Draft Termination of Pregnancy (Jersey) Amendment Law 202-(P.79/2024) – Children’s Rights Impact Assessment

1)  Name and brief description of the proposed decision

The subject of your CRIA may be a proposed law, policy or proposition and in accordance with the Law is referred to in this template as the ‘decision'

• What is the problem or issue the decision is trying to address?

• Do children experience this problem differently from adults?

Proposition to remove residency requirements from the Termination of Pregnancy (Jersey) Law 1997. Existing legislation requires a woman requesting a termination of pregnancy to be either:

• Ordinarily resident

• In Jersey for at least 90 days prior to requesting a termination.

By  removing  minimum  residency  requirements,  a  small  number  of  additional women, who are present in Jersey, may access a termination in Jersey rather than travelling to the UK or elsewhere.

Children’s  rights  do  not  apply  to  unborn  children,  therefore  the  provision  of termination of pregnancy services to adults does not impact children’s rights. (Vo v. France (Application No 53924/00, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that: “The unborn child is not regarded as a “person” directly protected by Article 2 of the Convention and that if the unborn do have a “right” to “life”, it is implicitly limited by the mother’s rights and interests.” (para. 80)) Amending the law to provide that:

• a non-resident child who is pregnant (for example, a 16 year old girl) does not need to travel to another jurisdiction for a termination helps protects the child from further distress

• a non-resident parent does not need to travel to another jurisdiction for a termination protects children of that parent from a period of potential separation.

2)  Which groups of children and young people are likely to be affected?

Groups of children could include early years, primary or secondary education; young adults; children with additional learning needs; disabled children; children living in poverty; children from particular ethnic backgrounds; migrants; refugees; care experienced children and LGBTQ+ children

See above

3)  What is the likely impact of the proposed decision on children and on their rights?

 Identify any potential positive OR negative impacts and include indirect impacts on children and their rights as described in the UNCRC

 Will different groups of children be affected differently by this decision?

See above

4)  Is a full Children’s Rights Impact Assessment required?

If you have identified impacts on children and their rights, a full CRIA should be completed. If no impacts are identified then a Full CRIA is not required, but please explain your rationale and how you reached this conclusion

The removal of minimum residency is not believed to introduce new impacts on children different to that already prescribed by law. Therefore, a full CRIA is not required.