May under pressure to back abortion vote

Theresa May is under pressure to change the law on abortion in Northern Ireland after scores of her own ministers called on her to back a vote on the issue. Anne Milton, the skills minister and former deputy chief whip, became the latest to back a free vote in the House of Commons after Ireland voted to allow women access to abortions this weekend.

Other ministers have called for a referendum, but the Prime Minister is in a difficult position because any change in the law would be strongly opposed by the DUP, the party on which she relies for her Commons majority.

On Sunday, Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, warned the decision will be for Northern Ireland alone, not politicians in Westminster, in a signal to ministers to back off.

Northern Ireland only allows terminations if a woman’s life is at risk. In 2016-17, just 13 abortions were carried out in hospitals in the province.

Milton said the Northern Irish system is “anomalous”, adding it “doesn’t feel quite right” that the National Health Service in England currently funds free abortions for Northern Irish women who don’t have the right to them.

Pressure has been increasing on May since voters in Ireland backed relaxation of abortion law by a majority of 66 per cent. Previously Irish women had been forced to travel to get a termination. Many still have to do so in Northern Ireland because of its strict laws on the issue.

Former minister Maria Miller called for a referendum on the issue, while Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt, who is responsible for the women and equalities brief in May’s government, said the referendum signalled a “historic and great day for Ireland” and a “hopeful one for Northern Ireland.” “That hope must be met,” she added. Nicky Morgan and three other former holders of the women and equalities role — Amber Rudd, Justine Greening and Maria Miller — all back Mordaunt, the Sunday Times reported.

And 140 MPs are said to have signed an amendment calling for the change to happen.

Any action would require a decision by May, because abortion law is a devolved issue so MPs would be unlikely to win the right to change the law in the House of Commons.

But Downing Street considers it a question for Northern Ireland and not Westminster. Sources said there would not be a free vote or referendum.

They added that discussion on the issue would “focus minds” and encourage politicians in the region to get back around the negotiating table and set up an executive in the country, leaving them free to debate abortion.

Foster said: “Some of those demanding change are the same people blocking devolution or demanding that Westminster change the law whilst simultaneously opposing direct rule.”

Westminster is acting as a caretaker leader until a government can be agreed, but sources close to the Prime Minister said no big changes, including on social issues like abortion, should be made during that period.

Justice Minister Rory Stewart told BBC’s Sunday Politics the U.K. government’s position as caretaker “must not be used to make fundamental constitutional, ethical changes on behalf of the people in Northern Ireland.”

In Dublin, attention turned Sunday to Ireland’s parliament, where it will have to make new laws to govern abortions now that the public has rejected the constitution’s Eighth Amendment in a referendum Friday.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hailed the vote as bringing a new era to Ireland.

He said it will be remembered as “the day Ireland stepped out from under the last of our shadows and into the light. The day we came of age as a country. The day we took our place among the nations of the world.”

His government will propose that abortions be permissible in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It isn’t yet clear what strategy abortion opponents will use in parliament in light of the unexpectedly large vote in favour of repeal.

Some expect a bruising fight in parliament, where there is strong opposition to reform in some quarters, but a more conciliatory debate is also possible.

The decisive outcome of the landmark referendum was cast as a historic victory for women’s rights. Exit polls indicated that the repeal was endorsed in urban and rural areas alike, with strong support from both men and women.

Backing for repeal was highest among young voters, including many who returned from jobs or universities in continental Europe to vote, but was also high among every age group except those 65 or older.

Since 1983, the Eighth Amendment had forced women seeking to terminate pregnancies to go abroad for abortions, bear children conceived through rape or incest, or take risky illegal measures at home.