The Westminster wing of the God Squad mustered their forces earlier this week when the Commons debated the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (HFE).
That gave the Daily Post's political editor Rob Merrick the excuse to file a misleading piece (http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/10/22/mersey-mps-set-to-lead-saviour-siblings-revolt-64375-22088654/ :
"Mersey Catholic MPs will tonight lead a Commons revolt against controversial new laws to create human-animal embryos and so-called 'saviour siblings'. "
Given that the Bill was passed, albeit with the pusillanimous actions of Harriet Harman on Northern Ireland's abortion laws, it seems perverse to describe the not so holy trinity of local MPs, Bootle's Joe Benton, Crosby's Claire Curtis-Thomas & Southport's John Pugh, as leading a revolt. It suggests that their desire to foist their own version of morality on the rest of us were successful.
It's either slapdash journalism by Merrick, or an all-too transparent sop to local anti-abortion activists while downplaying the reality that their agenda commands little public support.
The Westminster chicanery over Northern Ireland's abortion legislation (a bribe to get the support of the DUP over the 42 day detention law) serves as a case study in political & social denial by the "pro-life" lobby (amply represented on both sides of the sectarian divide -- so much for Sinn Fein's "progressive" credentials). As Merrick reports:
"The status of abortion in [Northern Ireland] has implications for Liverpool, because hundreds of women pay around £2,000 to travel to the city for a private termination every year."
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