Catholic Bishop of Derry criticises abortion access lessons plan

Bishop McKeown is concerned that schools could be penalised for not adhering to the legislation

A Catholic bishop has criticised a plan for school lessons on abortion access, saying pupils could search Google for the information instead.

It is to become compulsory for all Northern Ireland post-primary schools to teach about access to abortion and the prevention of early pregnancy.

Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown said he was concerned that schools not offering the lessons could be "criminalised".

He said: "Schools want to offer pupils education, not just information.

"If anyone wants to find out about abortion you get something called Google and you type in abortion," he said.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris ordered the change to rules on relationships and sex education for schools on Tuesday, saying he had a legal duty to do so.

He enforced the move in Parliament, based on recommendations made in a United Nations report.

The Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, or the CEDAW Report, said sex education in Northern Ireland should be compulsory and comprehensive.

Until now individual schools in Northern Ireland have decided how to teach sex education.

'Don't need to impose duty on schools'

Bishop McKeown said there was a need for schools to help young people develop "lifelong skills for healthy relationships".

But he added: "I am really concerned this seems to be a decision by the secretary of state that will impose a particular way of approaching the issue on all schools.

"[That will] perhaps end up having schools penalised and criminalised for not obeying the legislation.

Women's rights campaigners say the change is a positive move

"I don't think you need to impose a duty on schools, that come from a range of different backgrounds, an obligation to provide information as if abortion and that whole area is somehow or other a value-free thing."

He told BBC Radio Foyle's The North West Today programme that Mr Heaton-Harris should have engaged "with all parties in Northern Ireland, not just with CEDAW coming from New York".

He said the changes to the curriculum were borne from an "ideology that says: 'This is about my rights', and there is no question of morality involved".

"This is a new ideology that says: 'This is the right way to do it, that we must worship on the altar of human rights and everything else must be sacrificed in the service of that.'"

• Abortion access lessons to be compulsory in schools

The changes to the curriculum have also been criticised by the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Dr John Kirkpatrick.

He said Mr Heaton-Harris was trying to "impose a particular worldview on the education of children in Northern Ireland".

But women's rights campaigners have welcomed the plans.

Elaine Crory from the Women's Resource and Development Agency said children had "a right to a certain degree of education".

"That is as true for maths, science and English as it is for RSE," she said.

"The purpose of this curriculum is to teach them about healthy relationships, it teaches them about conflict and about things like consent which so many people do not know."

The Northern Ireland branch of the children's charity the NSPCC called the new regulations a "positive step".