The draft Labour election manifesto, leaked today, contains a promise to remove legal protections for the unborn in Northern Ireland.
Currently, the Abortion Act 1967 does not apply in Northern Ireland, where abortion remains illegal except to preserve the life of the mother.
Should the controversial abortion promise stand, it would make Labour the only major political party in Great Britain to adopt a pro-abortion platform.
Rejected
Moves to liberalise the Province’s abortion law were rejected by the NI Assembly as recently as February 2016.
MLAs voted against amending legislation to allow abortion of children with severely life-limiting conditions and against allowing abortion in cases of sexual crime.
The last attempt at Westminster to override Stormont came in 2008, when Labour MP Diane Abbott introduced an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
The amendment proposed to extend the GB Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.
Unanimous opposition
The Province’s major church denominations unanimously opposed the Abbott amendment, which in the end was not voted on.
The 1967 Abortion Act has led to over 8 million abortions in Great Britain.
The final version of the Labour manifesto is expected to be released next week.
It is also the policy of the Green Party to support abortion.