The government has reversed its position on moves to strip charities and medics of their exclusive responsibility for counselling women seeking an abortion, saying it will now advise MPs to vote against proposals from a Conservative backbencher if they are put before the Commons next week.
But the situation is still dodgy, because like our idiot Liberal Party here, abortion there is not considered a human right but a 'conscience' issue.
If the amendment is selected next week, it will be a free vote for MPs, as is the tradition with the most controversial "matters of conscience". But coalition MPs will be steered to vote against it. It is understood that the prime minister, the health ministers and other senior members of the government will vote against. Labour has adopted a similar position.
But a combination of the unpredictable intake of new Tory MPs, split between social conservatives and modernisers, the number of Roman Catholic Labour MPs, and the high degree of nuance of the amendment make it extremely unclear which way the vote will go.
Again, with the 'nuance'. Is that journamamalism for 'voters are too stupid to understand and we're too lazy to explain'?
2 comments:
I always think of Liz May when I hear the word "nuance".
Me too. :D
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