Abortion vote puts May on spot

BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May faces a showdown with ministers and legislators in her Conservative Party after refusing to back reform of Northern Ireland’s highly restrictive abortion rules after neighbouring Ireland’s vote to liberalise its laws.

A traditionally Catholic country, Ireland voted by a landslide to ditch its strict abortion laws in a referendum that Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said lifted decades of shame.

His government has promised to approve the drafting of abortion legislation at a cabinet meeting tomorrow.

More than 66% of voters backed repealing the ban on terminations, triggering tearful jubilation in Dublin. Pressure mounted yesterday for British-ruled Northern Ireland to liberalise its strict abortion laws.

British lawmakers said Northern Ireland, where abortions are only allowed if the physical or mental health of the mother are at severe risk, should now follow suit.

Women who have unsanctioned abortions in Northern Ireland face life imprisonment under 19th-century legislation still in place.

But any hope for quick change in Northern Ireland appears improbable, as May’s minority government relies on support from the anti-abortion Democratic Unionist Party for a majority in the British parliament.