Theresa May faces showdown with MPs after historic Ireland abortion vote
Any moves to change the law could destabilise the British government by antagonising the conservative Irish DUP — which May depends on for her parliamentary majority
London — British Prime Minister Theresa May faces a showdown with ministers and MPs in her Conservative party after refusing to back reform of Northern Ireland’s highly restrictive abortion rules after neighbouring Ireland’s vote to liberalise its laws. Voters in Ireland, a once deeply Catholic nation, backed the change by two-to-one, a far higher margin than any opinion poll in the run up to the vote had predicted. The prime minister is facing calls from within her cabinet to scrap the strict rules on abortion in Northern Ireland and bring the law in line with the rest of the United Kingdom. Penny Mordaunt, Britain’s women and equalities minister, said the victory to legalise abortion should now bring change north of the Irish border. "A historic and great day for Ireland and a hopeful one for Northern Ireland," Mordaunt said. "That hope must be met." A spokeswoman for May said on Sunday changing the rules should be undertaken only by a government in Northern Ireland, which has be...
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