Claim: UK Supreme Court hears attempt to change Northern Ireland abortion law.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Ann Power
text: to the Court, in July 2008, Power withdrew from participating in the case of "A, B and C v Ireland", a case brought by three women challenging Ireland's controversial abortion laws. She did so under Rule 28 of the Rules of Court, which restricts a judge from participating in consideration of a case where they will or may not be able to be impartial, for example where a family member is involved or they have previously acted in the matter. She was originally to be replaced in the Grand Chamber hearing by Supreme Court judge Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, however

title: Northern Ireland law
text: the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's University Belfast and the Graduate School for Professional Legal Education at Ulster University. The 1967 Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. This situation led the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to take judicial proceedings which led to a decision in 2015 that Northern Ireland's abortion regime violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights as it failed to allow for termination in cases of fatal foetal abnormality or when pregnancy was due to a sexual offence. As to the mens rea for murder, see section 8 of the

title: Courts of Northern Ireland
text: Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was created by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. It took its duties up on 1 October 2009. It is the highest court of appeal in Northern Ireland, hearing ultimate appeals from all the courts of the United Kingdom, other than Scottish criminal cases. The Supreme Court has taken over the appellate jurisdiction formerly vested in the House of Lords. The Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland is constituted by the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978. Until 1 October 2009 its name was the Supreme Court of Judicature.

title: Abortion in the United Kingdom
text: declaring that "the restrictive abortion laws and practices and barriers to access safe abortion are gender-discriminatory, denying women and girls treatment only they need". Finally, Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford issued a call for public consultation on amending the criminal law on abortion. The call for consultation took into consideration cases where "there is a diagnosis in pregnancy that the foetus has a lethal abnormality". and cases where "women have become pregnant as a result of sexual crime". Ford also wrote that "it is not a debate on the wider issues of abortion law – issues often labelled as

title: Abortion in the Republic of Ireland
text: case, "A, B and C v Ireland", was heard before the Grand Chamber of the Court on 9 December 2009 and was decided on 16 December 2010. In that case the Court ruled that the first two women's rights were not violated by being forced to travel because Irish law was "legitimately trying to protect public morals". ECHR also ruled that Irish law struck a fair balance between the women's rights to respect of their private lives and the rights of the unborn, although it found that Ireland had violated the Convention by failing to provide an accessible and effective

title: Abortion in the United Kingdom
text: Churches and their members support women in crisis pregnancies and/or who have experienced a miscarriage or abortion through practical support and advice and counselling services, either through personal initiative, the ministries of individual churches, or through non-denominational charities such as Life NI. An Amnesty International poll in October 2014 indicated that a majority within Northern Ireland's population appeared to agree to change abortion law in three particular cases: rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality. For British left-wing journalist Polly Toynbee, the current situation is discriminatory against women: "We have to end the discrimination against women in Northern Ireland which as

title: Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland
text: in the past. The result re-opened the debate about the legality of abortion in Northern Ireland. In all constituent countries of the United Kingdom but Northern Ireland, abortion is legal in many circumstances under the Abortion Act 1967. Abortion in Northern Ireland has historically been considered a devolved matter to be decided by the Northern Ireland Assembly. In Belfast a rally took place advocating for the liberalisation of abortion laws in Northern Ireland, where there were calls for the UK government to step in. UK intervention to liberalise abortion laws in Northern Ireland is opposed by the Democratic Unionist Party,

title: Abortion in the United Kingdom
text: 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The declaration of incompatibility was quashed by the Court of Appeal on the grounds that "a broad margin of appreciation must be accorded to the state [and] a fair balance has been struck by the law as it presently stands until the legislature decides otherwise". On 7 June 2018, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom held that the law of Northern Ireland was incompatible with the right to respect for private and family life, guaranteed by article 8 of the Convention, insofar as they prohibited abortion in cases of rape, incest

title: Abortion in the United Kingdom
text: the compatibility of Northern Ireland law with the Convention rights" to "recognise and take account of these conclusions ... by considering whether and how to amend the law". The opinion raises the possibility that Westminster may legislate to relax abortion laws in Northern Ireland, since human rights, unlike health, are not a devolved matter. The number of terminations of pregnancy per year in Northern Ireland since 2006–2007 inclusive is as follows: Northern Ireland Termination of Pregnancy Statistics 2014/15: Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (includes previous years to 2006-2007) The above bulletin explains that, in 2014–2015, the majority

title: Abortion in the United Kingdom
text: governing abortion in Northern Ireland are sections 58 and 59 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 and sections 25 and 26 of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 (which are derived from the corresponding provisions of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929). An offence under section 58 is punishable with imprisonment for life or for any shorter term. Performing an abortion in Northern Ireland is an offence except in specific cases. An offence under section 25(1) of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 is, by the proviso to that section, not committed if the act which

title: Abortion Act 1967
text: Person Act 1861 and the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 remain in full force. Since 1967, members of Parliament have introduced a number of private member's bills to change the abortion law. Four resulted in substantive debate (1975, 1976, 1979, 1988, and 1990) but all failed. The Lane Committee investigated the workings of the Act in 1974 and declared its support. Changes to the Abortion Act 1967 were introduced in Parliament through the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The time limits were lowered from 28 to 24 weeks for most cases on the grounds that medical technology had

title: Abortion in the United Kingdom
text: are met. The criteria were established in the Termination of Pregnancy Act 1995. Abortion was dealt with by the Ecclesiastical Courts in England, Scotland and Wales. Until the Reformation it was dealt with under the laws of the Catholic Church. The Ecclesiastical Courts dealt mainly with the issue due to problems of evidence in such cases. The Ecclesiastical Courts had wider evidential rules and more discretion regarding sentencing. Although the Ecclesiastical Courts heard most cases of abortion, some cases such as the Twinslayers Case were heard in the Secular Courts. The old Ecclesiastical Courts were made defunct after the Reformation.

title: Abortion in the United Kingdom
text: parte ProLife Alliance [2002] EWCA Civ 297, [2002] 3 WLR 1080, [2002] 2 All ER 756, CA. That section was repealed by the Communications Act 2003. Health policy is part of the devolved powers transferred to the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA) by the Northern Ireland Act of 1998 in the frame of the devolution in the United Kingdom. Abortion law in Northern Ireland falls within the scope of the criminal law in Northern Ireland. Criminal justice and policing powers were devolved to Northern Ireland in 2010. The Abortion Act 1967 does not extend to Northern Ireland. The pieces of legislation

title: C Case
text: law in September 2018. The specific legislation to replace the current restrictive legislation, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 has not yet been passed. On 21 November 1997, the District Court made an order that C could leave the country. The parents challenged this order in the High Court, but the court upheld the original order, allowing the EHB to bring her to the UK for an abortion. The court relied on the judgment in the X Case and the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland. The then Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Desmond Connell, strongly criticised

title: Abortion in the Republic of Ireland
text: due to the pregnancy, and the High Court ruled in the C Case that the Eastern Health Board could arrange for her to travel to Britain for an abortion against the wishes of her parents. The woman at the centre of the case has occasionally spoken about her experiences, but has not revealed her identity. As part of constitutional review, in 1999 the Irish government produced a 179-page green paper summarising the then current Irish abortion law and held an All-party Oireactas Committee on the Constitution. It held oral submissions in 2000, producing a "Fifth Progress Report: Abortion" in November

title: Ordinary referendum
text: President to refer the bill to the Supreme Court under Article 26 of the Constitution. Abortion in the Republic of Ireland is very controversial and has been the subject of multiple constitutional referendums. The 1992 X case judgment found a limited right to abortion and a corresponding lacuna in statute law. Subsequent governments hesitated to address this for fear of voter backlash. When the 1992 government introduced a constitutional amendment to roll back the X-case judgment, John Bruton suggested instead passing an ordinary statute to regulate the situation and using an Article 27 referendum. "The Irish Times" in 1995 reported

title: Courts of Scotland
text: issues. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was created on 1 October 2009 by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The Supreme Court will hear civil appeals from the Court of Session, and it hears appeals from all the civil and criminal courts of England and Wales and of Northern Ireland. The Supreme Court has no authority to hear appeals on criminal matters from the High Court of Justiciary. Until the creation of the Supreme Court, ultimate appeal lay to the House of Lords, a chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (though in modern practice only the Law

title: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013
text: amend the 1861 act in the light of the 1992 judgment. In December 2010, in the case "A, B and C v Ireland", the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that the state had infringed a complainant's rights by not providing clear information on whether she was entitled to an abortion. The state had a year to respond officially, and after the 2011 general election, the new coalition government decided in December 2011 to appoint an expert group to advise on how to implement the ECtHR judgment. Following the death of Savita Halappanavar in Galway on 28 October 2012

title: Courts of Northern Ireland
text: The Court of Judicature is the most important superior court of Northern Ireland. It consists of the following courts: The title of the court was changed on 1 October 2009 when the relevant provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 came into force establishing the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Court of Appeal is the highest court specifically of Northern Ireland. Appeal from the Court of Appeal lies to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Court of Appeal hears appeals from the Crown Court, High Court, county courts, courts of summary jurisdiction and tribunals. The High

title: Abortion in the Republic of Ireland
text: a legal abortion is refused, a woman may appeal the decision and have her situation and conditions reviewed again. President Michael D. Higgins convened the Council of State to consider the constitutionality of the bill and a possible reference under Article 26 of the Constitution to the Supreme Court. The President decided against such a reference and signed the legislation into law on 30 July 2013. In 2014, Ms Y, a young, suicidal refugee woman was denied an abortion under the act. She went on hunger strike. The baby was eventually delivered by Caesarean section. In 2002, a woman pregnant