Recent Coalition For Choice Articles

Northern Ireland women on Northern Ireland and abortion

Before Sunny went to the USA, he and I created a Liberal Conspiracy photo gallery for photo articles and essays on some of the people and issues we’re covering at LC.

I’ve used it to post a collection of pictures of and quotes from some of the Northern Ireland women who are campaigning to have abortion rights extended to Northern Ireland when parliament votes on Abortion Act amendments at the report stage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. The women speak for themselves, which is surely at least as good as me ranting.

You’ll see that they are concerned that the great Gordon Brown has already done for their chances of a Yes vote by agreeing to an anti abortion deal with the Demoractic Unionists in exchange for the DUP’s support on 42 days’ detention.

They also talk about the role they expect Westminster to play in Northern Ireland, and about their disappointment in Stormont.

The gallery sits on my hangbitch site at the moment, and with a variety of logos, because we didn’t manage to integrate the gallery at LC before Sunny left. We’ll sort that out when he gets back.

I’ve also added audios of all the speakers at last week’s pro choice lobby at parliament.

Link to Northern Ireland photo gallery.

Abortion rights lobby: meeting notice

Hey all,

Quick reminder re: tonight’s meeting:

Oct 7th, 7pm, Committee room 11, House of Commons

Join Abortion Rights for an update on amendments tabled for the report stage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, and to discuss the pro choice campaign.

Speakers: Diane Abbott MP, Annie Campbell – Alliance for Choice, Kay Carberry – TUC Assistant General Secretary, Katy Clark MP, Katie Curtis NUS, Evan Harris MP, Jacqui Lait MP; Wendy Savage – Doctors for a Woman’s Choice on Abortion, Dr Audrey Simpson – fpa Northern Ireland, Polly Toynbee – Guardian commentator.

More at Abortion Rights.

Back on abortion

I had a very useful chat with Abortion Rights campaign co-ordinator Louise Hutchins last week: the time fast approaches for the report stage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill – and for fighting attendant dingbat anti-choice amendments to the Abortion Act.

And there are plenty of them this time round, people – each more patronising to us girls than the last. What a display they make, too: you rarely see such a memorable range of turds outside of safari.

Floating atop the pile is the legendary Edward Leigh’s proposal to implement a compulsory cooling-off period of seven days for women who want abortions – Ed, I guess, having finally bought into the long-held – if unproven – pro-life theory that when you shriek a faceful of Jesus at a woman for a calendar week, her maternal instinct replaces all her other ones. continue reading… »

Abort Gordon

Evening all. Tremendous to see our comrades in the Green party embracing the notion of extending abortion rights to Northern Ireland when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill comes round for its third reading.

The part I’m really looking forward to, though, is watching our comrades in the Labour party try to reconcile any push for Northern Ireland abortion rights with the undoubtedly high expectations of their new and highly reactionary pals in the Democratic Unionist party. Can’t WAIT to see the great Harriet Harman – our very own self-proclaimed champion of women’s rights – pull that one out of her butt. What a result that’ll be for perversion.

You’ll remember the DUP, of course, and the unpalatable details of its recent, greasy love-in with Labour. You’ll remember that DUP MPs agreed to vote with the government on 42 days’ detention, in exchange for – well, in exchange for absolutely nothing apart from job satisfaction if our glorious leader Gordon was telling the truth at the time. continue reading… »

Lesbian mothers and ‘traditional’ families

Medical technology is an awesome thing. It can save lives, cure terrible diseases, rebuild bodies. It can prolong and improve the lives of the chronically ill and disabled beyond the wildest dreams of sufferers even fifty years ago. It can reattach limbs, restore sight, cure depression, return the manic to health and sanity.

But can it be used to give women control over whether and when they have children? Only if male doctors and MPs say so.

Whoever your parents are, they’re going to fuck you up to some extent. I make no apologies for assuming that gay women and single women are just as likely to make good parents as anyone else, if not more so, as children conceived via the arduous process of IVF are slightly more likely to be wanted and treasured infants. For the purposes of this post we shall assume that one’s sexual orientation has no bearing on one’s likelihood of raising an unfucked-up child, nor on one’s right to attempt to do so. With that one out the way, let’s tuck in to a tasty breakfast of radical feminism with a gin chaser.
continue reading… »

How MPs voted on abortion, and other points

A few things to note
– Two of the Emily’s List MPs, Celia Barlow and Kitty Ussher voted to reduce the limit to 22 weeks.

– George Osborne, Conservative MP and shadow chancellor, voted to keep the 24 week limit. Well done to him.

– A special thanks should be written to the MPs Evan Harris, Chris McCafferty, John Bercow and Dawn Primarolo for their unwavering support for 24 weeks.

– I have an article today on CIF on Christian fundamentalists and abortion.

– Tom Freeman reckons that a Tory majority of 38 week in the next election would make it possible for them to reduce the limit next time.
continue reading… »

It was Dorries wot lost it!

It came down to the crunch, and after everything, not even the 200 supporters Nadine Dorries said she had bothered to turn up to vote for a reduction in the abortion limit to 20 weeks. All the hype about the vote being close turned out to be bluster, with the amendment being rejected by a majority of 142, 190 votes for to 332 against. All the attempts by Dorries to turn to complete emotion, raising the issue of the baby boy she witnessed struggling to breathe once again during the debate, after saying that she hadn’t wanted to use it, have failed.

This was after she said that Labour MPs were supposedly on a three-line-whip to “attend” so that they knew which way they were to be expected to vote. Desperation doesn’t even begin to cover it.
continue reading… »

Crunch time for women’s rights today

Yesterday in Parliament, MPs voted for allowing scientists to create human-animal hybrid embryos to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Today there will be two free votes today:
continue reading… »

Emily Thornberry and 24 weeks

They’re voting on the 24-week time limit for abortion today: here’s Labour MP Emily Thornberry on the Labour party and the pro-choice lobby’s chances:

Leading Labour pro-choice MP Emily Thornberry is youngish (47), new to the national scene (first elected to parliament in 2005), able to talk a blue streak (she was a criminal lawyer), charismatic, and – at first interview, anyway – refreshingly disinterested in caution.

Truly disinterested, even: she says and does – apparently – anything. She freely describes some Labour colleagues as Neanderthals.

continue reading… »

What is Nadine Dorries MP’s real agenda? (pt 4)

1) Consistency is not really her strong point, Bookdrunk said yesterday when Unity blogged the amendments Tory MPs are proposing to the HFE Bill. There’s Mr Edward Leigh supporting amendments to reduc the limit to 12, 14 or 16 weeks and there’s Nadine Dorries supporting reducing the limit to 20 weeks and 16 weeks! Is she not conviced by her own arguments?

But you see, that isn’t her ultimate agenda and neither is it of these other mysogynist MPs.
continue reading… »