While Precious Life is circulating petitions asking legislators to repeal the abortion provisions, the bishops said members of the Northern Ireland assembly have some influence. However, their remarks suggested repeal would be very difficult.
Politicians and others opposed to the regulations should not "meekly acquiesce to their promulgation," they said. Where the regulations exceed the 2019 Act of Parliament, legislators can repeal them.
The traditionally Protestant and pro-U.K. Democratic Unionist Party also criticized the new abortion law.
Paul Givan, DUP Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly said they were "the most extreme, radical, abortion laws anywhere in Europe."
"It is a travesty that this has been allowed to happen," he said, objecting that the laws were introduced despite the return of devolved government to Stormont.
While abortion is typically a devolved issue of local control, the British Parliament legislation was passed during an absence of a local government. The parties of the Northern Ireland Assembly could have blocked the law from taking effect, but failed to reach any governing agreement due to a dispute between the two leading governing parties, the DUP and the second-largest party, the nationalist Sinn Fein. The nationalist Social Democratic Labour Party also walked out of a final critical meeting.
Besides the Catholic bishops, leaders in the Church of Ireland, the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and the Irish Council of Churches had called on the Northern Ireland Assembly to reconvene to block the abortion legislation.
The nationalist parties traditionally draw support from Northern Ireland's Catholics. Sinn Fein has turned towards backing legal abortion, while some SDLP leaders have made comments welcoming the changes.
Caoimhe Archibald, a Sinn Féin MLA, said it was "only right and proper that woman can access abortion services without having to travel, that they are free to be able to have healthcare in a modern and compassionate way".
Among the nationalist critics of the new regime is Peadar Tóibín, leader of the new political party Aontú.
"The right to life is a human right. It is the most important human right that anyone of us have. With out the right to life no other human right can be guaranteed," he said April 1.
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"The current crisis has seen society radically change its behavior, to protect the lives of the most vulnerable. This is something that we in Aontú have always understood," he said. Sometimes we all have to limit our personal choice and autonomy to protect the lives of others. The slogan 'my body, my choice' rings particularly hollow now when we realize that in reality we are all in this together."
Tóibín cited the Sinn Féin Mayor of Belfast's statement in response to the coronavirus pandemic that "Every Life Matters."
"The hypocrisy is breathtaking," he said. "The abortion law that Sinn Féin helped introduce will directly end thousands of live."
Tóibín was deputy whip of Sinn Fein's delegation to the Republic of Ireland legislative body known as the Dail, and still holds a seat in that body. However, he was pushed out from the party over his support for the unborn and opposition to legal abortion. Like the nationalist party Sinn Fein, Aontú competes in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.
He charged that the Westminster-based Parliament, Sinn Féin and the SDLP leadership had "forced abortion on demand into the north of Ireland against the wishes of the people."
"I say forced, because every opinion poll in the north stated that the majority of men and women sought that the issue of abortion would be decided, not in London but in the north of Ireland. It was not just public opinion that held this view. Legally it was a devolved matter. It was for the elected representatives of the north to decide," he said.