Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — 17 Jun 2020 at 19:30

The majority of MPs voted to continue to permit abortions in Northern Ireland where they are carried out in circumstances set out in regulations.

The motion supported by a majority of MPs in this vote was:

The regulations, which revoke and replace almost identical previous regulations, state[1][2]:

  • * A registered medical professional may terminate a pregnancy where a registered medical professional is of the opinion, formed in good faith, that the pregnancy has not exceeded its 12th week.
  • * A registered medical professional may terminate a pregnancy where two registered medical professionals are of the opinion, formed in good faith, that— (a)the pregnancy has not exceeded its 24th week; and (b)the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman which is greater than if the pregnancy were terminated.
  • * A registered medical professional may terminate a [any] pregnancy in cases of immediate necessity, risk to life or grave permanent injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman or severe fetal impairment or fatal fetal abnormality.
  • * Notification of termination to Chief Medical Officer is required.

The regulations also amend the law so that no woman or girl can be prosecuted with respect to ending her own pregnancy and to remove the risk of criminal prosecution from those acting in-line with the regulations.

The regulations replace substantively identical Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 which did not continue in-force as they were not approved by resolution of each House of Parliament within the required period. The disruption to Parliamentary procedure caused by the covid-19 pandemic may have prevented the consideration of the previous regulations[1].

If the regulations were not approved abortion in Northern Ireland would have remained criminalised both via Section 25 of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 if the child was capable of being born alive and more generally via sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 with exceptions relating to the woman's health made via case law.[1]

Debate in Parliament |

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Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (Aye)Minority (No)BothTurnout
Alliance1 00100.0%
Con104 124062.5%
DUP0 80100.0%
Lab135 3068.3%
LDem7 0063.6%
PC2 0066.7%
SDLP2 00100.0%
SNP2 106.3%
Total:253 136060.8%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
Adam AfriyieWindsorConaye
Nickie AikenCities of London and WestminsterCon (front bench)aye
Peter AldousWaveneyConaye
Lucy AllanTelfordConaye
Lee AndersonAshfieldConaye
Stuart AndrewPudseyCon (front bench)aye
Sarah AthertonWrexhamCon (front bench)aye
Victoria AtkinsLouth and HorncastleCon (front bench)aye
Siobhan BaillieStroudCon (front bench)aye
John BaronBasildon and BillericayConaye
Simon BaynesClwyd SouthCon (front bench)aye
Aaron BellNewcastle-under-LymeCon (front bench)aye
Crispin BluntReigateConaye
Andrew BowieWest Aberdeenshire and KincardineCon (front bench)aye
Paul BristowPeterboroughCon (front bench)aye
Sara BritcliffeHyndburnCon (front bench)aye
Anthony BrowneSouth CambridgeshireCon (front bench)aye
Felicity BuchanKensingtonCon (front bench)aye
Alex BurghartBrentwood and OngarConaye
Jo ChurchillBury St EdmundsCon (front bench)aye
Theo ClarkeStaffordCon (front bench)aye
Chris ClarksonHeywood and MiddletonCon (front bench)aye
Elliot ColburnCarshalton and WallingtonCon (front bench)aye
Damian CollinsFolkestone and HytheConaye
Tracey CrouchChatham and AylesfordConaye
James DalyBury NorthCon (front bench)aye
Mims DaviesMid SussexCon (front bench)aye
Dehenna DavisonBishop AucklandCon (front bench)aye
Caroline DinenageGosportCon (front bench)aye
Sarah DinesDerbyshire DalesCon (front bench)aye
Jonathan DjanoglyHuntingdonConaye
James DuddridgeRochford and Southend EastCon (front bench)aye
Mark EastwoodDewsburyCon (front bench)aye
Ruth EdwardsRushcliffeCon (front bench)aye
Ben EverittMilton Keynes NorthCon (front bench)aye
Michael FabricantLichfieldCon (front bench)aye
Katherine FletcherSouth RibbleCon (front bench)aye
Mark FletcherBolsoverCon (front bench)aye
Vicky FordChelmsfordCon (front bench)aye
Lucy FrazerSouth East CambridgeshireCon (front bench)aye
George FreemanMid NorfolkConaye
Mike FreerFinchley and Golders GreenCon (front bench)aye
Mark GarnierWyre ForestCon (front bench)aye
Nusrat GhaniWealdenCon (front bench)aye
Peter GibsonDarlingtonCon (front bench)aye
Jo GideonStoke-on-Trent CentralConaye
Richard GrahamGloucesterCon (front bench)aye
Helen GrantMaidstone and The WealdConaye
Jonathan GullisStoke-on-Trent NorthCon (front bench)aye
Robert HalfonHarlowCon (front bench)aye
Luke HallThornbury and YateCon (front bench)aye
Trudy HarrisonCopelandConaye
Simon HartCarmarthen West and South PembrokeshireCon (front bench)aye
Antony HigginbothamBurnleyCon (front bench)aye
Paul HolmesEastleighCon (front bench)aye
John HowellHenleyCon (front bench)aye
Jane HuntLoughboroughConaye
Bernard JenkinHarwich and North EssexCon (front bench)aye
Robert JenrickNewarkCon (front bench)aye
David JohnstonWantageCon (front bench)aye
Fay JonesBrecon and RadnorshireConaye
Simon JuppEast DevonCon (front bench)aye
Alicia KearnsRutland and MeltonCon (front bench)aye
Robert LarganHigh PeakCon (front bench)aye
Brandon LewisGreat YarmouthCon (front bench)aye
Ian Liddell-GraingerBridgwater and West SomersetCon (front bench)aye
Tim LoughtonEast Worthing and ShorehamCon (front bench)aye
Rachel MacleanRedditchCon (front bench)aye
Kit MalthouseNorth West HampshireCon (front bench)aye
Anthony MangnallTotnesCon (front bench)aye
Julie MarsonHertford and StortfordCon (front bench)aye
Jason McCartneyColne ValleyConaye
Karl McCartneyLincolnCon (front bench)aye
Huw MerrimanBexhill and BattleCon (front bench)aye
Maria MillerBasingstokeCon (front bench)aye
Andrew MitchellSutton ColdfieldConaye
Robbie MooreKeighleyCon (front bench)aye
David MundellDumfriesshire, Clydesdale and TweeddaleCon (front bench)aye
Lia NiciGreat GrimsbyCon (front bench)aye
Caroline NokesRomsey and Southampton NorthCon (front bench)aye
Guy OppermanHexhamCon (front bench)aye
Mike PenningHemel HempsteadConaye
John PenroseWeston-Super-MareConaye
Chris PhilpCroydon SouthCon (front bench)aye
Daniel PoulterCentral Suffolk and North IpswichCon (front bench)aye
Rebecca PowTaunton DeaneCon (front bench)aye
Nicola RichardsWest Bromwich EastCon (front bench)aye
Angela RichardsonGuildfordConaye
Selaine SaxbyNorth DevonCon (front bench)aye
Chris SkidmoreKingswoodConaye
Julian SmithSkipton and RiponConaye
Ben SpencerRunnymede and WeybridgeCon (front bench)aye
Mark SpencerSherwoodCon (front bench)aye
Andrew StephensonPendleCon (front bench)aye
Julian SturdyYork OuterCon (front bench)aye
Anne-Marie TrevelyanBerwick-upon-TweedCon (front bench)aye
Laura TrottSevenoaksCon (front bench)aye
Christian WakefordBury Southwhilst Con (front bench)aye
Robin WalkerWorcesterCon (front bench)aye
Matt WarmanBoston and SkegnessCon (front bench)aye
Suzanne WebbStourbridgeCon (front bench)aye
James WildNorth West NorfolkCon (front bench)aye
Gavin WilliamsonSouth StaffordshireCon (front bench)aye
Jeremy WrightKenilworth and SouthamConaye
Mike KaneWythenshawe and Sale EastLab (minister)no
Rachael MaskellYork CentralLab (minister)no
Marie RimmerSt Helens South and WhistonLab (minister)no
Lisa CameronEast Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagowwhilst SNP (front bench)no

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