Scotland’s newly elected First Minister, Humza Yousaf, has announced his intention to push through the SNP’s blocked ‘sex-swap’ Bill.
Speaking following his victory, he stated that he wants to challenge the UK Government’s order prohibiting the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from receiving Royal Assent, although a former Supreme Court judge has said such a challenge is unlikely to succeed.
If it became law, the Bill would allow 16-year-olds to change their legal sex by self-declaration without a medical diagnosis.
Concerns
Yousaf branded the UK Government’s order a “power grab”, claiming it did not have “any right to use that Section 35 power, given that the majority of Holyrood, of course, backed the GRR Bill”.
But former Supreme Court judge, Lord Hope, has told BBC Scotland it would be a “mistake” for the Scottish Government to go to court. He said it was likely a court would decide that Scottish Secretary Alister Jack had “acted reasonably” in blocking the reforms.
A poll conducted by Savanta ComRes earlier this year for The Scotsman found that more than half (53 per cent) of 1,004 Scottish adults surveyed said the SNP/Green coalition should not challenge the UK Government’s decision to block the Bill.
In January, Mr Jack explained: “After thorough and careful consideration of all the relevant advice and the policy implications, I am concerned that this legislation would have an adverse impact on the operation of Great Britain-wide equalities legislation.”
’Extreme’
Prior to his election, Humza Yousaf also voiced his intention to axe legal safeguards to protect the unborn.
On Twitter, he backed Green MSP Gillian Mackay’s proposed Bill to ban peaceful protest and prayer outside abortion clinics and announced his commitment to “bringing forward [abortion] decriminalisation proposals in current parliament term”.
Right to Life UK spokeswoman Catherine Robinson said such plans would make abortion “available on demand, for any reason, right through to birth”, which would “leave Scotland with one of the most extreme abortion regimes in the world”.
She asked: “Are the 13,758 lives lost to abortion in Scotland in 2021, the fourth highest on record, not enough for Humza Yousaf? It appears not.”
Any reason
In Britain, abortion is currently effectively available for any reason up to 24 weeks, the age at which babies are deemed to be ‘viable’ outside the womb.
Children can be aborted up to birth if they are deemed to have a disability, including treatable conditions such as cleft palate and club foot.
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