MPs back abortion and same-sex marriage for Northern Ireland
Equality campaigners celebrate as amendments are passed in Westminster
Westminster MPs have voted overwhelmingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to Northern Ireland.
The devolved Northern Ireland government at Stormont collapsed in 2017, and repeated talks have failed to repair the breach. Under the amendments approved by the Commons, the changes will come into effect if a new power-sharing executive has not been created by 21 October, the date by which Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley must call a new election.
The amendments voted on were part of a Commons debate aimed at keeping Northern Ireland running in the absence of devolved government and extending Whitehall’s legal power to delay a fresh Stormont election.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The BBC points out that “few had anticipated that the amendments would even be selected for debate, given how much controversy they had the potential to stir up”.
Northern Ireland is currently the only part of the United Kingdom where abortion is illegal in almost all circumstances and where same-sex couples cannot marry. Gay and lesbian weddings were legalised in England and Wales in 2013 and in Scotland in 2014. The first same-sex marriages in the Republic of Ireland took place in the following year.
The Guardian says the results were “greeted ecstatically by equalities campaigners” as MPs broke with protocol to clap in the Commons.
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP who led the fight for abortion rights, said that “everyone in the UK deserves to be treated as an equal”.
During the Commons debate, Nick Herbert, a former Tory minister, told MPs that he was backing the gay marriage amendment, saying: “There is a very simple remedy if you don’t like the idea of same sex marriage - don’t enter into one, it is not compulsory.”
He added that it was wrong that people in one part of the UK “cannot avail themselves of something which many people regard to be a matter of their fundamental rights, which is to be able to enter into a marriage with a person they love”.
However, The Times points out that “Democratic Unionist MPs, on whom the government relies for its Commons majority, accused Westminster politicians of ignoring the concerns of people in Northern Ireland”.
Indeed, “there are two ways to read what just happened in parliament”, says the BBC’s Jayne McCormack.
“The first, how many campaigners see it, is that this is a watershed moment towards legalising same-sex marriage and liberalising abortion laws in Northern Ireland.
“The other take is that this is the biggest step yet by Westminster when it comes to implementing direct rule in NI.”
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Nigeria's worsening rate of maternal mortality
Under the radar Economic crisis is making hospitals unaffordable, with women increasingly not receiving the care they need
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Elevating Earth Day into a national holiday is not radical — it's practical'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
UAW scores historic win in South at VW plant
Speed Read Volkswagen workers in Tennessee have voted to join the United Auto Workers union
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitution
speed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Why the Troubles Act faces a legal challenge in Belfast
The Explainer Relatives of victims bring case against controversial legislation to High Court
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Abortion law reform: a question of safety?
Talking Point Jailing of woman who took abortion pills after legal limit leads to calls to scrap ‘archaic’ 1861 legislation
By Harriet Marsden Published
-
Repeal the Eighth: how have abortion services changed in Ireland five years on?
Today's Big Question Report finds access is still limited and unequal, but proposed legislation changes may be delayed
By Harriet Marsden Published
-
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and 17 other lawmakers arrested outside US Supreme Court
Speed Read The Congress members were attending a protest in support of abortion rights
By The Week Staff Published
-
Roe vs. Wade overturned: what the ruling means for other American rights
feature A Supreme Court scholar explains the impact of ‘revolutionary’ abortion ruling
By The Week Staff Published
-
Can Joe Biden do anything to preserve US abortion rights?
Under the Radar President warns Supreme Court against threatening ‘stability of our law’
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Lizelle Herrera arrest highlights rising tensions over Texas abortion laws
Why Everyone’s Talking About The case has ‘confounded activists on both sides of the abortion debate’
By Julia O'Driscoll Published