IT’S been remarkable to observe just how emotional the abortion issue continues to be in Northern Ireland.
The opening of the Marie Stopes clinic and advice centre in Belfast has provoked a truly furious row involving everyone up to and including the Attorney General, which is set to continue for months and years.
The clinic offers advice on sexual health to both sexes and there is also a private abortion facility, and it is this notion of an additional abortion facility which has caused such anger.
Critics argue that as there are only 40 to 50 abortions every year in Northern Ireland, there is no need for such a clinic, it simply would not be viable, unless of course it set out to break the law.
The idea that such a well known organisation in such a highly regulated environment would do such a thing is highly implausible, and of course, the argument ignores the uncomfortable fact that presently, large numbers of women travel in secret to England to have terminations.
It’s hard to imagine that critics are opposed to advice on sexual health per se, so the real argument is much more fundamental than that, it is about whether or not abortion should be permitted at all.
The position of the Catholic church and that of some other denominations is that human life begins at conception, so from that point onwards a foetus is actually an unborn child, entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity and so therefore entitled to the ultimate right, that of life. It is an absolute position, if you subscribe to it is difficult to envisage any circumstances when abortion is justified. Even if a woman has been raped, is the victim of incest, or even if going full term would threaten her own existence.
The alternative position is that because a foetus is entirely dependent on its mother it is not a human being until it is born. Therefore the woman has a right to choose whether or not to go through with a pregnancy. For them it is a straightforward matter of women’s rights.
Current UK law sits in between these positions and is based on the Infant Life (Preservation) Act of 1929 which criminalises the killing of a child “capable of being born alive”. This principle that human life only starts when the foetus is capable of being independently viable lies at the heart of all subsequent legislation both in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.
In England and Wales abortions can be carried out up until 24 weeks provided a series of conditions are met. In Northern Ireland, as we know the law is far more stringent. The landmark Abortion Act of 1967 was never introduced here. The only legal reason for a woman being allowed an abortion in Northern Ireland is when there is a serious risk to her mental or physical health and the risk is permanent or long term. That’s why there are so few abortions here and why so many young women travel to England for terminations.
And that again fuels the row with campaigners on both sides seeing the arrival of Marie Stopes as a catalyst.
The debate to date has been undignified, even hysterical and not at all encouraging for those of us who do not take extreme positions.
I don’t like the idea of abortion one little bit – I was adopted as a baby and am acutely conscious that the chances of my lasting to full term today would be slim, so that strongly colours my views.
However I can envisage circumstances when abortion is justified, just as the majority of people do when they really start thinking about the topic.
But what really frustrates me about the debate is that somehow, amidst all the shouting and statement of principle, something really important is being forgotten.
I’m talking of course of the women, many of whom are confused and terrified, who are at the unmentioned centre of this debate. I sometimes visit an organisation which shares the same offices as the Family Planning Clinic in Belfast and as a consequence every time I visit I have to brave the placard wielding pickets who berate visitors to the building.
I understand how strongly they feel but they are an intimidating presence and they demonstrate a lack of compassion to young women who visit the building seeking advice, they are human beings too.
