Precious Life’s commentary on the attorney general’s appeal against landmark abortion ruling
Members of Precious Life were at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast this week to sit in and listen to Mr John Larkin QC, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland, present his submissions before a panel of three senior judges chaired by Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan in his appeal against Mr Justice Horner’s landmark ruling last December in which he declared that our pro-life laws in Northern Ireland are incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, which issued the original proceedings last summer in a bid to get abortion legalised in cases of rape and incest and when an unborn child has been diagnosed with a life-limiting disability, also mounted a cross-appeal in a bid to have our pro-life laws declared inhuman, degrading and discriminatory.
During the appeal, the Attorney General submitted to the three judges that “there is no Convention problem with our laws”. He explained that Member State signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights have a wide margin of appreciation to decide their own laws on abortion and because abortion is a criminal justice matter devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, just because the Abortion Act 1967 was enacted in Britain, this does not mean that the democratically elected legislature in Northern Ireland cannot enact laws or defend and uphold existing laws which protect unborn children.
Discrimination
With regard to the Human Rights Commission’s ridiculous claim that our pro-life laws “discriminate” against women because “a man would never be a victim” of “seeking healthcare assistance but under threat of life imprisonment”, the Attorney General argued that abortion of unborn children with disabilities is utterly inconsistent with obligations of the United Kingdom under the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its fundamental principle: non-discrimination.
The Attorney General declared that the arguments of the Human Rights Commission were “fundamentally founded on discrimination” by pitting little disabled babies “against their non-disabled brothers and sisters”.
Inhumane Treatment
While Nathalie Lieven QC, representing the Human Rights Commission, was presenting her reasoning as to why it was inhumane and degrading for a woman from Northern Ireland who became pregnant as a consequence of rape or whose unborn child was diagnosed with a so-called “serious malformation” to travel to Britain or elsewhere to have an abortion, one of the judges asked Ms Lieven QC, is abortion “inhumane treatment of the foetus?” and she simply answered: “No. The foetus has no rights.” It was chilling and disturbing when she acknowledged, without a hint of concern or remorse, that if the law were changed, “fetuses will be destroyed”.
On the final day of the appeal, Ms Lieven QC exposed the evil and barbaric intentions behind the Human Rights Commission legal challenge last summer: “the purpose of the declaration of incompatibility is to get rid of sections 58 and 59 [of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861”. The Human Rights Commission wants abortion decriminalised in Northern Ireland, and, in the words of Ms Lieven QC speaking on its behalf, “doesn’t shy away from those consequences”.
Personhood
Listening to these evil words uttered by Ms Lieven QC on behalf of the Human Rights Commission in court this week was certainly harrowing. But it was greatly encouraging to know that we and the pro-life majority in Northern Ireland have Mr John Larkin QC as the Attorney General to defend the rights of our unborn children. In court he argued, time and time again, that “our domestic law recognises the personhood of unborn children.” He is truly a champion for rights for all citizens in Northern Ireland, both born and unborn.
Precious Life is asking everyone to join us in praying during the months ahead for the three judges, Lord Chief Justice Morgan, Lord Justice Gillen, and Lord Justice Weatherup, that they have great wisdom in recognising the dangerous and evil consequences of the Human Rights Commission’s proposals for a change in the law and do the right thing by overturning Mr Justice Horner’s ruling last December in which he declared that our pro-life laws were incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.”