DUP MLA JIM Wells has come under criticism for comparing the UK’s abortion rate to the Nazi Holocaust.

The comments were made during an interview on the Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster today, where Wells was interviewed alongside Tory ex-Minister Anna Soubry. The DUP is a pro-life party whereas Soubry supports the UK abortion law.

The conversation was taking place in the wake of the DUP’s Sammy Wilson saying that aborted foetuses were binned following terminations. During the interview, Wells repeatedly criticised Soubry for not mentioning the unborn child when she spoke about terminations.

“What choice does the unborn baby have?” asked Wells, a former Health Minister in Northern Ireland.

Soubry accused the DUP of having “the most papist view in Northern Ireland” of abortion.

Holocaust 

Wells said that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws have saved the lives of 100,000 people.

He said that within his constituency there is no demand for abortion or for gay marriage.

After Soubry left the show, host Stephen Nolan and Wells were joined by journalist Malachi Doherty.

During the conversation Doherty said the DUP was saying that “something worse than the Holocaust was happening in England”, to which Wells said he didn’t think Doherty was “too far wrong”.

Wells said that “9.2 million people have had their lives terminated through abortion in Britain since 1967″, which is “more than the number of lives murdered” in Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

“It is a ghastly situation – we are killing human beings,” said Wells, who later clarified that he doesn’t think women who have had abortions are like Nazis.

Asked by host Stephen Nolan if it is fair to make this comparison to the Holocaust, Wells said that the numbers “are fair comparisons” given that the number of abortions far exceeds deaths (around 6 million) in concentration camps.

“These are human beings; these are people who have been killed in the womb,” said Wells. “I don’t support the killing of any human being.” He said that abortion “has got completely out of control” in the United Kingdom.

Wells said he was only making the comparison on the “sheer scale of loss of human life”.

His comments have received much criticism, including from callers who phoned into the show.

Sinn Féin MLA Chris Hazzard said that Wells’ comments do not reflect the vast majority of his South Downs constituency:

Following the results of the Eighth Amendment Referendum, there is renewed pressure on the Northern Ireland Assembly to reform and legislate for abortion there.