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by James Tweedie
NORTHERN Ireland Attorney General John Larkin accused the six counties’ human rights commission yesterday of wanting to kill unborn disabled children.
Mr Larkin spoke out on the third day of a judicial review of Northern Irish abortion law.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission is seeking to legalise abortion in cases of serious foetal malformation, rape and incest.
“The Human Rights Commission want to take away the right to life of disabled unborn children,” said Mr Larkin.
“Not only is this wrong it is also inconsistent with the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”
He claimed a law change could “open the floodgates for every type of disability.”
Britain’s 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland and termination of pregnancy is only allowed if a woman’s life is at risk or if there is a permanent or serious risk to her mental or physical health.
Performing an abortion in other circumstances could lead to a life jail sentence.
Following a public consultation, the Department of Justice recommended that abortion be legalised in cases of lethal foetal abnormality.
However, the consultation paper did not make any recommendations in sex crime cases.
The commission has argued that the consultation did not go far enough.
It said that legal proceedings were begun only as a last resort because forcing women and girls to travel for abortions was cruel and inhuman.
It also alleged that the Stormont Assembly had failed to deal with the issue because it was too controversial.
The Catholic Church is also represented in the case and has opposed any changes to the current laws.
Alliance for Choice Belfast campaigns for extension of the 1967 Abortion Act and chairwoman Kellie O’Dowd welcomed the commission’s case and said that that abortion law in Northern Ireland contravened human rights law.
“We very much want to see women and girls being able to access terminations in NI,” she said. “Eight hundred to 1,000 women every year travel from NI to access abortion or termination. It’s time they were able to access these services at home.”
