{"id":259066,"date":"2021-12-17T08:45:08","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T14:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=259066"},"modified":"2023-11-14T19:57:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T01:57:05","slug":"northern-ireland-fail-vote-discriminatory-abortions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/northern-ireland-fail-vote-discriminatory-abortions\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Right to Life UK<\/a>)\u00a0A Bill to stop abortion up to birth for disabilities like Down\u2019s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot has failed to pass after self-proclaimed \u201cpro-life\u201d politicians and parties fail to vote it through.<\/p>\n

The Severe Fetal Impairment Abortion (Amendment) Bill<\/a>, introduced into the Northern Ireland Assembly in February this year, proposed removing the current grounds in the abortion regulations that were imposed on Northern Ireland by the British Government in 2020, which allow abortion for babies with disabilities including Down\u2019s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot.<\/p>\n

However, after Assembly members voted by a narrow margin against the two clauses making up the Bill, it has effectively been defeated. It will now be referred back to the Assembly Speaker<\/a> and it is not expected that the Bill will progress any further.<\/p>\n

The two clauses in the Amendment that would have made abortion up to birth for disabilities like Down\u2019s syndrome illegal were rejected in two separate votes, one for each clause. In both cases, the pro-life clause was defeated<\/a> by 45 votes to 43.<\/p>\n

Self-proclaimed \u201cpro-life\u201d politicians fail to vote for life<\/strong><\/p>\n

A number of politicians who either belonged to a \u201cpro-life\u201d party or called themselves \u201cpro-life\u201d either voted against the pro-life clause or abstained from the vote entirely.<\/p>\n

Foremost among them is Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MLA and Health Minister, Robin Swann<\/a>, who is a self-proclaimed \u201cpro-life\u201d politician. As recently as 2018, he said<\/a>: \u201cI am pro-life and I am on record as such\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) describes itself<\/a> as \u201ca pro-life party\u201d but four of its MLAs (Cara Hunter<\/a>, Pat Catney<\/a>, Sinead McLaughlin<\/a>, and Matthew O\u2019Toole<\/a>) voted against<\/a> the pro-life clause preventing it from progressing to its next stage.<\/p>\n

Additionally, their party leadership is strongly pro-abortion, with their two MPs, Colum Eastwood<\/a> and Claire Hanna<\/a>, being known<\/a>for their party-contrary stances. In 2019, the party walked out of Stormont, thereby sabotaging<\/a> a bill that would have prevented abortion from being imposed on Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Northern Ireland pro-lifers under attack by new pro-abortion bill<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in MLA Michelle O\u2019Neill stated<\/a> in the debate on Clause 1 that \u201cSinn F\u00e9in\u2019s policy is not in favour of access to abortion in cases where a non-fatal fetal abnormality has been diagnosed. That is also excluded by legislation in the South\u201d.<\/p>\n

Despite her clear statement<\/a> that Sinn F\u00e9in does not support abortion in cases of Down\u2019s syndrome, cleft lip, club foot, and other non-fatal disabilities, all sitting Sinn F\u00e9in MLAs voted against<\/a> the Bill in a clear departure from their own party\u2019s policy. While this was a departure from their position, it follows a directional trend towards being an absolutely pro-abortion party, which in the past has included campaigning to introduce abortion to the Republic of Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Members of the public in Northern Ireland can view how their local MLAs voted on the Where Do They Stand<\/a> platform.<\/p>\n

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: \u201cIf these self-proclaimed pro-life MLAs and parties had voted for the Bill, it would have not failed. This Bill is an extremely modest Bill seeking only to protect disabled babies from lethal discrimination up to birth. The abstention of the Minister for Health is particularly shameful, as he is on record proclaiming himself to be \u2018pro-life\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SDLP has shown that it calling itself a pro-life party is a cynical ploy to earn votes. This is the latest dramatic example of its MLAs failing to live up to the party\u2019s principle. A third of its MLAs voted to reject this pro-life amendment. It is hard to see how they can call themselves a pro-life party\u201d.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was published at Right to Life UK<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a> for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Right to Life UK)\u00a0A Bill to stop abortion up to birth for disabilities like Down\u2019s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot has failed to pass after self-proclaimed \u201cpro-life\u201d politicians and parties fail to vote it through. The Severe Fetal Impairment Abortion (Amendment) Bill, introduced into the Northern Ireland Assembly in February this year, proposed removing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":669,"featured_media":244549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,5,11],"tags":[1651,10314,429,3860,14734,10120,13673],"yoast_head":"\nSelf-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A bill to stop abortion up to birth for babies with disabilities failed to pass after self-proclaimed \u201cpro-life\u201d politicians failed to vote it through.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Self-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A bill to stop abortion up to birth for babies with disabilities failed to pass after self-proclaimed \u201cpro-life\u201d politicians failed to vote it through.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-17T14:45:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-15T01:57:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1091216122-northern-ireland.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Right to Life UK\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Right to Life UK\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/northern-ireland-fail-vote-discriminatory-abortions\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Right to Life UK\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/150f7162a1227b6c017d7c5a195741fb\"},\"headline\":\"Self-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-17T14:45:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-15T01:57:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/northern-ireland-fail-vote-discriminatory-abortions\/\"},\"wordCount\":652,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"cleft lip\",\"discriminatory abortion\",\"Down syndrome\",\"Northern Ireland\",\"pro-life clause\",\"Right to Life UK\",\"Social Democratic and Labour Party\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Guest Column\",\"International\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/northern-ireland-fail-vote-discriminatory-abortions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion\",\"name\":\"Self-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-17T14:45:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-15T01:57:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"A bill to stop abortion up to birth for babies with disabilities failed to pass after self-proclaimed \u201cpro-life\u201d politicians failed to vote it through.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Self-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/150f7162a1227b6c017d7c5a195741fb\",\"name\":\"Right to Life UK\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee6bbdc4cbe7693ee7cbacf0cff9e7c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee6bbdc4cbe7693ee7cbacf0cff9e7c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Right to Life UK\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/right-to-life-uk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Self-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions","description":"A bill to stop abortion up to birth for babies with disabilities failed to pass after self-proclaimed \u201cpro-life\u201d politicians failed to vote it through.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Self-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions","og_description":"A bill to stop abortion up to birth for babies with disabilities failed to pass after self-proclaimed \u201cpro-life\u201d politicians failed to vote it through.","og_url":"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2021-12-17T14:45:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-15T01:57:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1091216122-northern-ireland.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Right to Life UK","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Right to Life UK","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/northern-ireland-fail-vote-discriminatory-abortions\/"},"author":{"name":"Right to Life UK","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/150f7162a1227b6c017d7c5a195741fb"},"headline":"Self-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions","datePublished":"2021-12-17T14:45:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-15T01:57:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/northern-ireland-fail-vote-discriminatory-abortions\/"},"wordCount":652,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["cleft lip","discriminatory abortion","Down syndrome","Northern Ireland","pro-life clause","Right to Life UK","Social Democratic and Labour Party"],"articleSection":["Guest Column","International","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/northern-ireland-fail-vote-discriminatory-abortions\/","url":"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion","name":"Self-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-12-17T14:45:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-15T01:57:05+00:00","description":"A bill to stop abortion up to birth for babies with disabilities failed to pass after self-proclaimed \u201cpro-life\u201d politicians failed to vote it through.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/northern-ireland-self-proclaimed-pro-life-politicians-fail-to-vote-through-bill-to-protect-disabled-babies-from-abortion#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Self-proclaimed pro-life Northern Ireland lawmakers fail to vote against discriminatory abortions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/150f7162a1227b6c017d7c5a195741fb","name":"Right to Life UK","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee6bbdc4cbe7693ee7cbacf0cff9e7c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee6bbdc4cbe7693ee7cbacf0cff9e7c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Right to Life UK"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/right-to-life-uk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/669"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301676,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259066\/revisions\/301676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}