Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“Today’s ruling by Belfast High Court will worry many people. Human rights grounds are cited and yet no thought has been given to the human rights of the unborn child.
“Just a few weeks before the misnamed Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission where granted leave for a judicial review a Department of Justice consultation on the issue closed. TUV was clear in our view that though there is a superficial plausibility within the promotion of abortion in the consultation document, and attempted assurance that nothing more is anticipated, the experience of the 1967 Act in Great Britain is a salutary warning against such glib assurance.
“The 1967 Act on the face of it permits abortion only in restricted circumstances, yet, in reality it swung open the door to abortion on demand. Who on reading the supposed restraints of Section 1 of the 1967 Act could imagine that under it over 8,000,000 babies have been terminated!
“It is important to stress that the present law of Northern Ireland is not an absolute bar to abortion in, for example, a case of severe anencephaly. As the Bourne test makes clear, and as amplified by Girvan LJ in the 2009 Judicial Review, lawful termination is possible where there is a real and serious risk to a woman’s physical or mental health, which is either long term or permanent. Thus, the mother whose mental health is so damaged by carrying a child with fatal foetal abnormality can at present avail of lawful termination within Northern Ireland.
“In TUV’s view this is sufficient.
“The courts have today over stepped their boundaries and sought to change the law rather than apply it. The judiciary should not seek to legislate any more than the legislature should seek to judge.
“In the case of rape let us not forget that rape is a criminal offence and that the offence of rape is something which is judged in the courts. It is not a judgement which should be left up to a doctor.
“This judgement must be appealed.”