Legal challenge to Lewis’s NI abortion services decision
A legal challenge is to be heard to a move by Secretary of State Brandon Lewis to formally roll out abortion services in Northern Ireland.
The region's once-strict abortion laws were liberalised in 2019 following legislation passed by Westminster at a time when devolution had collapsed. However, Stormont's Department of Health has yet to centrally commission full services due to an impasse within the devolved administration.
The Democratic Unionist Party has blocked consideration of central commissioning at the Stormont Executive.
This led to the Government introducing new powers to allow Mr Lewis to intervene on the devolved issue to formally direct Stormont to roll out the services.
He has used the new powers to direct ministers in Belfast to take the steps necessary to deploy abortion services across the region, with a deadline of the end of March 2022.
Today the High Court in Belfast will hear a legal challenge to this move. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) is seeking a judicial review of regulations introduced earlier this year.
They contend that Mr Lewis exceeded his authority when he granted himself unprecedented control over abortion policy in Northern Ireland.
Liam Gibson, SPUC’S policy and legal officer, accused Mr Lewis of “advancing his abortion agenda in any way he sees fit regardless of what the people of Northern Ireland think”.
"In 2019, while the Stormont Executive was not functioning, Westminster imposed the most radical abortion law in Europe on Northern Ireland. That law would never have secured a majority in the Stormont Assembly and a large section of the public remains steadfastly opposed to its implementation.”
Mr Gibson also contended that Mr Lewis's actions were incompatible with the terms of the Belfast Agreement.
A UK Government spokesperson said: "Parliament clearly decided that a safe, local and accessible abortion service must be implemented in Northern Ireland. The devolution settlement does not absolve us of our responsibility to uphold the rights of women and girls."