UK minister Brandon Lewis failed to ensure abortion services in Northern Ireland, judge rules

‘Those who are in public office ... must obey and apply the law’ says judge

Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis failed to comply with his duties by not expeditiously ensuring provision for full abortion services (Getty Images)

Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis failed to comply with his duties to provide full abortion services in the region, a High Court judge has ruled.

The ruling was delivered after the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission launched a judicial review against the secretary, as well as the Northern Ireland Executive and the region’s Department of Health over their failure to commission and fund abortion services.

The claims against the health minister, Robin Swann, and the executive were dismissed.

But relating to Mr Lewis, Mr Justice Colton said: “The court declares that between April 2020 and March 2021 the Secretary of State failed to comply with his duties under Section 9 of the Northern Ireland Executive Formation Act 2019 in that he failed to ensure expeditiously that the State provide women with access to high-quality abortion and post-abortion care in all public facilities in Northern Ireland.”

Mr Colton did not make any order to compel Mr Lewis to set out a timetable for the provisions of the services. The judicial review was brought by a woman who was affected by the lack of commissioning services during the pandemic after she was told to travel to England for an abortion. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission supported her case.

In 2019, abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland following legislation passed by Westminster. Since then, Stormont’s Department of Health has not commissioned or funded the services. Some health trusts have offered services on an ad-hoc basis.

After the legal proceedings were launched earlier this year, Mr Lewis formally directed Stormont to commission the services before the end of March 2022.

Delivering his ruling at Belfast High Court on Thursday, Mr Justice Colton said: “Those who are in public office, including the judiciary, must obey and apply the law.

“It should not be necessary for a court to mandate something by way of judicial review in circumstances where those in public office are not prepared to comply with their legal obligations because they disagree with the relevant law.”

Chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Alyson Kilpatrick responded: “This was an important case for the commission to take to uphold the human rights of women and girls in Northern Ireland.

“We welcome the High Court judgment and will now take time to review the impact of the decision.

“The NI Executive’s responsibility to uphold the human rights of women and girls remains.

“We will continue to monitor progress on the commissioning and funding of the service in Northern Ireland.”