Ulster abortion move condemned
A MOVE to allow women in Northern Ireland the same abortion rights as those in Britain has been slammed by Ulster MPs.
Labour MP Diane Abbott has tabled an amendment at Westminster to allow women in the Province similar rights to those in the UK and the Republic.
Northern Ireland was excluded from the 1967 Abortion Act, making it illegal in the Province.
Because Ms Abbott proposed the amendment on the last day of Parliament before a summer recess so is unlikely to be debated by MPs, if at all, until the autumn at the earliest.
The amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is facing severe criticism from all of the Northern Ireland parties at Westminster who oppose such a move.
Party leaders and the four church leaders wrote to MPs earlier this year venting their opposition.
DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson says the law is different in Northern Ireland as that is the wish of the people.
"We will be vigorously opposing any move to override the wishes of the people of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Assembly," he said.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan said his party will do their utmost to oppose an extension of the Act.
Ms Abbott has been backed by fellow left-wing MPs John McDonnell and Katy Clark, plus Tories Jacqui Lait and John Bercow and Lib Dem Evan Harris.
The Labour MP believes women in Northern Ireland are being treated as "second class" citizens.
"If you want to have abortion and you're a woman in Northern Ireland, you have to travel to the UK. So every year thousands of women pay with their own money to have an abortion here," she told the BBC.
"The effect of the amendment would be to give women in Northern Ireland exactly the same rights to abortion with NHS funding that women elsewhere in Britain have."
Northern Ireland political parties have argued abortion laws should not be changed in the Province without the consent of the Assembly.
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SHOULD ABORTION BE LEGALISED IN NORTHERN IRELAND?
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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