Doug Beattie MC MLA, the Ulster Unionist Party's Justice spokesperson, has called on the Justice Minister Claire Sugden to state clearly whether or not she believes the report into Fatal Foetal Abnormality (FFA) should be released to the wider public.
Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“The latest comments on BBC Radio this morning by the Justice Minister regarding whether or not the report into Fatal Foetal Abnormality should be published, have simply created more confusion.
“There was certainly an expectation that any report would be published, yet this morning the Minister sought to dodge the issue of whether or not she supported publication by stating the report was commissioned to inform the Executive, and a decision to publish would be taken by the Executive.
“The bottom line is that she is the Justice Minister and must surely have an opinion of her own as to whether or not this report should be published. The Minister is either an independent voice, or she is merely there to do the bidding of the two parties who make up the Executive.
“If she is unwilling or unable to state her opinion, then many people will be questioning what role she is performing, because if she is simply going to do exactly as she is told by the DUP and Sinn Fein, then you have to ask why the Justice Minister wasn’t selected from one of those parties in the first place.”