Why Northern Ireland is incompatible with woman's rights #abortion

When the High Court in Belfast ruled last month that Northern Ireland's abortion legislation was "incompatible" with human rights law, I expected there to be some objections. However, with both the Attorney General and Justice Minister lodging appeals against that decision.

Now the Justice Minister unlike the Attorney General admits that some change does need to be made to Northern Ireland's abortion laws, his words show a certain bias none the less. David Ford has said:

"The judgement from the High Court does not fully clarify the law and potentially leaves open the possibility there could be abortion on demand in Northern Ireland on an even wider basis than is the case in the rest of the United Kingdom."

Firstly the use of the phrase abortion of demand ignores the fact that many Northern Irish women already access abortion within the confines of the law in the rest of the UK. The way to stop there being legal challenges as to the compatibility with human rights law is to act in a positive direction to relax the restrictions not challenge a ruling that says you need to act.

What they need most is support prior and post the terminations which do happen. We need that support on demand! Hoiwever, with the current archaic laws in Northern Ireland they fear being arrested for taking whatever means they have done to terminate a pregnancy. The fact that future gynecological issues may arise because of earlier terminations, but such women in Northern Ireland may fear seeking assistance for these because of their secret, taboo, history.

I do not think any makes a decision for termination lightly. It is an emotive subject with heated arguments on both sides of the debates. But the people for who it is the most emotive are not the protesters outside the Marie Stopes clinic in Belfast, not are they the feminists who stand up loudly against just such protesters. Not the people for whom this is most emotive are of course the women carrying the foetus/unborn child (depending on your viewpoint) and those who care for them secondly.

So while we continue to fail to move any distance on abortion here in Northern Ireland we are incompatible with human rights law and that is we are enslaving many women to a live of fear of authorities finding out what they may have done in their past, or might have to consider in the future.

Personally I want to see the 1967 Act extended to Northern Ireland but I certainly believe we need to go some distance further than even the limited position that the Department of Justice has said it is prepared to move.

Dear Equality for all

Yes at the end of last week an anonymous letter writer to the Belfast Telegraph took umbrage at the decision at the end of July by Belfast Pride to award this years community partnership award to the Northern Ireland Equality Commission.

Thanks to the Belfast newspapers, we now know that the Equality Commission has been awarded a community partnership award by Pride – the LGBT lobbyists.

Does this mean the commission is now another wing of vociferous LGBT activists? As a neutral quango it must refute the award and sever its association with LGBT lobbyists. If it does not, its funding should be withdrawn.

EQUALITY FOR ALL

Lisburn, Co Antrim

Regular readers can probably accurately guess as to what my first course of action was upon reading those words. Yeah I opened my email account and started to compose the following response published in today's Belfast Telegraph:

It appears that your correspondent Equality for All (Write Back, August 28) is slightly misnamed and is only Equality for Some.

The community partnership award from Belfast Pride is, like the other eight awards, voted for from a shortlist by members of the LGBT community.

The winners of this year's community partnership, the Equality Commission, unlike your correspondent Equality for All, says on its website:

 "Our powers and duties derive from a number of statutes which have been enacted over the last decades, providing protection against discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, race, religion and political opinion, sex and sexual orientation. We also have responsibilities arising from the Northern Ireland Act 1998 in respect of the statutory equality and good relations duties which apply to public authorities."

So, yes, one of the groups that is there to provide protection against discrimination is satisfied with the work it has done and at a community award ceremony decided to say thank you for the work it has done and continues to do. I advise Equality for All to come out of the shadows of anonymity and actually become a real advocate for equality for all in our wee country. Who knows, maybe some day he/she will be up for the Pride Advocate of the Year award.

Of course unlike so much of the negative LGBT correspondence in the Northern Press my name and locality are printed at the bottom of my letter. Yes the equality commission is neutral is as far as it is there to gauge to need for action in the wide range of equality areas that are listed in Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act and other legislation. But sometimes in standing up for those minorities they will not be neutral is standing up to the status quo and conservative thinking people and politicians who do not see the need to change anything.

It is not mean the Equality Commission is a wing of vociferous LGBT activists any more that is is for the Feminist Network, Chinese Welfare, Disability Action, AgeNI or any of the groups working and acting for those other minorities.

Kelly to Lead Talks with the Real IRA

While it may once have been strange to think of Sinn Féin as the arbitrators with terrorists in Northern Ireland, it is not something that after the last three years I'm apprehensive about.

Since they took over co-leadership of the power-sharing executive with the DUP they have proven over and over that there has been a sea change in their outlook and way to working and co-operating for the betterment of Northern Ireland. Therefore it seems natural that after a week of bombs that went off, bombs that failed to go off and bomb scares that Gerry Kelly will lead a delegation in talks with the 32-County Sovereignty Movement the political wing of the Real IRA. Kelly said:

"We have been very clear that we are prepared to talk with these groups, and that they have the absolute right to disagree with the Sinn Fein strategy."

adding

"These small groups have the ability to do damage; two or three people can do a lot of damage if they go undetected and they have the expertise."

That is the thing when you are dealing with a cell of guerrilla activity. They don't have to do a lot, because they can't because there are few enough of them. However, if they hit a high profile target and can co-ordinate attacks with other cells they have the ability to cause damage, injury or death. The 200lb explosion that went off in Derry on Tuesday could have had a major impact throwing Northern Ireland back to the bad old days of fear and suspicion.

But if we are to move forward as was eventually done with Sinn Féin dialogue is a stepping stone along the way. Many of us hoped for the day that the Republicans would be working alongside the rest of Northern Ireland on a peace; though many of us doubted we would see it happen. Now that it is we need to let them talk to the next level of extremist feeling.

It may well be no longer a case of "Ourselves alone" and more a case of "We're all in this together".

Ello, Ello, Bout Ye

Yes they almost were talking about it until the 12th....

....April that is, not July. It certainly feels like it, and reading some of my friends' Facebook updates from Hillsborough Castle of the last couple of years, err, I mean weeks, they certainly say it felt like it.

But responsibility for the Police in Northern Ireland will be transferred from Westminster to Stormont on 12th April.

The PSNI go from ello, ello, ello to bout ye in just over 2 months times.