The SPAR supermarket chain, has been asked to distance itself from the anti-abortion views of its majority shareholder, the Ardbarron Trust.

Workers Party representatives Gemma Weir and Joanne Lowry have criticised the Ardbarron Trust for the submission it made to Westminster’s Women and Equalities Committee last month.

“The Trust wrote to the Committee last month emphasising its opposition to abortion services and calling for no change in the law”, they said.

“Northern Ireland is still dominated by socially conservative voices and these continue to have an adverse and traumatising effect on local women.

“The Northern Ireland Assembly does not trust women to make choices about their own bodies and their own fertility. Now we have the majority shareholder in one of our best known convenience stores trying to control women’s choices and health options”. the pair said

“The SPAR chain must act quickly to distance itself from the views of the Ardbarron Trust”, said Gemma and Joanne

“Local Spar shoppers, and indeed all those who work for the company, need to know that these shareholders are pursuing this anti-choice agenda”

“The Workers Party recognises that women have the right to control their own bodies, including their fertility, and to pursue all reproductive choices. This is fundamental to any reasonable concept of gender equality in order to achieve full political, social, and economic equality with men”, they concluded.