British lawmakers rejected a bid to explicitly outlaw abortion based on the gender of a fetus on Monday.
Cultural preferences for boys is thought to lead to mothers aborting female fetuses in India and China, and the attempt to strengthen the law against the practice reflects concerns it could be taking place in some immigrant communities in Britain.
‘ALREADY ILLEGAL’
British Under-Secretary of State for Public Health Jane Ellison argued against the bid, saying that abortion on the grounds of whether the fetus is male or female was “already illegal.”
However, some MPs said the amendment was needed, because the law does not specifically address the practice.
“It is necessary because there is no explicit statement about gender selective abortion in UK law,” lawmaker Fiona Bruce said, as she proposed the amendment.
“The law is being interpreted in different ways because when the 1967 Abortion Act was passed, scans to determine the sex of the fetus were not available,” she said.
EXPLICIT BAN
Yet, those opposed had argued that an explicit ban would be unenforceable and have unintended consequences, such as complicating women’s access to abortion.
The amendment was defeated in the lower house of parliament by 292 votes to 201.
The clause was to be added to the Serious Crime Bill, which is currently moving through parliament.
Instead, lawmakers approved an alternative amendment providing for a review of the prevalence of gender-based abortion in Wales, England and Northern Ireland.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS