Precious Life: “Stormont Must Continue to Protect our 1861 Personhood Legislation”
Bernadette Smyth, the director of Precious Life, was at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast today to hear the Attorney General for Northern Ireland present his arguments before a panel of three senior judges chaired by Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan on the first day of his appeal against Mr Justice Horner’s ruling last December in which it was declared that our pro-life laws in Northern Ireland, which protects unborn children conceived in rape and incest and unborn children diagnosed with life-limiting disabilities, is incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Today, the Attorney General defended the rights of unborn children in Northern Ireland, arguing that “our domestic law recognises the personhood of unborn children. We are talking about a child.” The Attorney General was specifically referring to the wording of sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and section 25 of the Criminal Justice Act (NI) Act which highlights that the unborn child isa human being, a person, deserving of protection under the law:
“Every woman, being with child, who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, […] and whosoever, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether she be or be not with child […]” (sect 58, OAPA 1861)
“[…] any person who, with intent to destroy the life of a child then capable of being born alive, by any wilful act causes a childto die before it has an existence independent of its mother […]” (sect 25, CJA (NI) 1945)
The Attorney General also effectively debunked the ridiculous pro-abortion argument that the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 should be repealed because it is an “old Victorian law” that was around “before the lightbulb”. He pointed out that sections 18, 20, 42 and 47 of that same Act make up the bulk of the work of the criminal courts today.
The Attorney General explained that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child applies to the child before as well as after birth, and that the European Convention on Human Rights protects human life before as well as after birth. He emphasised that there is no international obligation to legalise abortion and that every Member State is afforded a wide margin of appreciation to make its own laws, concluding that our democratically elected legislators in Stormont want to protect the lives of unborn children in Northern Ireland and have every right to do so.
Commenting on the first day of the appeal, Bernadette Smyth said:
“I am greatly encouraged by the arguments the Attorney General presented before the three judges today. He is truly a champion for rights for all citizens in Northern Ireland, both born and unborn
“I ask everyone to join us in praying during the next few days for the three judges, Lord Chief Justice Morgan, Lord Justice Gillen, and Lord Justice Weatherup, that they have great wisdom in recognising the dangerous flaws in Mr Justice Horner’s decision and do the right thing by overturning that decision.”