SHould Parliament Decide on Abortion?
The House of Commons is debating its procedures today. W e have just voted on whether MPs should be able to check their e-mails on their BlackBerries. There was a glorious moment when Gerald Kaufman, who is avant garde on most things except this issue, walked into the wrong lobby and had to be steered in the right direction by Harriet Harman.
Much of the debate was taken up by comments on the steaduily diminishing power of Parliament, or mroe accurately MPs. It occurs to me that one issue that has been in the news this week, abortion, sums this up. The Government has announced it is keeping the 24 week limit. Abortion, while an emotive issue, is not a party political one. Surely the Government should allow Parliament to debate it and reach its own conclusion?