Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Northern Ireland enters the 21st Century - at last!
The Guardian reports that Northern Ireland is to legalise abortion and same-sex marriage after an 11th-hour attempt by the region’s assembly to block change collapsed into farce.
They say that anti-abortion groups led by the Democratic Unionist party tried to avert liberalisation by recalling the mothballed chamber at Stormont for the first time in almost three years. But discord and walkouts stymied debate and left the assembly deserted:
The new legislation puts the House of Commons on track to legislate for marriage equality by January 2020, paving the way for same-sex couples to wed from 14 February – Valentine’s Day.
The abortion law obliges the UK to ensure regulations for free, legal and local abortion services are in place by 31 March 2020.
After midnight there will be a moratorium on criminal prosecutions, halting police investigations into abortion cases, including a case against a mother who faced jail for buying her then 15-year-old daughter abortion pills online, said Amnesty.
For a party who believes in Northern Ireland being part of the UK, the DUP's position on this makes sense only in the context of them wishing to create their own little enclave of Gilead on our western flank.
Northern Ireland has now been brought into line with the rest of the UK on two important liberal issues. We no longer have a situation where citizens of one part of the UK have lesser rights that those elsewhere.
They say that anti-abortion groups led by the Democratic Unionist party tried to avert liberalisation by recalling the mothballed chamber at Stormont for the first time in almost three years. But discord and walkouts stymied debate and left the assembly deserted:
The new legislation puts the House of Commons on track to legislate for marriage equality by January 2020, paving the way for same-sex couples to wed from 14 February – Valentine’s Day.
The abortion law obliges the UK to ensure regulations for free, legal and local abortion services are in place by 31 March 2020.
After midnight there will be a moratorium on criminal prosecutions, halting police investigations into abortion cases, including a case against a mother who faced jail for buying her then 15-year-old daughter abortion pills online, said Amnesty.
For a party who believes in Northern Ireland being part of the UK, the DUP's position on this makes sense only in the context of them wishing to create their own little enclave of Gilead on our western flank.
Northern Ireland has now been brought into line with the rest of the UK on two important liberal issues. We no longer have a situation where citizens of one part of the UK have lesser rights that those elsewhere.
