As MPs put pressure on the Government to intervene following the overturning of Roe v Wade in the US, courageous pro-life MPs and Peers have spoken in support of the US Supreme Court’s decision.
Following the overturning of the Roe Vs Wade legal decision last week and the return of abortion law to individual states, Diana Johnson MP put forward an Urgent Question to ask if the British Government will do all it can to ensure abortion is made available in the US and across the world.
On behalf of the Government, the Minister of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Amanda Milling MP, reiterated the Prime Minister’s disappointment at permitting States to determine their own abortion law, but stated that such matters are a concern for the US authorities.
While a number of other MPs, including Maria Miller and David Lammy, all decried the democratic move to permit states to formulate their own abortion laws, Danny Kruger MP said that this was a topic for political debate and that he didn’t “understand why we are lecturing the United States on a judgement to return the power of decision over this political question to the states to democratic decision making rather than leaving it to the courts”.
Carla Lockhart MP pointed out that abortion is not a human right in any binding international law and said: “Would the minister not agree that giving legal protection to the unborn is arguably a clear recognition of the unborn life, and America have done just that, and I welcome the [decision]”.
Ian Paisley MP drew attention to the abortion law in the United States saying that it had seen the end of 62 million lives and suggested that it was a good thing that such laws were “now subject to state democratic control and not to one single group of judges”.
Several MPs, including Diana Johnson and Daisy Cooper, used the debate as an opportunity to promote censorship zones around abortion clinics in the UK. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, is currently attempting to make offers of help and alternatives to abortion outside abortion clinics illegal.
The debate in the Commons was followed by a debate in the House of Lords where a repeat of the same urgent question from the House of Commons was debated.
Baroness O’Loan, Baroness Hoey and Lord Cormack spoke out against the suggestion that the UK Government should interfere on this matter of domestic policy for the United States.
Total legal protection for unborn children in at least 16 states
Last week, the 1973 legal decision that prevented states from introducing substantial legal protections for unborn children was overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States. Abortion law is now a matter for individual states to decide and according to Politico, 16 States have now, or will soon have, introduced total legal protection for unborn children. However, that number will likely expand over time.
Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “The arrogance on display by so many out-of-touch MPs is astounding. The legal proceedings of the Supreme Court of the United States are not the concern of British MPs”.
“Interestingly, no legal arguments were actually offered as to why Roe vs Wade should not have been overturned. Instead, we only heard the usual empty and callous platitudes about ‘choice’. As usual, no thought was given to the many women who feel they have no choice but to have an abortion and no thought whatsoever was given to the life of the unborn child who loses his or her life in every abortion”.
“The return of abortion law is a great victory for the pro-life cause, but it is only the start of the fight, as now individual states must do everything within their power and the law to protect mothers and babies as much as possible”.
