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Abortion Rights In Northern Ireland

EDM number 2393 in 2007-08, proposed by Diane Abbott on 30/10/2008.
Categorised under the topics of Children and families and Medical ethics.

That this House supports safe, legal abortion for women, with existing time limits, no matter where they live in the United Kingdom; recognises that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, despite having abortion within its scope, was not necessarily the most appropriate way to amend the law on abortion; notes that because the Abortion Act 1967 was never extended to Northern Ireland, women in Northern Ireland do not have the same access to abortion as women in the rest of the United Kingdom; further notes that as a consequence women who are, for example, the victims of rape or incest or who are carrying a severely abnormal foetus are forced to continue their pregnancy against their will or to travel to England and pay for a private abortion, which can cost up to Â£2,000 and takes place later in gestation than necessary; condemns the inequity that this causes by its impact on poorer, younger and other vulnerable women; deplores the fact that thousands of women are forced into motherhood, illegal abortion or debt each year because they do not have the same reproductive rights as women in other parts of the United Kingdom; and calls on the Government to relieve this burden and provide funding for women in Northern Ireland to access NHS abortion services in Britain.

This motion has been signed by a total of 38 MPs.

Diane Abbott30/10/2008Hackney North and Stoke NewingtonLabourProposed
Chris McCafferty30/10/2008Calder ValleyLabourSeconded
Emily Thornberry30/10/2008Islington South and FinsburyLabourSeconded
John Bercow30/10/2008BuckinghamConservativeSeconded
Jacqui Lait30/10/2008BeckenhamConservativeSeconded
Katy Clark30/10/2008North Ayrshire and ArranLabourSeconded
David Lepper30/10/2008Brighton, PavilionLabourSigned
Jeremy Corbyn30/10/2008Islington NorthLabourSigned
Harry Cohen30/10/2008Leyton and WansteadLabourSigned
Colin Challen30/10/2008Morley and RothwellLabourSigned
John McDonnell30/10/2008Hayes and HarlingtonLabourSigned
Lynne Jones30/10/2008Birmingham, Selly OakLabourSigned
Phyllis Starkey30/10/2008Milton Keynes South WestLabourSigned
Peter Bottomley03/11/2008Worthing WestConservativeSigned
Rudi Vis03/11/2008Finchley and Golders GreenLabourSigned
Ian Gibson03/11/2008Norwich NorthLabourSigned
Ann Cryer03/11/2008KeighleyLabourSigned
Glenda Jackson03/11/2008Hampstead and HighgateLabourSigned
Paul Holmes03/11/2008ChesterfieldLiberal DemocratSigned
Clare Short03/11/2008Birmingham, LadywoodIndependent LabourSigned
Richard Burden03/11/2008Birmingham, NorthfieldLabourSigned
Alan Simpson04/11/2008Nottingham SouthLabourSigned
Robert Key04/11/2008SalisburyConservativeSigned
Doug Naysmith05/11/2008Bristol North WestLabourSigned
Janet Dean05/11/2008BurtonLabourSigned
John Leech05/11/2008Manchester, WithingtonLiberal DemocratSigned
Howard Stoate06/11/2008DartfordLabourSigned
Linda Riordan06/11/2008HalifaxLabourSigned
Neil Gerrard06/11/2008WalthamstowLabourSigned
Mike Hancock10/11/2008Portsmouth SouthLiberal DemocratSigned
Martin Caton11/11/2008GowerLabourSigned
Roger Berry11/11/2008KingswoodLabourSigned
Marsha Singh12/11/2008Bradford WestLabourSigned
Bill Etherington12/11/2008Sunderland NorthLabourSigned
Jo Swinson12/11/2008East DunbartonshireLiberal DemocratSigned
Nick Harvey13/11/2008North DevonLiberal DemocratSigned
David Chaytor13/11/2008Bury NorthLabourSigned
Julie Morgan18/11/2008Cardiff NorthLabourSigned

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