Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ABORTION LAWS FACE MLA REVIEW
Bid to amend 2019 law on terminations
The private member’s bill is seeking to repeal a specific provision within the region’s regulations that allows terminations up to birth in cases of serious non-fatal disabilities.
It is being tabled by DUP Assembly member Paul Givan.
During an Assembly debate last year, a majority of MLAS voted in opposition to the particular section of the law that allows late stage abortions when severe disability has been diagnosed.
Mr Givan’s move is being backed by disability rights campaign group Don’t Screen Us Out, which claims the law is discriminatory and will allow abortions without time limit for conditions such as Down’s syndrome or cleft palate.
One high-profile activist involved in the campaign is Heidi Crowter, who has Down’s syndrome.
She is also taking a separate legal action against the Government over a similar element in the 1967 Abortion Act, which applies in Great Britain.
The bill would not affect the provision within the law that permits abortions up to birth for fatal foetal abnormalities, where babies are not expected to survive outside the womb.
Northern Ireland’s previously restrictive abortion laws were changed by MPS at
Westminster in 2019 at a time when the
Stormont administration was collapsed.
The laws allow abortion in all circumstances up to 12 weeks. Terminations are permitted up to 24 weeks when there is a risk to the woman’s physical or mental health. There is no time limit in cases of fatal foetal abnormality or when there has been a diagnosis of a serious physical or mental impairment that would cause a serious disability.
Mr Givan’s bill represents the first legislative attempt since devolution was restored in Northern Ireland to amend the abortion laws introduced by the UK Government.
He said: “The current law tells those with disabilities that they are worth less than other people, their contribution is less valuable, their lives less important, less full.
“It invites us to view those with disabilities as less deserving of the protection of the law.” Belfast mother Laura Denny, whose son Nathan has Down’s syndrome, is also supporting the law change.
She said: “It wasn’t until my son Nathan was in my arms that I realised I had a baby and not just a diagnosis.”
BRIAN Conley is heading to Albert Square – and Eastenders bosses hope he will star in the soap for years to come.
The comedian and West End actor will play Sonia Fowler’s longlost dad and says he cannot wait to have his “first pint at the Vic” .
He will begin filming his role as Terry Cant next month.
Brian, 59, said: “Being a Londoner and being part of Eastenders is an incredible moment for me.
“I know my dad’s looking down from above and saying,
‘Good on yer, son!’
“It was always his favourite programme. So it is an honour to be part of such an iconic show.”
Lonely Sonia started searching for her dad online last year but drew a blank.
Having given up hope of ever finding him, his arrival “will be a huge shock”, show insiders say.
A source on the soap also told the Mirror Brian’s contract was a long-term one as a “series regular”.
And executive producer Jon Sen says he has the “charm, wit and charisma” he wanted for Terry. He said: “We had been searching for some time but, the moment we met Brian, knew we had our man.
“We’ve got some wonderful stories in store for him.”
Brian, has been on TV and stage for four decades, having lied about his age when he was 16 to become a Pontin’s Bluecoat.
He lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife Anne-marie.
The couple, who married in 1996, have two daughters, Amy and Lucy. During the 80s, Brian became a household name and starred in sketch show Brian Conley: This Way Up. The height of his fame came in the 90s with The Brian Conley Show, sitcom Time After Time, and Jed Mercurio’s comedy-drama The Grimleys.
More recently he has been a force in the West End, playing the lead in musicals such as Me And My Girl, and Oliver!
Other appearances on TV included I’m A Celebrity...get Me Out Of Here in 2012 and Strictly Come Dancing in 2017.
STAGE With Shobna Gulati in pantomime Cinderella, in 2006
JUNGLE Brian on I’m a Celebrity in 2012