Abortion Law changes put on hold

Friday 17 April 2020

The proposed modernisation of Guernsey’s abortion law has been taken off the agenda for next week’s States meeting.

HSC has requested the policy letter's omission from the forthcoming debate, which comes hot on the heels of this week’s emergency meeting of the States.

The record-breaking virtual meeting, using Microsoft Teams, ran smoothly in the main and another scheduled debate is due to start on Wednesday.

HSC feels it would be wrong to debate the abortion policy letter at the present time though, with scheduled public drop-ins last month having to be cancelled and resources stretched in responding to covid-19.

“While recognising the importance of this debate, given the current circumstances and the need to prioritise resources, the Committee is content to recommend that debate is deferred to a later States’ meeting,” said Deputy Soulsby.

Pictured: Under the current law, a woman could be imprisoned for trying to perform an abortion on herself.

The States approved taking it off the meeting’s agenda.

The main abortion law changes proposed are increasing the number of weeks after which a woman can have an abortion so that the limits are in line with the Uk, and removing criminal sanctions for women who try to end their own pregnancy. The proposals can be read in full here.

The new agenda is yet to be released for next week's meeting, but two requetes which have already been deferred several times are expected to finally be debated.

One seeks a States debate on the future of a local 5G network before Economic Development finalises its plans, which are still being drawn up.

The other wants a moratorium on the proposed demolition of a section of the L’Ancresse anti-tank wall, which was approved by the States two and a half years ago but is yet to be taken forward.

The agenda, once released, will be available to view here.

Pictured top: Deputy Heidi Soulsby, HSC President.