Campaigners have lost a Supreme Court appeal over the legality of Northern Ireland’s abortion law.
The court has dismissed an appeal brought by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC).
However, in this case, the majority of judges said the law was incompatible with human rights law in cases of fatal foetal abnormality and sexual crimes.
During proceedings in October last year, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission said the law criminalises ‘exceptionally vulnerable’ women and girls and subjects them to ‘inhuman and degrading’ treatment.
A QC representing the NIHRC said that human rights were being breached.
Submissions were also made by Humanists UK, Bishops of the Roman Catholic Dioceses in Northern Ireland, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and Amnesty International.
Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland.
Anyone who unlawfully carries out an abortion can be jailed for life.
The UK Government has resisted calls to step in and legislate amid the ongoing powersharing impasse in Northern Ireland, insisting that any decision on abortion in the region has to be taken by locally elected politicians at Stormont.
Chief Commissioner Les Allamby says they took this case to bring greater clarity to the law and that they welcomed the Court’s decision.
“For over five years now the Commission has exhausted every legal hurdle. We would like to acknowledge everyone who has been involved in working alongside us. In particular, the Commission pays tribute to the many women and girls who have spoken publicly about their difficult personal experiences since we embarked on this case,” he says.
Mr Allamby says the law now needs to change to stop women and girls from further anxiety and suffering.
“In the absence of the NI Executive and Assembly it falls to the UK Government to make this change and it must act without delay. The Commission is disappointed that the Court did not support the arguments that we had sufficient powers to take the case in our own name,” he says.
And he adds: “We acted in this way in order prevent any woman or girl from having to face the burden of doing so. One issue all the judges agreed on was that the current law in Northern Ireland is deeply unsatisfactory. As a result, it is clear we need to bring our own laws on termination into compliance with human rights standards.”
