NORTHERN IRELAND’S Minister for Health Edwin Poots has said the Marie Stopes clinic, which is to open in Belfast on Thursday, must be “very cautious” in how it operates.
Mr Poots told the Northern Assembly yesterday that the law would be no “paper tiger” in how it monitors the clinic which is to provide abortion up to nine weeks’ gestation as well as a wide range of sexual and reproductive services.
Abortion is only permitted in the North where the life of the mother is under threat or where there are serious mental and physical health risks to the woman.
Ahead of the clinic opening on Great Victoria Street in the centre of Belfast, senior executives of Marie Stopes International have said they will comply with the law on abortion in Northern Ireland.
“Marie Stopes should be very cautious in what they are doing here and we will ensure that the laws are upheld,” said Mr Poots. “If individuals carry out abortions outside of the legislation then they are breaking the criminal law and subject to sentences of up to life imprisonment.”
He added: “Those within the Marie Stopes clinic would be well advised to observe the law. If some people think they can get away with not applying it then they may find that the law is not a paper tiger but one with a lot of teeth and I would caution anybody who would seek to challenge that.”
Mr Poots said it was very difficult to establish regulations on abortion in the North which were “bomb-proof in terms of judicial review”. He said that two previous attempts to do so were successfully challenged by those who supported and those who opposed the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.
“I don’t think there is an appetite for abortion on demand in Northern Ireland and I trust that will be the case in the future in this Assembly,” he said.
