Northern Irish political unity!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this. All four main parties in Northern Ireland have come together as one on the same issue for the first time. You'd think this would be a good sign.

But what they have united around is opposition to women in Northern Ireland being allowed freedom of choice. An amendment to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland has been tabled at Westminster, prompting the united opposition. (BBC News: Parties united on abortion laws) They may make some waffle about wanting the matter handled by the Northern Ireland Assembly, but then Southern US States used to pretend that it was only the principle States' Rights that motivated their objection to civil rights.

And access to abortion is an issue of civil rights. It's the basic right of every individual woman to choose for herself what she does. No politician should be able to impose their personal prejudices upon her and maintain an unjust bar on access. The 1967 Act was introduced for good reasons and it is a tragedy it was never extended to cover Northern Ireland.

It is also especially bizarre that there Unionist political parties who do not want Northern Ireland to be like the rest of the United Kingdom and instead want it to be like the Republic of Ireland...