Health Minister Edwin Poots has been called on by a Derry MLA to clarify, as a matter of urgency, whether or not his draft guidance on termination of pregnancy has been properly legally proofed.
Sinn Fein MLA Maeve McLaughlin.
The call has come from Sinn Féin MLA Maeve McLaughlin who claimed a statement by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) cast doubt on the legal basis for some of the assertions within the guidance.
Ms McLaughlin, the chairperson of the Storment on Health Committee, said the question now arose as to whether or not this guidance had been fully and properly legally proofed.
She added: “As chairperson of the Health Committee I intend seeking a meeting with both the Health Minister and the DPP to bring clarity to the matter.”
Ms McLaughlin said she would also be requesting the Health Minister come before the Health Committee to discuss the matter and related issues and that Mr Poots makes available to the Committee the advice he received from Departmental officials including Departmental solicitors on the matters.
She added: “There is an urgent need for clarity around whether or not cases of fatal foetal abnormality can be accommodated within the existing legal framework and whether or not the guidance reflects this.”
Ms McLaughlin concluded: “These are clearly exceptional and traumatic circumstances and the families affected and the healthcare clinicians who are dealing with them, require and are entitled to immediate clarification.”
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