Chris Lyttle: ...life and end-of-life matters are matters of individual conscience. Therefore, I will speak in an individual capacity on this important matter. I have spoken in the Assembly on the serious matter of abortion on a number of occasions. I have done my best to engage with a range of people with widely different views on it. In 2016, I voted in favour of legislative provision for medical...
Chris Lyttle: ...of my Alliance Party colleague Paula Bradshaw MLA, which was self-evidently based on her sustained and extensive work on the matter. I have spoken in the Assembly on the serious matter of abortion on a number of occasions. I have done my best to engage with health staff and families who have been affected by it and who have widely different views on it. I voted in favour of legislative...
Chris Lyttle: Alliance Party policy on abortion is a matter of individual conscience, therefore, I speak in a personal capacity. I also say, at the outset, that it would enrich the debate — I say this sincerely — if the DUP were able to speak to the work of the Education Minister to help pupils with disabilities at this time. I have spoken on this serious matter of abortion in the Assembly on a number...
Chris Lyttle: ...can look to the position of the Northern Ireland Committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. It set that out in its response to the Department of Justice's consultation on abortion, despite what some Members said this evening about a lack of consultation on the issue. As I understand it, the position set out by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists...
Chris Lyttle: ...nature of the amendment and the sincere commitment to wider consultation on it. I have said already that I am sincerely sympathetic, as I believe many in our community are, to the position that abortion should be an option available in cases of rape and incest. I think that Mr McCrea outlined how, even under the current law, abortions have been provided in cases of rape.
Chris Lyttle: I thank the Member for giving way. The Member will be aware that the position of the Royal College of Obstetricians, set out in response to the DOJ consultation, is that abortion should be permitted as a statutory option if two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion that a foetal condition has been assessed as lethal and that continuation of the pregnancy would be likely to have...
Chris Lyttle: ...comprehensive, appropriate, relationship and sex education crisis advice and support and healthcare within the law. I am also in favour of clear guidance and robust regulation to ensure that any abortion services are provided within the law. I am not in favour of ill-conceived prohibition of private service provision that this amendment would introduce. The real issue here is that...
Chris Lyttle: .... It is false for anyone to say that opposition to this amendment equates to support for all things Marie Stopes, and it is false for anyone to say that opposition to this amendment is support for abortion. Opposition to this amendment is opposition to a potentially dangerous prohibition of access to private healthcare provision that is delivered within the law. The amendment includes the...
Chris Lyttle: 2. asked the Minister of Justice to clarify the circumstances in which he issued a statement to the media last week on the consultation on abortion law. (AQT 492/11-15)
Chris Lyttle: I thank the Minister for his clarification. How will that relate to the consultation on abortion law that he committed to earlier this year?
Chris Lyttle: ...to meet anyone who has legitimate concerns, from a Christian perspective, to discuss these matters in more detail. However, for anyone to say that an objection to amendment No 1 equates to a pro-abortion position is simply — [Interruption.]
Chris Lyttle: For anyone to say that an objection to this amendment equates to a pro-abortion position is simply and disgracefully false. For anyone to say that it is about the protection of the Marie Stopes clinic is false. Rather, it is against a quite bizarre prohibition of private healthcare within the law. I am not sure which Bible some of the men to my left read or work from, but mine suggests...
Chris Lyttle: ...who have spoken on its behalf here today. I imagine that many SDLP supporters will also be significantly concerned by that party's supporting the DUP today. The debate is not about one's view on abortion. I want to be clear that there is no proposal before the Assembly today to alter the law on abortion. For the purposes of clarity and for the record, I will repeat that the Alliance...
Chris Lyttle: — by the RQIA. If the regulation needs to be enhanced, it is for the Minister of Health to show leadership and enhance it. This is not about one's view on abortion. I have made clear my position, which is that I am against any significant extension of the current law, but I do not think that this amendment should jeopardise democratic principles in response to individual concerns. ...