DUP Will Stand Firm on Abortion, Foster Promises

14.08.2017

The leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party has said that the DUP will do “everything in its power” to resist pressure to relax legal restrictions on abortion.

Arlene Foster said that the DUP was coming under increasing pressure within British politics to lift Northern Ireland’s abortion restrictions. This follows a decision by the British government to fund the abortions of Northern Irish women in England through the National Health Service. Stella Creasy, a Labour MP, has even demanded that the costs of the women’s flights be covered as well.

The staunchly pro-life stance of the DUP has been under attack since it agreed to prop up Theresa May’s government after the general election deprived her Conservative Party of a majority. The DUP has also been criticised in Britain for its opposition to the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.

Mrs Foster recently met Precious Life, a Northern Irish pro-life group, and told them that Northern Ireland is definitely under pressure to amend its pro-life laws.

Precious Life said Mrs Foster had given them assurances that her party would do “everything in our power” to maintain Northern Ireland’s position on abortion. Details of the meeting were released in an email update from Precious Life. “I can assure you that Mrs Foster was unequivocal in her pro-life conviction and assured us that the DUP will use their power to keep abortion and the 1967 Abortion Act out of pro-life Northern Ireland,” a spokeswoman for Precious Life said.

The organisation said that the DUP leader congratulated it on its youth campaign group, which has travelled around Northern Ireland this summer promoting the retention of its laws on abortion.

The Times. August 10.