To consider requests from representatives of Amnesty International UK, the FPA and Both Lives Matter to address the Council in relation to the motion on Criminalisation of Abortion being proposed by Councillor Nicholl.
To consider a request from Mr. Healy to address the Council in relation to Autism Awareness.
To consider a request from Mr. Rodgers to address the Council in relation to the motion on Special Schools being proposed by the Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Copeland.
Minutes:
The Chief Executive reported that requests had been received from Ms. G. Teggart from the organisation Amnesty International UK, Mr. R. Rowan from the Family Planning Association (FPA) and Ms. D. McAvoy from the organisation Both Lives Matter, to address the Council in the context of the motion which Councillor Nicholl would be proposing later in the meeting on Criminalisation of Abortion.
The Council agreed to accede to the requests.
Ms. G. Teggart was welcomed to the meeting. Ms. Teggart welcomed the Motion and suggested that the Council should stand by women and demonstrate solidarity that women should not be criminalised or face potential jail time for seeking to access and use their basic human right to healthcare. She suggested that the Council should show support for women as abortion was a healthcare and human rights issue and, regardless of personal views on the matter, the reality was that women and girls from across Northern Ireland were having abortions.
She advised that women were living under the threat of prosecution and the laws in Northern Ireland needed to be changed to include the decriminalisation of abortion, so that it could be regulated through a healthcare policy, like every other form of healthcare.
She outlined a range of support for the motion and explained that women who had accessed abortion pills in Northern Ireland had been convicted under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. She highlighted that abortion pills were available free, on the NHS, in other parts of the UK. She suggested that making abortion illegal did not mean that it was not required and the laws were forcing women to put their lives in danger. She advised that the Public Prosecution Service had recently clarified that there was no offence in the criminal law for advocating and promoting abortion. She advised that Amensity International welcomed the UN report which had confirmed that the UK was responsible for grave and systematic violations of women’s rights in Northern Ireland by unduly restricting their access to abortion. She suggested that Politicians had the power to change the situation and should trust women to make choices that were right for them.
The Lord Mayor welcomed Mr. R. Rowan to the meeting. He advised that the Family Planning Association provided a range of services including non-directive pregnancy counselling and support services for women of all backgrounds. He highlighted there was no such thing as a typical client and each client came with their own set of circumstances. He advised that the Family Planning offices had been picketed on a daily basis, which caused distress to clients and staff. He suggested that the availability of abortion pills online had increased and data from one online provider stated that requests had tripled in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland from 548 in 2010, to 1,748 in 2016. He suggested that, during post abortion counselling, women felt silenced after they have accessed the pills due to it being a criminal offence. He advised that the decriminalisation of abortion was supported by medical bodies such as the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist and the British Medical Association, together with Amnesty International and the Family Planning Association.
Ms. Teggart and Mr. Rowan were thanked by the Lord Mayor.
Ms. D. McAvoy and Ms. M. Woods were welcomed to the meeting. Ms. McAvoy advised that the Both Lives Matter organisation was a collaborative campaign which valued the life and health of women and the unborn children and perused the wellbeing of both. She explained that they believed that there were at least two lives in existence in every pregnancy and they believed that both lives mattered. She suggested that the law mattered and shaped culture and they would continue to defend the life affirming law in relation to abortion. She outlined a range of objections to the motion and suggested it showed a commitment, by some, to liberalise the law in Northern Ireland and would be the groundwork to remove any protection for unborn children. She suggested that this law had meant that 100,000 people were alive today who may not have been, if abortion was legal in Northern Ireland. She advised that legalising abortion in Great Britain, 50 years ago, had led to the tripling of abortion rates and suggested that women deserved to be enabled in their fertility, pregnancy and motherhood, not instead of.
She suggested that the laws were there to protect unborn humans and women in their pregnancy and the decriminalisation of abortion would remove existing legal protections for unborn children and potentially their mothers. She suggested that removing these laws would mean that a hawk’s egg would have more protection than an unborn child. She advised that Northern Ireland had invested heavily in maternity care and infancy mortality rates were some of the lowest in the world.
She suggested also that there should be a better vision for women and all of society and that Both Lives Matter believed that, unfortunately, abortion had become a default solution for a society, which saw women’s fertility, biology, pregnancy and motherhood as an inconvenient problem to be solved. She suggested that better support for women was needed and a serious debate was required. She advised that the Council did not have the power to change the law and factors and boundaries in relation to abortion needed to be thoroughly considered.
She suggested that the rise in use of abortion pills was unknown and it was wrong to suggest that medical professionals would not give the appropriate care to women and unborn babies that was required. She explained that charities such as Life Northern Ireland continued to support women and families though counselling, housing and care services. She suggested that there was no human right to abortion and the ending of life was not healthcare and suggested that the Council should oppose the motion.
Ms. McAvoy and Ms. Woods were thanked by the Lord Mayor.
The Chief Executive reported that the following requests ,which had been received within the required seven days’ notice period to be permitted to address the Council, had been withdrawn:
· Mr. Rodgers - to address the Council in advance of the motion on Special Schools; and
· Mr. Healy - to address the Council in relation to Autism Awareness.
The Chief Executive also reported that a request had been received from Mrs. M. Ferguson, to address the Council in relation to the motion which Councillor Attwood would be proposing later in the meeting on Hyponatremia-Related Deaths. She advised that this request had not been received at least seven days prior to the date of the meeting, therefore, it was a matter for the Council to decide if it wished to exercise its discretion and permit the representative to be heard.
The Council agreed to accede to the request.
The Lord Mayor welcomed Mrs. Ferguson and Ms. K. Doherty to the meeting. Mrs Ferguson advised that her daughter has died following an appendix operation in Altnagelvin Hospital in 2001, however, initially the family had not been told the correct reason for the death of their daughter and liability had been denied by the hospital.
Mrs Ferguson highlighted that she had spent 16 and a half years fighting for the truth in relation to the circumstances of her daughter’s death and the campaign had led to a public enquiry, which had clarified the circumstances of how her daughter Raychel had died after being fed the wrong type of saline drip.
She suggested that the Council should support the establishment of a “Raychel’s Law of Candour” so that all medical services would be compelled to tell the truth when things went wrong when patients were in their care.
Mrs. Ferguson and Ms. Doherty were thanked by the Lord Mayor.