English MPs plot ambush to impose “one of the most permissive abortion regimes in the world” on NI
from SPUC:
“No-one should be under any illusion as the extreme nature of this Bill.”
English MPs will this week seek to impose what a leading legal expert has called a “radically permissive” abortion regime on Northern Ireland – despite polling showing that a majority of people from the Province think that the issue should not be decided by Westminster politicians.
Parliamentary ambush
Tomorrow, Diana Johnson, the Labour MP for Hull North, will move her ten minute rule bill on decriminalising abortion across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It also emerged over the weekend that Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Conor McGinn have tabled amendments calling for abortion and same-sex marriage to a Northern Ireland bill being debated on Wednesday. The two English MPs have put down an amendment to the bill – which is aimed at giving officials greater powers in the absence of a Stormont assembly- asking Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland secretary, to “make provision” for repealing the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which would decriminalise abortion.
Five reasons why abortion should not be decriminalised
Undermining devolution
The parliamentary manoeuvres, which the Guardian describes as an “ambush”, come as polling shows that voters in Northern Ireland insist that abortion must be decided by local politicians. A ComRes survey commissioned by SPUC found that 64 per cent supported the view that any decision on abortion legislation should be taken by Northern Ireland politicians and not by Westminster. Furthermore, when asked if it would undermine the devolution settlement if MPs in Westminster were to overrule the views of Northern Ireland’s elected representatives because they held a different view on abortion law, 47 per cent agreed while just 30 per cent disagreed.
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