Janice Turner in The Times today; The Clock Is Turning Back

[MrsSnippyPants]

Apologies if this has been posted, I couldn’t see it. Just sat down with the paper and Janice’s column just moved me to tears and then rage. Sorry, no share token.
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-clock-is-turning-back-on-women-s-rights-x9n9mvqrw

Just going to hang out on your thread OP, waiting for a share token, because I'm out of Times credits this week because of that fantastic piece on that wally Gregor Murray

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-clock-is-turning-back-on-women-s-rights-x9n9mvqrw?shareToken=1df82312fcb6446dbcba81ad4fa31364

Hope that works?

"a host body"

More accurately known as a mother or a woman".

Language like this allows them to think the thoughts of forced pregnancy. Utterly dreadful.

Particularly loved this:

"Feminism isn’t an arc of progress but a game of whack-a-mole. Just when you think a battle is won, an issue settled, it rears up in another place or another form."

So bloody true.

She's hit the nail absolutely on the head once again. Wish they would invite her to formally advise every bloody equalities commission going.

that woman can bloody write

brava Janice you can feel her righteous anger in every line.

Great article.

I quite often describe life as a game of whack a mole, so appreciate that analogy.

It does, Latin, thank you!

I meant to come back and thank you sooner, but got carried away in the comments.

She's brilliant. Thank you Janice

Janice nails it again

All Westminster has to do is abolish the 1861 Act. It still applies to England and Wales, but here the 1967 Abortion Act provides a number of exceptions for which women require written permission from two doctors. Abolish the 1861 Act and Northern Ireland would automatically have legal abortion up to 24 weeks. Parliament would not be imposing new laws.

Assuming this is correct I'm disgusted that the Tories won't do this to grant equal rights to all female citizens of the UK😡

Depressing comments. It's truly worrying how many people, men and women, view autonomy and rights for women as unfair to men.

The 'host body' has to accept major health risks and potential lifelong damage to their body as a result of a pregnancy and birth, not to mention high rates of birth trauma and pnd. And that's if things go well. The 'host body' suffers the career break, financial losses and employment issues, the financial issues, the care issues. The 'host body' disproportionately carries the hard work and financial hardship of raising a severely disabled child, managing a family too large for available resources, managing the main care for children when a relationship breaks down. The people pointing out how equally tough things are for men are inevitably complaining that men are required to economically contribute towards their child. This is and always has been a massive misogynistic bone of contention.

How does the universal credit limit on child numbers work in Northern Ireland?

Yes, the comments are awful. Makes me so mad how many of them are men who think that they should have a say over women's bodies.

Achingly painful to read. Appalling that government just ignores it.

She really is a great writer and not afraid to speak out on controversial issues.

Janice is a hero.
Yes women in NI should have same abortion rights as the rest of UK.
Not sure if getting rid of the relevant bits of the Offences against the Person Act is the best or only legal way to do it- there is the Infant Life preservation act and in Northern Ireland law section 25(1) of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 which bring in child destruction offences.

But definitely right that only Westminster Parliament can give NI women equal rights to (NHS-funded) abortion as the rest of UK and that MPs can’t claim to be interested in human rights or feminism without making this change.

An absolutely superb article. Passionate and justifiably angry, but bang-on with the facts and also beautifully-written. Journalism as it should be, but so often isn't.

When the Times recently abolished my basic digital subscription package and the monthly cost doubled I almost cancelled, but because of journalists like Janice and Andrew Gilligan I decided not to.