women. Because of the complexity and sensitivity of this issue we need informed and objective advice, and, therefore, I will support the amendment.

Abortion is too important an issue to be decided on after four hours of d