Election Diary: Six UUP candidates back 1967 Abortion Act
25/04/16 News Letter
Six Ulster Unionist candidates have come out in favour of the complete extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland – while a much larger proportion of the party’s candidates support abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality or incest.
The UUP candidates’ views are particularly interesting as the party takes no stance on the issue and several of the candidates are not believed to have before come out in favour of the 1967 legislation.
Those in favour of the law are: Chris McGimpsey, Rodney McCune, John Stewart, Julia Kee, Sam Nicholson and Philip Smith (though he would cut the threshold from 24 weeks to 22 or 20)
Three other candidates, Aaron Callan, Paul Michael and Chris Eisenstadt, said that they did not support the extension of the 1967 Act to the Province but were “open to debate” on the issue. Lagan Valley candidate, Jenny Palmer, said that she was “undecided” on the issue while North Down candidate Alan Chambers replied “no, but my position may change as I learn more”.
And Upper Bann candidate Doug Beattie said he would abstain in a vote on the exact 1967 Act as he would like to see the threshold cut from 24 weeks to 20 weeks.
However, the methodology of the survey means that DUP candidates have not been contacted individually but have all been marked down as opposing any change in the law – even though a handful of DUP candidates are believed to privately support some relaxation of the abortion law.