Ruth Wishart: Anti-abortion movement is well-funded and gunning for us
Her doctors and a midwife said such a course of action would be illegal under the then Irish law whilst a foetal heartbeat was detectable. Savita was just 31 when she died of sepsis in 2018.
In the furore which followed, Ireland voted overwhelmingly to ditch the legal clause which prevented abortion. But it took six long years to pass the new amendment which did so.
It became part of the Irish Republic's journey to unlock the stranglehold the church had previously held over the law, and subsequently, in 2015, another amendment endorsed same-sex marriage.
READ MORE: Scottish Government announces £3 million in funding for 14 festivals
More recently, when the US Democratic legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered by a self-styled evangelical 'Christian' earlier this month, police found a list of some 70 other potential victims in his vehicle. The link they shared is that they had all been vocally pro-choice.
You might imagine it was enough for these ultras that they had killed off Roe v Wade in 2022, the landmark ruling which gave federal rights to termination in every US state. Evidently not.
Since that ended, we have had tragic instances of rape, child and incest victims being forced to carry to full term, women bleeding to death in hospitals, and the better-heeled having to take flights to that handful of states which didn't take advantage of the new legal landscape and kept women's rights safe.
It's almost as if all the male legislators who hollered loud and long for women to stay pregnant no matter the circumstances, collectively believed that all these pregnancies were somehow the result of immaculate conceptions. Unsurprisingly, there is not a four-deep queue of rogue fathers volunteering their financial or indeed any support. Men rule OK?
Last week in the Commons, the weaker of two possible amendments was passed which 'allowed' women who self-terminated pregnancies, perhaps via online medication, to avoid prosecution. It did not exempt any medical staff who may have been involved.
The author of the second, stronger amendment wrote in The Guardian that the House had chickened out of proper reform and had been altogether too timid.
Yet again, some of the loudest voices raised in defence of the legal status quo belonged to men. Blokes like Tory Edward Leigh, whose features have always looked as if he were on the verge of apoplexy or worse.
These men also have one thing in common. They will never, ever be pregnant. Which doesn't prevent them from telling women what they should think, or whether or not they should control their own fertility.
So there is absolutely no reason to suppose that Scotland or the UK is safe from American lobbying. Just look at what happened when a modest law from Gillian Mackay MSP was passed stopping the Texan-based 40 Days For Life group assembling nearer than 200 metres from any facility offering terminations.
Some commentators have suggested all they were doing was praying. Puleeze. Some of the professional posters displayed had come straight from the source of the protesting. Including pictures of aborted foetuses. And there was much shouting, not just at women but at the medical staff who worked there.
READ MORE: Kate Forbes: Numbers prove that the world is ignoring those who talk Scotland down
When a woman in her 70s was arrested, but never brought to court, she was immediately given heroine status by some US 'freedom of speech' groups. She had been picketing near Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, though not, to be fair shouting, and was demanding her 'right' to go to court despite the Procurator Fiscal recommending no further action.
This is all of a piece with the well-funded, Europe-wide anti-abortion protesters who all demand their day in court to rubbish any laws to which they've taken exception.
Rose Docherty's arrest, following police warnings about trespassing in buffer zones, came just days after the US vice-president, JD Vance, made a series of totally false accusations about the Scottish laws, including the assertion that people could be in trouble for privately praying in their own home. And referencing 'thought police'.
All garbage of course, but not atypical of the current US administration's legendary inability to check their facts before their mouth is engaged. People who think getting rid of Donald Trump would herald a new relationship with the truth might consider that Vance is the constitutional heir apparent.
Which is not to say that legitimate protest should ever be outlawed, including protests with which we fundamentally disagree.
The Scottish legislation on buffer zones mentions the where of protest, but not the why. Its principal proposer received both death threats and abuse despite being pregnant herself.
Nevertheless, it was the Irish nation rising up and voting for change which brought about two civilising laws in that country where the church had long held too much sway.
Even in America, there are signs that decent folks are awakening from the slumber which brought us a second Trump term with all the many and increasingly obvious dangers that represents.
Non-Elon-Musk-related social media is awash with images of a poorly attended military parade which 'happened' to coincide with the president's 79th birthday and contrasting these images with the millions across the USA who turned out for No Kings Day.
The latter was a public riposte to Trump supposing that his presidential status gave him monarchical powers to do as he pleased. An assertion which followed a Time magazine cover this month featuring a back view of 'Trump' looking into a mirror where he wore a crown and lots of ermine. By long-standing Time artist Tim O'Brien, it was entitled King Me.
The idea that the man who treats executive orders like bulk-bought confetti should be left to his own fantasies managed to unite and enrage millions of people, some of whom had sat on their hands on the day of the election. Hell mend them.
It's become difficult enough to vote in America as it is without ignoring the hard-fought right to vote for which people once died. These barriers to polling rights have also crossed the pond, with new demands to present ID at polling stations despite there being minimalist evidence of voter fraud. No prizes for guessing which group is least likely to have a passport or driving licence.
So we must stay alert at all times to prevent our own rules, regulations and values from being altered by foreign voices. Apart from Vance, Musk has also weighed in with his views on the UK Prime Minister and much else.
The irony is that Musk himself is a migrant from South Africa, but the breath is not being held for those cuddly chaps from the US Immigration and Enforcement agency to deport him as they now have so many long-standing Americans who 'look foreign' (which is ICE speak for being brown.) If you think they're licensed thugs, you're not wrong.
Meanwhile round about us, the world appears to be hellwards bound in any available handcart. There are many theories about why Trump is planning to take a fortnight before deciding whether or not to give more support to Israel by providing the necessary aircraft and their so-called 'bunker-busting' bombs to reach buried Iranian nuclear sites.
I know the US president isn't much of a reader, but could I recommend several tomes which detail the effect of unleashing radio active materials from such sites? Not that he cares. It's a reasonably safe bet that the prevailing winds won't carry the nasties to the eastern seaboard in America. The bit that houses hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Like Gaza, really.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Western Telegraph
14 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Lammy urges Reform's newest MP to ‘get some help' over ‘conspiracy theories'
Sarah Pochin had asked the Foreign Secretary whether the US felt unable to use the UK-US airbase on Diego Garcia, following the Government's deal with Mauritius over the Chagos Islands. Responding during a statement on the Middle East, Mr Lammy said the MP for Runcorn and Helsby should 'get off social media'. Foreign Secretary David Lammy (Parliament TV/PA) The UK-operated base in the Chagos Islands was not used in the US strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty has said. He added that the US did not ask to use it, as he answered questions from the Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday. Speaking in the Commons, Ms Pochin said: 'Is he (Mr Lammy) able to explain to the House whether the United States felt unable to use the Diego Garcia base and have to refuel, in a highly dangerous operation three times because of that, because of your deal that you did with the with the Mauritians, that would then tell the Chinese, that would then tell the Iranians?' Mr Lammy replied: 'The honourable lady has got (to) get off social media, has got to get some help… because she is swallowing conspiracy theories that should not be repeated in this House.' The deal over the Chagos Islands follows a 2019 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice which says the islands should be handed over to Mauritius. As well as establishing a £40 million fund for Chagossians, the UK has agreed to pay Mauritius at least £120 million a year for 99 years in order to lease back the Diego Garcia base – a total cost of at least £13 billion in cash terms. The honourable lady has got (to) get off social media, has got to get some help... because she is swallowing conspiracy theories that should not be repeated in this House David Lammy During the statement on Monday, Mr Lammy was pressed by MPs on the UK's position following the US military action. Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) said: 'Does His Majesty's Government support or oppose US military action against Iran at the weekend?' Mr Lammy replied: 'His Majesty's Government will continue to work with our closest ally, as I was last week in Washington DC.' Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin (Tunbridge Wells) said: 'What is UK Government policy on whether regime change should be pursued in Iran?' Mr Lammy replied: 'It is not our belief that it's for us to change the regime of any country, that it must be for the people themselves.' SNP MP Brendan O'Hara (Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber) said: 'We've been here for an hour, and still the Foreign Secretary appears incapable of saying whether he supports or condemns America's actions, or whether he regards them as being legal or not. 'And nowhere in this statement does the role of international law even merit a mention. So will the Foreign Secretary take this opportunity now to tell us whether he believes that America's unilateral action was compliant with international law?' Mr Lammy replied: 'I've got to tell (Mr O'Hara), I qualified and was called to the bar in 1995, I haven't practised for the last 25 years. 'It is not for me to comment on the United States' legal validity. I would refer him to article 51 and article two of the UN Charter, and he can seek his own advice.'
ITV News
21 minutes ago
- ITV News
First British nationals evacuated from Israel amid ongoing conflict
At least 63 British nationals have been evacuated from Israel, with more flights to come, as fighting in the Middle East intensifies. The Foreign Secretary said an RAF A400 flew them from Tel Aviv to Cyprus, where they will be brought back to Britain on Monday night. Downing Street said 'around 1,000' people had requested a seat on an evacuation flight - a quarter of the 4,000 who had registered their presence in Israel or Palestine with the Foreign Office. In his statement to the Commons, Mr Lammy repeated his plea to Iran to return to the negotiating table following America's strikes on its nuclear programme. He said: 'My message for Tehran was clear, take the off ramp, dial this thing down, and negotiate with the United States seriously and immediately. 'The alternative is an even more destructive and far-reaching conflict, which could have unpredictable consequences.' Further flights are expected in the coming days for the most vulnerable British nationals, with anyone impacted by the fighting urged to register with the Foreign Office. Mr Lammy also confirmed that one British national in Israel had been injured during Iranian missile attacks and had been offered consular support. It comes amid a 10-day-long exchange of fatal missile strikes between Israel and Iran, sparked by fears of Iran developing nuclear capabilities. The latest escalation came over the weekend when a US air raid by B-2 stealth bombers and a salvo of submarine-launched missiles hit Iran's nuclear facilities. The Foreign Secretary told MPs it was not yet clear how far the attack had set back Iran's nuclear ambitions, but said the need for a diplomatic solution remained. Earlier, Downing Street had said that preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear bomb was a 'good thing' for the UK, but declined to comment on whether the US strikes complied with international law. Meanwhile, Israeli jets hit targets in Tehran on Monday, including the security headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and Evin Prison, the regime's main site for detaining political prisoners and human rights activists. In turn, Iran carried out its own strikes against cities in Israel, and sparked fears of a wider regional conflict as it accused the US of crossing 'a very big red line'. Oil prices reached their highest level for nearly six months over fears a regional conflict could restrict supply, especially if Iran decided to blockade the Strait of Hormuz.
Evening Standard
34 minutes ago
- Evening Standard
Lammy urges Reform's newest MP to ‘get some help' over ‘conspiracy theories'
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Pochin said: 'Is he (Mr Lammy) able to explain to the House whether the United States felt unable to use the Diego Garcia base and have to refuel, in a highly dangerous operation three times because of that, because of your deal that you did with the with the Mauritians, that would then tell the Chinese, that would then tell the Iranians?'
