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Equal treatment regarding abortion throughout the UK.

  • 15-06-2023 1:11pm
    #1
    political analyst
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,687 ✭✭✭


    https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/carla-foster-mum-jailed-abortion-hits-back/

    Carla Foster is in prison for taking abortion pills after the legal cut-off point.

    Separately from the legal situation in Great Britain, a pregnant woman who would find herself in a similar case in Northern Ireland would not be prosecuted. Here is an explanation of the legal situation on abortion in Northern Ireland.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_Kingdom#Changes_in_law:_2019%E2%80%932020

    I know about devolution but, surely, the European Convention on Human Rights (i.e. the principle of equality) ought to mean that, if a woman in Northern Ireland cannot be prosecuted for taking an abortion pill outside legally permissible circumstances, why should a woman in Great Britain in such a situation be prosecuted. Surely, equal treatment before criminal law must take precedence over UK constitutional issues.



Comments

  • #2
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,998 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    An inevitable consequence of having different states within Europe, or different countries/regions with states that have federal or devolved systems, is that different laws apply in different places. As long as the laws are themselves compliant with the Convention, this is not seen as a violation of the requirements of equality.

    Another way to look at this is that the laws were the same for both women. Both women would have committed a crime if they did what they did in England. Neither woman would have committed a crime if they did what they did in Northern Ireland.



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