Marriage of same-sex couples in Northern Ireland

Part of Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill – in the House of Commons at 2:00 pm on 9 July 2019.

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Photo of Stella Creasy Stella Creasy Labour/Co-operative, Walthamstow 2:00, 9 July 2019

Thank you, Dame Rosie.

It is simply not the case that people have not been prosecuted. A mother is facing a jail sentence in November. We know that, in 2017, a man and woman accepted formal cautions under OPA for the same offence, and the charges were withdrawn only after the judge imposed a ban on identifying the woman due to the heightened risk of her suicide because of her distress at the situation. We know that, in 2016, a 21-year-old pleaded guilty to procuring her own abortion by poison after she bought pills online and her flatmate reported her to the police. Prosecution is a very real prospect in Northern Ireland, but it is not a real prospect for my constituents in another part of the United Kingdom who are in exactly the same situation.