Below is a timeline covering over 160 years of legislation affecting abortion in the UK and NI. NI does not follow the same track as the rest of the UK because the legal situation was complicated by histories of colonialism and sectarianism. Spend a few minutes looking over the timeline and when you are ready, have a go an answering the following questions using the timeline ‘After answering each multiple choice question, , press the ‘feedback’ button to see if you were correct and find out more. This activity should take you about 20 minutes to complete.
The ‘UK 1861 Offences Against the Person Act’, the ‘1929 Infant Preservation Act’ and the ‘Criminal Justice Act 1945 NI’
Until October 2019, these colonial and antiquated laws governed women and pregnant persons bodies and much of NI Abortion legislation. Their combination made it illegal to perform or procure an abortion in almost every circumstance with the exception of ‘preserving the life of the mother’. The laws carried a sentence of up to life imprisonment for anyone convicted of procuring their own abortion or anyone assisting that person. Until the 1800s, the legality of abortion followed Church teaching that abortion was acceptable until ‘quickening’, when it was believed the soul entered the body. Harsher legal penalties developed throughout the 1880s.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/24-25/100/section/59/enacted
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/19-20/34
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/apni/1945/15/section/25
UK 1967 Abortion Act
Some years following the ‘Bourne Judgement’ & formation of the ‘Birkett Committee’ the 1967 Act became law.
The law – ‘it was not extended to Northern Ireland.’
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/87
June, 2000
Following campaigning to extend the UK 1967 Abortion Act, the Northern Ireland Stormont Assembly passes a non binding motion opposing extension of the Act to Northern Ireland.
March, 2002
The Family Planning Association instigates a High Court Challenge over NI’s abortion laws, arguing the Department of Health should publish clear guidelines on how terminations are provided under existing law. The case is rejected, however a Court of Appeal ruling 2 years later, orders the Department of Health to draw up guidelines on when abortions can be carried out.
February, 2010
Abortion becomes a devolved matter as part of wider policing and justice powers under the Hillsborough Castle Agreement. The majority of political parties remain opposed to amending the laws to bring them in line with other parts of the UK and abortion legislation remains unchanged.
October, 2012
Despite the vast majority of abortions remaining illegal, the first abortion clinic, run by MSI, opens in (NI). Anti-choice protesters maintain an on street present and harass women and people entering and exiting the clinic. Alliance for Choice provide clinic escorts to accompany people on request.
March, 2013
DUP and SDLP assembly members attempt to ban abortions being performed by private clinics fails to pass in the NI Assembly as it does not attain cross community party support. Sinn Féin, along with MLAs from Alliance and the Green Party, sign a petition of concern which allows them to block the proposal.
October, 2013
Sarah Ewart, who travelled from NI to England for an abortion because her baby had been diagnosed with anencephaly, speaks publicly about her decision and forced travel to England.
April, 2015
Stormont’s Department of Justice recommends a change in law to allow terminations in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, following a public consultation on amending the criminal law on abortion. The then Justice Minister David Ford, announces he will draft new legislation seeking to make limited changes, but these will require approval in a vote in the NI Assembly.
November, 2015
Belfast’s High Court rules that Northern Ireland’s abortion legislation is in breach of human rights following a case taken by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
February, 2016
The then Health Minister, Simon Hamilton, states he will establish a working group to examine abortions in cases of fatal foetal abnormality to include clinicians and lawyers. Days later a bid to legalise abortion in (NI) in cases of fatal foetal abnormality is voted against by a majority of MLAs (59 votes to 40). A further proposal to permit abortions in cases of sexual crimes such as rape or incest is also rejected by the assembly, by 64 votes to 30. The following month, guidance for health and social care staff on the termination of pregnancies is published by the Department of Health.
November, 2016
Stormont’s working group on abortion law in NI recommends changing the law in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, it emerges, however 2 months later, the Stormont power-sharing institutions collapse following disagreement between the two main parties, the DUP and Sinn Féin.
June, 2017
The UK government announces that they will provide funding for women in (NI) travelling to England for an abortion. The announcement follows a ruling by the Supreme Court earlier that month, which upheld an earlier judgement that women traveling from (NI) to England were not entitled to free abortion healthcare on the NHS. Around the same time, Belfast’s Court of Appeal rules that NI abortion laws are a matter for the (NI) Assembly. This effectively overturned the 2015 High Court ruling that found NI law had breached the European Convention on Human Rights, forcing the NI Human Rights Commission to take the case to the Supreme Court.
June, 2018
The NI Human Rights Commission loses its Supreme Court case on the (NI) abortion law, however a majority of judges agree the laws are “incompatible” with human rights. The judges state they would have required the case to have been brought by a woman who was pregnant as a result of sexual crime or who was carrying a fetus with a fatal abnormality and not an organisation.
January, 2019
Sarah Ewart begins a following the failed Supreme Court case by the NI Human Rights Commission to change NI’s abortion laws. The High Court eventually rules in her favour.
July, 2019
Following a period of intense lobby, UK Westminster MPs back an amendment to the NI Executive Formation Bill, which signals significant change to NI’s abortion laws, if devolution is not restored by 21 October 2019. The proposal from Labour MP Stella Creasy to decriminalise abortion in NI is supported by 332 votes to 99. It places a duty on the British government to create new laws by implementing the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) report, published in 2018.
October, 2019
Despite attempts by a number of parties to recall the (NI) Assembly, Devolution is not restored in time and laws to legalise same sex marriage and decriminalise abortion come into effect.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2017-2019/0417/amend/niexec_daily_cwh_0708.pdf
Several days later at Belfast’s Crown Court a woman is found ‘not guilty’ of purchasing online abortion pills for her daughter following the decriminalisation of abortion in NI. This sets a precedent for the dismissal of further cases of a similar nature progressing through the (NI) courts.
March, 2020
Devolution at Stormont is restored in early 2020 . The UK Government publishes details of
the new legal framework for abortion services in (NI) to take effect from 31st March 2020.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/345/regulation/11/made
The regulations state it is the responsibility of the Department of Health (NI)
to commission full services.
April, 2020
The Department of Health NI led by the Health Minister, Robin Swann fails to commission abortion services. A number of NI’s Health Trusts begin operating interim services for early medical abortions up to the first 10 weeks of pregnancy in the absence of commissioning and the onset of the COVID 19 global pandemic. Health Minister Robin Swann says wider commissioning of services remains a ‘cross-cutting matter’ and as such, requires ‘NI Executive approval’.The UK government continues to provide funding for women in NI to travel to England for abortions and a number of Health Trusts provide continue with interim services.
June, 2020
The DUP attempts to overturn NI abortion laws with a non binding motion. The vote passes in the Assembly 46 votes to 40. A Sinn Féin amendment seeking to alter the motion to only restrict access to abortions in cases of severe fetal impairments, such as Down’s syndrome, is voted down. The motion has no legal standing and therefore and no effect on NI Abortion Law.
October, 2020
Following a ‘stop and start’ period of precarious abortion service provision in (NI) by the 5 Health Trusts, the Department of Health does not commission services and states it “not required” to do so on a permanent basis.
March, 2021
The UK government sets out its intention to give NI Secretary of State Brandon Lewis new powers to compel the implementation of abortion services in (NI). The Department of Health continues with refusal to commission services and the 4 of the 5 Health Trusts continue to provide limited services, with the Western Health Trust withdrawing all abortion services due to lack of resources and staffing.
May, 2021
Belfast’s High Court hears a legal challenge brought by the (NI) Human Rights Commission, against the NI Secretary of State, the Stormont Executive and NI’s Department of Health over the delay in commissioning abortion services.
July, 2021
The UK Government at Westminster issues a formal direction to the Department of Health NI to set up full abortion services in Northern Ireland no later than March 2022. The powers also compel Stormont’s first and deputy first ministers that “once proposals are brought forward by the Department of Health, they must be included on the agenda” at the next executive meeting. The Department of Health does not commission services.
October, 2021
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (Spuc) spearhead a further legal challenge to (NI) Abortion laws arguing that that Brandon Lewis has acted unlawfully in imposing a deadline on Stormont to establish abortion services. They argue that he has attempted to override devolution. The legal bid fails when the judge dismisses the case and determines that the Secretary of State acted lawfully and that Brandon Lewis was compelled to take the
step after the United Nations had breached the rights of women and girls in (NI) in limiting abortions.
https://www.judiciaryni.uk/files/judiciaryni/decisions/Summary%20of%20judgment%20-%20In%20re%20SPUC%20%28CA%29%20-%20250523.pdf
March, 2022
The Northern Ireland Assembly, passed the Abortion Services and Safe Access Zones Act. It is immediately referred to Supreme Court by (NI) Attorney General to consider whether this constitutes a proportionate interference with the rights to freedom of conscience, expression, and assembly in Northern Ireland, as protected under Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2022-0077.html
May, 2022
Stormont’s Department of Health is instructed by Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis to set up fully funded abortion for Northern Ireland within ‘days to weeks’ stating he had a “legal and moral duty” to intervene due to the lack of progress on abortion commissioning.
2024
As of 2024 the full provision of services as outlined in the (NI) Abortion Regulations has made significant progress, but has not yet been implemented in full and in accordance with the lawful regulations.
Using the timeline, have a go at answering the following two questions.
Why did the NI Human Rights Commission lose its Supreme Court case on Northern Irish abortion law?
Click on the answer you think is correct
Devolution was not restored by the 21st October 2019 deadline. What happened next?
Click on the answer you think is correct
Now go to Lesson 2 : From ‘a dirty secret’ to ‘a human rights principle