Abortion bill on Isle of Man raises multiple concerns, critics say

Rome Newsroom, Jan 27, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- A leading Italian soccer player is facing a possible ban after allegedly blaspheming last month.

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is alleged to have used a blasphemous expression when speaki… […]

London, England, Jan 10, 2020 / 02:23 pm (CNA).- Carla Lockhart, a Member of Parliament for a Northern Irish constituency, urged Wednesday that the British law dealing with abortion provision in the region be repealed so that the local government can legislate on the topic.

“I want today to make the point to this House, on behalf of the many thousands of people across Northern Ireland who take a pro-life stance, that we want to repeal section 9 with immediate effect and allow for the Northern Ireland Assembly to debate, discuss and evidence-gather on this emotive issue,” Lockhart said Jan. 8 during her maiden speech in the House of Commons in Westminster.

Lockhart, a member of the Democratic Unionist Party, was elected MP for Upper Bann in the 2019 UK general election on Dec. 12.

Section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 decriminalized abortion in Northern Ireland and placed a moratorium on abortion-related criminal prosecutions, and obliges the UK government to create legal access to abortion in the region by March 31.

The legislation took effect in part because the Northern Ireland Assembly, which has been suspended nearly three years due to a dispute between the two major governing parties, was not able to convene for business by Oct. 21, 2019.

The law has drawn some objections that it violates the letter or spirit of devolution agreements that grant the Northern Ireland Assembly power over important matters.

“It is imperative that I speak on this to attempt again to highlight the anger, disappointment and frustration concerning the change in abortion laws that have been foisted upon the people of Northern Ireland,” Lockhart stated. “These changes came in the most roughshod way, with complete contempt for the devolved Administration and the views of the people of Northern Ireland.”

She charged that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland “has not intervened to assist in our crumbling healthcare system, or to fairly reward our healthcare workers or to avert the mental health crisis we are facing. He hasn’t done that because, in his own words, he has said that these are ‘devolved issues’. Abortion was and should be a devolved matter, yet this House has imposed on Northern Ireland the most extreme measures of abortion anywhere across Europe.”

Some 9,000 Northern Irish healthcare workers are on strike over pay and staffing levels, according to the BBC.

Lockhart noted that Northern Ireland “has always supported life-affirming laws.” The region rejected the Abortion Act 1967 that legalized abortion in England, Wales, and Scotland, and bills to legalize abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, or incest failed in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016.

“The DUP are a pro-life party, but this actually crosses traditional boundaries and there is widespread cross-community support across Northern Ireland,” she maintained. “We have an evolving political landscape, and I say let the people of Northern Ireland have their say on this matter.”

Indeed, a draft deal to restore power-sharing at the Northern Ireland Assembly has been backed this week by both the DUP and Sinn Féin.

Lockhart stated: “I want a society in Northern Ireland that values life, and I want to see services that will help women choose life … help us create a culture of choosing life.” She asked for government provision of a perinatal palliative care center, a maternal mental health unit, and better childcare services.

Prior to the NI EF Act abortion was legally permitted in the region only if the mother’s life was at risk or if there was risk of long term or permanent, serious damage to her mental or physical health.

The British government held a public consultation on a proposed framework for the legal provision of abortion in Northern Ireland in November and December 2019. It proposed that elective abortions be available up to 12 or 14 weeks gestation.

It also proposed that “the gestational time limit in circumstances where the continuance of the pregnancy would cause risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or girl, or any existing children or her family, greater than the risk of terminating the pregnancy” be either 22 or 24 weeks. It notes that abortion under these circumstances is lawful in England and Wales up to 24 weeks, though “with advances in medicine and healthcare, it could be possible that a fetus having reached a gestation of 22 weeks (21 weeks + 6 days) is viable and thus capable of being born alive.”

In cases of fetal abnormality, the government proposed that abortion without time limit be available. It also proposed that abortion without time limit be allowed where there is risk to the life of the mother or it is necessary to provent grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health.

Lockhart responded to the proposed framework saying that “it is incomprehensible that the Government, knowing that abortion was a devolved matter, has published consultation proposals to introduce changes which go far beyond what has actually been required by Parliament.”

She charged that “in Northern Ireland, abortion on request for any reason will be legalised to the point at which a baby is ‘capable of being born alive’.

“It is my understanding that no consultation will take place on the legislative text of the regulations,” Lockhart said. “With regard to abortion, it is well known that the detail of the text is crucial.”

She asked that MPs, at least, be consulted before the specific text of the regulations is drafted.

“If the Government wants to maintain any commitment to devolution, I would implore them to rethink their coach-and-horses approach to a life-and-death piece of legislation,” Lockhart concluded.

Following the Upper Bann MP’s speech, Catherine Robinson, a Right To Life UK spokesperson, commented: “We share in Ms Lockhart’s disappointment and frustration concerning the imposition of extreme abortion laws in Northern Ireland by a Government who claims to support the devolution settlement.”

“We will support Carla and other MPs in their efforts to hold the Government to account on their words in regard to devolution, as doing so will help protect the lives of unborn babies in Northern Ireland,” Robinson added.

The amendment to the NI EF Act obliging the government to provide for legal abortion in Northern Ireland was introduced by Stella Creasy, a Labour MP who represents a London constituency.

In October 2019, the High Court in Belfast had ruled that the region’s ban on the abortion of unborn children with fatal abnormalities violated the UK’s human rights commitments.

Northern Irish women have been able to procure free National Health Service abortions in England, Scotland, and Wales since November 2017.

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Brentwood, England, Nov 4, 2019 / 05:19 pm (CNA).- After 39 people were found dead in a semi trailer in eastern England last month, a Catholic priest has joined efforts to identify these victims.

On Oct. 23, the bodies of eight women and 31 men were found in a refrigerated lorry trailer at an industrial site in Grays, fewer than 15 miles south of Brentwood in Essex.

A number of victims have yet to be identified, but all of them are now believed to be Vietnamese. The causes of death have also yet to be discovered, but post-mortem examinations are underway.

A Catholic priest in the UK is also working with some of the victims’ families to discover these people’s identities. Father Simon Nguyen, a priest at the Church of the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, has worked with two of the victims’ families, who are too scared to bring their information directly to the police.

“I asked them if you find it very difficult to contact the police, could you please pass [on details of] your relatives and friends in the container, their identities,” he told ITV News.

“They gave me the names and all the pictures and all the marks on the body.”

Nguyen spoke at a memorial service Nov. 2 at the Church of the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in east London attended by more than 100 people.

“We show our condolences and sympathies for the people who have lost their lives on the way to seeking freedom, dignity and happiness,” he said, according to BBC.

“We ask God to welcome them into his kingdom even though some of them were not Catholic but they strongly believed in eternal peace, so we pray for them.”

On the following day at the same church, Auxiliary Bishop Nicholas Hudson of Westminster encouraged people attending Mass to pray for those affected by the event.

St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church in Grays also established a memorial in honor of the victims, according to a Nov. 2 tweet from the Diocese of Brentwood.

The British and Vietnamese governments have arrested or held more than ten suspects, and have begun efforts to identify these victims. Essex Police said it was working with the Vietnamese government and some of the victims’ families in the United Kingdom and Vietnam, the BBC reported.

In the UK, two people connected to the incident have been arrested – Maurice Robinson, the semi-truck driver, and Eamonn Harrison, a 22-year-old from Ireland. Both of them have been charged with a slew of offenses including conspiracy to commit human trafficking and 39 accounts of manslaughter.

Ronan and Christopher Hughes – two Northern Ireland brothers who have links to the shipping industries – are wanted for these same charges.

A spokeswoman for Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the incident as a “serious humanitarian tragedy.” The country’s governments is working to uncover the identities of the victims and perpetrators.

The Vietnamese government has arrested eight suspects for smuggling offenses. They said the suspects are part of a criminal ring that deals in illegal immigration. The country’s authorities have also collected DNA samples to cross-reference with the victims in the UK.

“Based on what we learn from the suspects, we will actively launch investigations to fight and eradicate these rings which bring people illegally to Britain,” said Nguyen Huu Cau, the Nghe An province police chief, according to The Guardian.

“The best thing to do now is to deal with the consequences of the incident and help family members receive the bodies,” he added.

Since the incident, Catholic and secular groups have expressed a need for better migration policies. Maurice Wren, chief executive of the Refugee Council, described the incident as deplorable but preventable.

“This is truly tragic news, but depressingly predictable and avoidable news,” said Wren.

“If you deny people safe and regular travel routes to find safety, you are leaving them with no choice but to risk their lives on utterly perilous journeys and in the hands of criminal gangs.”

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