Courts

North’s DPP seeks to assure on abortion law

The legal basis of a controversial abortion guideline blamed for spreading fear among doctors in Northern Ireland has been questioned after the North’s Director of Public Prosecutions assured them it did not put them at risk of imprisonment.

Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland Barra McGrory speaking to the media in his office in Belfast yesterday where he addressed confusion surrounding controversial draft abortion guidelines in the region Photograph: David Young/PA

Thu Oct 17 2013 - 22:35

The draft guideline, issued by health minister Edwin Poots, had warned of a “grey area” over the legality of someone assisting a woman to get a termination outside the region, such as in England.

This month after the spotlight was shone on the cases of two pregnant women, whose babies had a fatal foetal abnormality, who were refused abortions in the North, where the law is much more restrictive than elsewhere in the UK.

Northern Ireland’s DPP Barra McGrory yesterday moved to address uncertainty by indicating it was not a crime to assist a woman to go elsewhere in the UK for a termination.

The DPP, who is due to hold talks with Mr Poots, said it was not a crime to advise or assist someone to do something that was legal in the place where they were doing it.– (PA)

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