UK lawmakers consider decriminalizing abortion amid concern about increasing prosecution of women
LONDON — British lawmakers are preparing to debate proposals to decriminalize abortion amid concerns that police are using antiquated laws to prosecute women who end their own pregnancies.
The House of Commons on Tuesday is scheduled to consider two amendments to a broader crime bill that would bar the prosecution of women who take steps to end their pregnancies at any stage.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Coal power plants were paid to close. Is it time to do the same for slaughterhouses?
The food industry will go to great lengths (and spend a fortune) to lobby policymakers, confuse the public and politicise scientific findings. You can see the results in the UK's delay of a ban on junk food advertisers targeting children, or the orchestrated backlash to a report that recommended cutting red meat consumption and embracing more plant-based diets. It's a well-worn playbook. When scientific evidence indicates the need to phase down environmentally harmful or unhealthy products, the responsible industry pushes back. Motivating this resistance, my colleagues and I believe, is something rarely discussed in the context of food systems: stranded assets. These are investments that lose value or stop generating revenue earlier than their owners and investors anticipated, due to changes in market conditions, technology or – of particular interest here – policy and regulation. This concept has been central to debates in the energy transition. For example, studies have shown that keeping global warming below 2 °C will require leaving fossil fuels in the ground and shutting down power plants before they've generated a return on investment, wiping off about US$1 trillion (£736 billion) in value for companies, financial institutions and investors. The same dynamic applies to the task of feeding everyone well and without substantial environmental harm. What we produce must change, as well as how we produce it. Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK's latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences. Producing animal-sourced protein, especially beef and dairy, has environmental impacts that dwarf those of plant-based protein. Some new technologies may reduce these impacts, particularly feed additives to reduce methane emissions from cattle. But the negative impacts go far beyond cow burps to include deforestation, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and pollution. Beef in particular, even when produced using intensive systems like feedlots in the US, requires substantially more land to make 100 grams of protein than any other source (excluding lamb, which is produced in much lower quantities). As the global population increases and constraints on land use intensify, as much nourishing food as possible will need to be produced on as little land as possible. This will entail slashing the amount of land used for animal-sourced foods. However, companies consistently invest in the assets that produce, process, transport and store the foods we consume. These range from slaughterhouses to the grain silos and transport equipment for single-crop supply chains, to manufacturing plants and the research and development of ultra-processed foods. In order to curtail certain foods, as part of a global shift towards sustainable and healthy diets, these assets cannot generate the revenue they do now. This means writing off some of the capital that has been sunk into them, and any anticipated revenue. Our research identified £217 billion that has been invested in meatpacking plants, for example. A portion of this will be lost in service of a shift to more plant-based sustenance. Whether or not policymakers and researchers are aware of the stranded assets problem, food companies certainly are. We outline three things that need to happen. First, while it is laudable that companies set targets to cut emissions or deforestation, how they invest their money is not always consistent with these goals. Companies need to disclose to investors and the public which of their assets are incompatible with a sustainable future, and how they plan to phase them out. Second, lenders (typically banks) and investors (asset managers and their clients) must work with the companies they fund to manage these transitions rather than simply revoke financing or divest. Shutting down a meatpacking plant and building up a plant-based protein business is costly, and firms will need support. Divestment can play an important role symbolically, signalling an ethical and moral stance against certain activities. But unless it is done by all investors at once, assets like shares go to other buyers with little or no interest in sustainability. Third, and perhaps the thorniest problem, who pays for stranded assets? The money has already been spent. The investments have been made, the meatpacking plants and infrastructure already built, the anticipated revenue and maximised profit margins already embedded in the value of these companies. There is the cost of shutting down assets early as well as the opportunity cost of not making money that was expected from capital that has already been sunk. Who bears those costs? Many assume the answer is straightforward: the polluter should pay. This is certainly possible to achieve. Take the recent ruling in Germany, which determined that private companies can be held liable for their share in causing climate damages. But implementing this principle requires unusually strong political leadership and sustained public support. Both of these things are difficult to secure, particularly in food systems where industry lobbying is intense, livelihoods are at stake, public attention is fragmented and diets are highly personal and easily politicised. Even when policies designed to improve public health or sustainability are passed, they can be easily rolled back. Which brings us to an uncomfortable alternative: paying the polluter. This approach already exists in other sectors. Since 2020, Germany has paid coal plants to retire early. The same has been done in the Netherlands, parts of the US and several other countries. In the Netherlands, the government paid farmers to reduce dairy herds in certain areas in order to hit pollution targets. Paying off food companies to phase out harmful assets sounds like a bailout and feels unfair, since a clean and thriving environment is a human right. Such an approach could only work if it allowed stronger regulation that ensured such pollution wouldn't occur in the future. This is how abolitionists contributed to ending slavery in the UK. If we're stuck between endless policy whiplash and slow-motion climate and health crises, paying the polluter may be worth considering. It's politically fraught and emotionally frustrating, but when it comes to stopping pollution sooner rather than later, it is perhaps more tractable than waiting for political will, corporate courage and public consensus to converge. Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation's environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who've subscribed so far. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Stephanie Walton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Famed boxing trainer Stefy Bull facing up to 16 years in prison after being found guilty of serious drug offenses
Prominent boxing trainer and manager Stefy Bull is facing a potential 16-year prison sentence after being convicted of drug-related charges in England. Bull, whose real name is Andrew Bulcroft, was unanimously found guilty by a jury at the Sheffield Crown Court for conspiracy to supply cocaine. The 48-year-old former professional boxer, who shared the ring with legendary British pugilist Amir Khan in 2007, has been in custody since Feb. 28 and is expected to be sentenced on Aug. 26. Advertisement Bull was found to have used the now-defunct EncroChat encrypted network under the pseudonym "Yummycub" to buy significant quantities of cocaine. Messages from March to May 2020 reportedly showed Bull inquiring about the purchase of kilograms (2.2 pounds) of cocaine for £38,000 each ($51,340). The prosecution argued that "Yummycub" revealed the location of his boxing gym, home address, and birthday — all of which matched Bull's — making it apparent that Bull was behind the "Yummycub" profile and therefore involved in the purchase of significant amounts of the Class A drug directly from importers. Bull pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him. It was argued on his behalf that boxers he trained or managed at the time would sometimes stay at his house, so one of them could have been behind the "Yummycub" profile. Bull did not name any fighters he suspected, and there was no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of any boxer associated with Bull. Advertisement Bull's co-conspirator, Benjamin Williams, pleaded guilty to four criminal offenses in February, including three drug-related charges. Williams and Bull shared a friendship lasting several years and had agreed to get involved in the sale of cocaine together, the court heard. Large amounts of cocaine were present at Williams' property, and his fingerprints were on money belonging to Christopher and Jonathan McAllister — who Bull and Williams had conspired to purchase narcotics from. The Yorkshire boxing figure has been a notable absentee in the past year from the corner of three-division world champion Terri Harper, whom he trained and managed, among other fighters in his British stable. Bull holds licenses with the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) in his capacity as a promoter, manager and trainer. All three licenses will be reviewed by the BBBofC following the news of Bull's successful conviction.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
What to Know as U.K. Lawmakers Consider Decriminalizing Abortion
British lawmakers on Tuesday were debating whether to decriminalize abortion in England and Wales, a move which would represent a landmark change to legislation dating from the Victorian era. The debate comes at a time when access to abortion in the United States has been banned or severely restricted in 19 states, after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion in 2022 and threw it to the 50 states to make their own laws. In Britain, surveys suggest that a vast majority of the population — consistently around 88 percent, according to YouGov, a polling agency — believes women should have the right to an abortion. Two lawmakers have put forward separate amendments to a crime and policing bill that would partly or wholly decriminalize abortion. At least one of the amendments that are being debated on Tuesday is likely to be voted on. Is abortion legal in Britain? It's complicated. At present, having or providing an abortion remains a crime under the Offenses Against the Person Act of 1861, and could theoretically be punished with a life sentence. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
