Labour MPs to press May for Commons vote on Northern Ireland abortion ban

Labour MPs to press May for Commons vote on Northern Ireland abortion ban
Diana Johnson to table bill aimed at forcing government into allowing proper Commons vote

Dan Sabbagh
Sun 21 Oct 2018

Labour MPs will increase the pressure to end Northern Ireland’s highly restrictive Victorian-era abortion laws this week in a series of Commons votes designed to push the UK government into action.

Diana Johnson, the Hull North MP, will introduce a backbench bill on Tuesday calling for a repeal of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which criminalised any woman seeking an abortion with a theoretical maximum term of life imprisonment.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/21/northern-ireland-abortion-ban-commons-vote-labour-diana-johnson

NI anti-abortion activists warn MPs over Westminster interference

NI anti-abortion activists warn MPs over Westminster interference

Jul 18th 2018

Anti-abortion activists from Northern Ireland have warned MPs that any move to change the region's laws at Westminster would cripple devolution.

Campaigners travelled to London on Wednesday to make clear their opposition to any relaxation of Northern Ireland's strict legal position on terminations.

Continued: https://www.aol.co.uk/news/2018/07/18/ni-anti-abortion-activists-warn-mps-over-westminster-interferenc/?guccounter=1

Northern Ireland abortion law clashes with human rights, judges say

Northern Ireland abortion law clashes with human rights, judges say
Supreme court dismisses bid to overturn law but adds to pressure on politicians to act

Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent
Thu 7 Jun 2018

Pressure is growing on the government to reform Northern Ireland’s restrictive abortion laws after the supreme court concluded that they are incompatible with human rights legislation.

Justices at the UK’s highest court dismissed a legal challenge by a narrow majority of four to three and said they had no jurisdiction to consider the latest case because there was no actual or potential victim of an unlawful act involved in it.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/07/supreme-court-dismisses-bid-to-overturn-northern-ireland-abortion-laws

Pro-choice group plans to offer abortion pills in Northern Ireland tour

Pro-choice group plans to offer abortion pills in Northern Ireland tour

Protest over region’s near-total ban on terminations follows referendum south of border

Henry McDonald in Belfast and agencies
Mon 28 May 2018

Pro-choice activists are planning to distribute abortion pills from a bus touring Northern Ireland this week in protest against the near-total ban on terminations in the region.

The medication is illegal in Northern Ireland which, after the referendum in the Republic on Friday, will soon be the only place in the UK and the island of Ireland where women cannot terminate unwanted pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/28/pro-choice-group-plans-to-offer-abortion-pills-in-northern-ireland-tour

UK: A “controversial” Northern Irish anti-abortion campaign doesn’t deserve a PR award

A “controversial” Northern Irish anti-abortion campaign doesn’t deserve a PR award
When women’s lives and freedoms are imperilled, the publicity should always be bad, says Rebecca Schiller

By Rebecca Schiller
Dec 13, 2017

“Controversial” is a word too often used to hide the leer of evil things or bad people attempting to pass themselves off as one side of a reasonable debate. Milo Yiannopoulos was “controversial” until he gave the thumbs-up to paedophiles. It is the epithet chosen to introduce Breitbart into polite society and let’s not forget the ever so “controversial” child tax credit “rape clause”.

Real controversy is important and can spark the kind of debate that makes positive change and progress happen. But these people, ideas and statements are not important facets of a three-dimensional debate. They are not controversial – they are malignant and dangerous.

Continued at source: https://www.the-pool.com/news-views/politics/2017/50/Rebecca-Schiller-on-Both-Lives-Matter-controversial-win?mc_cid=402a629e5a&mc_eid=daef22644f

UN will challenge Ireland further if abortion law unchanged, Oireachtas told

UN will challenge Ireland further if abortion law unchanged, Oireachtas told
Anti-abortion professor declines to give evidence to ‘kangaroo court’
Nov 8, 2017
Sarah Bardon

Ireland will face further cases before the United Nations if it fails to change abortion laws, an Oireachtas committee has been advised.

The committee examining the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution was warned the State would be further criticised by the UN human rights committee and be forced to pay compensation to individual women if the status quo remained.

Continued at source: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/un-will-challenge-ireland-further-if-abortion-law-unchanged-oireachtas-told-1.3284727

Northern Ireland: This anti-abortion hijacking of Black Lives Matter is cynical and offensive

This anti-abortion hijacking of Black Lives Matter is cynical and offensive
Both Lives Matter has got away with a misleading ad. But using the language of human rights can’t hide its true agenda: subjugating women

Elizabeth Nelson
Friday 4 August 2017

It’s a fairly large number, 100,000, but nice and round. Easy to compute. Most of us could even divide it by 10, at a push. Apparently it is this convenient roundedness that led the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) this week to dismiss complaints about recent claims on a billboard that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws have saved “100,000” lives. In its statement, the ASA said: “We considered that 100,000 was a large, round number that readers would typically associate with estimates” – and was therefore unproblematic.

Continued at source: The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/04/anti-abortion-hijack-black-lives-matter-both-lives-matter-advert-northern-ireland