#NowforNI 7pm call in House of Commons for an emergency debate. Request that MPs attend

[R0wantrees]

Just seen this.
twitter.com/WEP_UK/status/1003642789907849216

As I understand it this is a devolved matter, so an emergency debate in Westminister where half the NI MPs don't sit wouldn't be appropriate at all.

fullfact.org/law/abortion-human-rights-and-devolution/

I'm sure this point would be raised in the debate (should it happen)

There was a debate on Womans Hour this morning, with someone saying that repealing the old act and decriminalising abortion was something Westminster could do.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b4yzvm

From the programme page:
This week, the highest court in the land, will rule on abortion in Northern Ireland. The Supreme Court in London will decide whether or not the law as it stands breaches human rights. At the moment, Northern Ireland is the only region in the UK where women cannot get an abortion, unless their life is in danger. Last week's abortion referendum result across the border, in the Republic, has shone a spotlight on the situation in Northern Ireland and pro-choice demonstrators have been demanding change.

The Supreme Court ruling would be limited to cases of severe disability, rape or incest.

www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2017-0131.html

it's due on Thursday

Stella Creasy now speaking:
parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/b00320b1-dbf7-4fdc-b51c-db3e8a5f200b

There will be a debate tomorrow morning.
This had support of the House

I thought Westminster had taken on Stormont’s powers effectively because they weren’t sitting. So why can’t Westminster decide on this?

"I thought Westminster had taken on Stormont’s powers effectively because they weren’t sitting. "

Nope. Westminster has given a budget, but there's no Direct Rule.

Also since the DUP are in government in westminster and are vehemently opposed to abortion, there's not the tiniest of chances that the PM will bring down her government and call a general election over this issue.

Thanks Cat you prompted me to look it up, This was always how it was done previously. I hadn’t realised about the direct rule system, which has been changed since then last time it was used to give Westminster direct rule when there was no NI Assembly in operation.

Well, for how long can NI people be denied proper representation and debate? (About 18 months and counting it seems..)

There is a debate in westminster coming: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44357581

‘MPs have won permission for an emergency debate on the abortion law in Northern Ireland.
Members from throughout the House - including government ministers - stood to back Labour MP Stella Creasy's call for a debate.
She told MPs the impact of the Irish referendum had been "felt around the world" and had "thrown a spotlight on the situation in Northern Ireland".
Speaker John Bercow granted a three-hour debate to take place on Tuesday.

Following last month's Irish referendum result, Northern Ireland will soon be the only part of either the UK or Ireland where abortion is illegal unless there is a serious risk to a woman's life or health.
There have been calls for the UK Parliament to legislate for abortion reform in Northern Ireland in the absence of a functioning devolved government.
Ms Creasy wants the Offences against the Persons Act 1861 to be repealed, saying this would remove a block to abortion law reform in Northern Ireland.
Her debate will not change the law but will give MPs a chance to air their views.
Earlier Theresa May met Conservative MPs pressing for changes to Northern Ireland's abortion laws amid calls for an emergency debate on the issue.
She met ex-ministers Amber Rudd, Maria Miller and Justine Greening, as well as women's minister Penny Mordaunt.
The PM has so far resisted calls to act in Northern Ireland following last month's landslide vote in the Irish Republic to liberalise its own laws.
No 10 says it should be dealt with by Stormont once devolution is restored.
"We recognise there are strongly-held views on all sides of the debate in Northern Ireland and that's why our focus is on restoring that democratically accountable, devolved government," Downing Street said after the meeting.

The Democratic Unionist Party, on whom Mrs May relies for her parliamentary majority, opposes changes to abortion law in Northern Ireland.

On Monday its leader Arlene Foster said some nationalist voters backed its stance.’

I was happy about this Westminster debate and still feel it’s vital to air the views, but disappointed that the legal route to change the law in NI (and not just this law!) seems to be in complete limbo. Surely that’s totally unsustainable...?

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-northern-ireland-41146779 BBC article what is direct rule for NI

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-northern-ireland-politics-42608322 BBC article A year in NI without devolved government

I would email my MP, but he's DUP and ambitious, so it's utterly pointless. I am very grateful to anyone in the rest of the UK who emails their MP.

Flavia Why not email that excuse for a ‘representative of the people’, to say that you’ll not give him your vote if he continues to uphold physically, financially and emotionally abusive, Victorian-era policies against women.

You could add that you will actively voice your concerns about his position in every local public forum that you have available to you. (Eg family, friends, colleagues in your workplace, parents at the school gates and particularly in discussion with your local religious leaders.

You may feel better having said your piece and that misogynistic fuckwit will not be able to truthfully claim that he has universal support.
Keep the pressure up!

Because there's no way in hell he'll get my vote anyway and he knows it as we vaguely know each other.

He would know I would vote and support his Alliance opposite number publicly.

Flavia fair dos.

I’m happy to report that I just got a great pro choice response from my (GB) MP who I have written to various times on different aspects of abortion. They are going to be as active as they can in the debate today which is good.

Fantastic response ChattyLion

BTW they were clearly already pro choice I didn’t mean i converted anyone but it means that I can write to them on specific aspects to do with women’s health and they often write back.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-44377858/mps-hold-highly-charged-northern-ireland-abortion-laws-debate

Sarah Ewart:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-44402908

A Belfast woman who travelled to Britain for an abortion is to take her case to the High Court in an attempt to change the law in Northern Ireland.
NI has much stricter abortion laws than other parts of the UK.

The Supreme Court earlier ruled that NI abortion laws in cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality were incompatible with human rights law.
But it rejected an appeal by the NI Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) on a technicality.
The seven Supreme Court judges said the case should have been brought by a woman pregnant as a result of a crime or carrying a foetus with a fatal abnormality.

As a result, the judges did not make a formal declaration of incompatibility, which would normally lead to a change in the law.
In a joint statement, the Departments of Health and of Justice said they were now considering the ruling.

Currently, a termination is only permitted in Northern Ireland if a woman's life is at risk or if there is a risk of permanent and serious damage to her mental or physical health.
The 1967 Abortion Act was never extended to Northern Ireland.
A fatal foetal abnormality diagnosis means doctors believe an unborn child has a terminal condition and will die in the womb or shortly after birth, although anti-abortion campaigners have argued that terminally-ill babies "can and do defy the odds".

Sarah Ewart has campaigned for a change to Northern Ireland's law in cases of fatal foetal abnormality after she travelled to England for an abortion in 2013 after being told her unborn child would not survive outside the womb.
Hers was one of three cases referred to in the Supreme Court judgment.

"I, and we, will not stop until we can get our own medical care in our own hospitals at home," she said on Thursday.
"The High Court in Belfast and The Supreme Court are in agreement that the law needs to be changed, so let's just do this.
"To Theresa May, I would say: 'We need change and help. This is a medical procedure that we need in our hospitals with our own medical team. Please help us now.'
"I personally have been doing this for five years, and five years is too long.
"People are putting families and pregnancies on hold for fear that this could happen again."

I can see May maybe calling another general election. Esecially after seeing Labour plummet. Mind, thats exactly why she did it last time..thinking she would trash Corbyn easily, and it backfired hugely, would she really risk it again? She may well strengthen her share substancially though. Especially when people learn that its the right of women in NI to actually chose what happens with their bodies that led her to risk it for a second time.