Jacob Rees-Mogg: Ireland abortion ban result made me sad
2 min read
Top Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he was “saddened” by the landslide decision to overturn the abortion ban in Ireland.
The devout Catholic MP said “life within the womb is worthy of protection” and argued Westminster should not step in on a devolved matter.
On Friday people in Ireland voted by more than 65% to repeal rules that allow a woman to have an abortion only when her life is at risk.
But the issue has sparked a major political row in the UK - with opposition parties and some senior Tory MPs urging Theresa May to take action to repeal the same ban in Northern Ireland.
The calls put the Prime Minister in an extremely difficult position, as the traditionalist DUP - whose 10 MPs prop up her minority government - are against any such move.
Mr Rees-Mogg today came to the defence of Mrs May as he urged fellow MPs not to meddle in devolved matters.
And he backed that call with a personal case against repealing abortion laws.
“I believe that life starts at the point of conception and the life within the womb is worthy of protection,” he explained on LBC radio. “I was saddened by the result in the Republic of Ireland. So my view on that is clear.”
He added: “If you respect our devolutionary constitutional settlement then these issues ought to be decided in the right place…
“I think once you start picking and choosing on the devolution settlement you might find that you do great damage to the union.”
This morning Labour frontbencher Shami Chakrabarti piled further pressure on Mrs May by branding the issue a “test” of her self-proclaimed feminism.
In an article for the Mirror she wrote: “Women in Northern Ireland have been let down by privileged women and men for too long, the “democratic right” here is the right of women to make difficult ethical decisions about their bodies for themselves.
“No woman should be forced to leave her family for an abortion after rape or incest and to be criminalised on return. This is a feminist test.”
Labour backbencher Stella Creasy’s amendment to the Domestic Violence Bill on the subject has already won support from leading Conservative women.
They include Education Minister Anne Milton and Health Select Committee chair Sarah Wollaston. Both have said MPs should be given a free vote if it comes to the House - while Ms Wollaston said a referendum should be held in Northern Ireland at the very least.
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