Abortion: An MHKs view on the ‘Island of Ireland’

The Manx MHK, Alex Allinson. who has pushed abortion reform legislation through the Keys says that when adopted the Manx legislation will be an indicator to people on ‘the Island of Ireland’ to create a framework for reform there. He was speaking ahead of the ‘Repeal the 8th Amendment’ referendum this week which would if successful remove a bar in the 26 county constitution on introducing abortion law reform (link):

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/allinsons-hopes-for-irel...

(Apologies for the audio quality of the clip)

However even if referendum is successful the legislation being mooted for Ireland falls short of that existing elsewhere albeit it would remove the need for (thousands) of women to travel to Britain annually for a termination.

However (to use Alex Allinsons terminology) the ‘Island of Ireland’ is not a single constitutional entity and in the six counties of the North the Democratic Unionist Party remain entrenched in their opposition to any reform. Their's is a 'hand maidens tale' view of society.

It's a paradox that exposes the nonsense of the Unionist position that although they like banging drums, waving Union Jacks and claiming to be part of the United Kingdom when it comes to British legislation that goes against their ‘tribal instinct’ they suddenly are not as ‘British’ as they would like everyone to believe. A strange set of folk indeed!