23/01/2017 Inside Out North West

Hello and welcome to Inside Out. This week, we report on why women

for the Isle of Man are leaving the island to have abortions.

Unfortunately it is not funded by the NHS and they have to finance the

procedure themselves. We discover how sport is helping

those who are blind or losing their sight. Before this I was isolated

and didn't know what to do, so coming along here has been an

opportunity to both play competitive sport and both socialise.

And we meet artist Stan Chow, who's gone from drawing on chip paper to

drawing Donald Trump for the cover of the New York Times. I struggled

with him a bit. I think I finally got him!

Terminating a pregnancy can be one of the most difficult decisions any

But on the Isle of Man, current law prevents abortion

Tomorrow that could all change with a new proposal which would

transform the law for the first time in 20 years.

The Isle of Man is situated 80 miles off the Lancashire coast,

and although separate from the UK with its own Parliament,

the laws that govern the island are almost exactly the same.

They do, however, differ on a very divisive issue - abortion.

Abortion is legal in Great Britain up to 24 weeks, under

The Isle of Man's Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1995 legalised

abortion but only under strict criteria, where the pregnancy risks

causing grave permanent injury to the woman's physical

This has meant that the official number of abortions on the Isle

of Man is usually around ten per year.

Since April last year, a group of Manx women have been

fighting for their right to choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies.

The Campaign for Abortion Law Modernisation, or Calm,

want to bring Manx law more in line with Great Britain.

Well, we're aware that 479 women in the last five years have

travelled across to the UK, so that's around about 98 women

a year who are travelling, and those are just the ones

In the UK, the vast majority of terminations, 80%,

are performed at under ten weeks, which involves taking two

sets of tablets under the supervision of a doctor.

Any woman living on the Isle of Man wishing to abort a pregnancy

would either have to travel to Britain, or some women have been

ordering the same tablets online and having a miscarriage at home

And the fact that people can go to their doctors and ask,

"Can I have an abortion?", and they're told, "We can't help

you", so they're left to their own devices,

they're left to google, to find out what their options are.

Anyone found guilty of aborting a child on the island could face

We hear from people who have taken abortion tablets at home

with no medical support, who are then scared and frightened,

They can't go to A because they're terrified that they're going to get

in trouble and that they're going to be put in prison.

Just before the Manx election in September,

another group of campaigners formed a group called Humanity and Equality

They say they represent the life of the unborn child.

The reason I'm passionate about the abortion issue is for three reasons.

Human beings have the right to life and an unborn child is a human

being and should be given that right and needs to be spoken for.

He treated people with mental difficulties that arose

from past abortions, and thirdly, I've had a career

as a GP and looked after many pregnant women and many unexpected

pregnancies that became a real blessing.

The thing is, though, we've got to balance the right

of the woman to life and health and the right of the baby to life

and health, and in my view you cannot say that the baby is not

Both campaigns were very vocal in the run-up to the Manx elections

in September and are hoping to influence the new Health and

But she says the Government is very clear on this issue.

We don't have a position going one way or another with regard

We're going to review it to see if it needs updating.

But obviously it's too early to say which way that's going to go.

The law here is very different to the UK.

Presumably there wasn't an appetite for it.

You've got two groups that both say different things.

Maybe that's why it hasn't changed, as there are two opposing forces.

We are at the beginning of the process, looking at it

and seeing if there's an appetite for change.

Currently, Manx citizens can travel to the UK for health care that can't

be provided on the island, such as cancer treatment,

neurological surgery and even complicated antenatal care.

The NHS on the Isle of Man foots the bill, including

Abortion is one of the few exceptions.

This has led to many women going away, travelling

One of the organisations that deals with them is BPAS.

BPAS is a not-for-profit reproductive charity.

It sees 70,000 women funded by NHS clinic across the UK.

We provide pregnancy advice, contraception, abortion care.

Women from the Isle of Man are able to receive treatment but it's not

funded by the NHS and they have to finance it themselves.

We know women in areas are unable to get access

The medication is safe but it's illegal and they

Does it concern you that women who can't afford to travel are maybe

That is a concern and that's something we're working with the UK

authorities and the Customs Excise to bring in line quickly,

It's also a criminal offence if those tablets

Technically, I suppose, but it's hardly likely.

The medical professionals over here say it's not illegal

But it could be put to the test as early as tomorrow morning.

Dr Alex Allinson, a former GP and new member of the House of Keys,

hopes raising the issue tomorrow will result in a change in the law.

This is an incredibly vibrant place to live.

We are groundbreaking in terms of civil partnerships and we've got

an Equality Bill coming through, so why shouldn't we look

at the abortion law as well and make sure it's up-to-date for the women

Until then, women will continue to make the journey across the sea.

But as they aren't entitled to NHS care, most will have to pay.

Her organisation is many women's last resort.

They provide financial assistance to those

Between having a child and not having one.

The money for the procedure, travel, all the costs, it adds up.

?400 to ?2,000, which is not something that everybody has.

For most of us, we come to it with this idea of, I'm a parent and this

is a big deal, and you want to give that job to somebody who wants that

job and not as a punishment for a job and not as a punishment for a

broken condom or a lapse in judgment or being raped.

Before I contacted you, I was looking for ways to self-abort.

She thought the shock to her system would cause a miscarriage.

No, for the child it's life or death.

For the mother it is not usually a choice of life or death.

It's a choice of a very difficult situation that

she's found herself in, and that's an agonising situation,

and we all have to take responsibility for the agonising

Those in favour of abortion often suggest the debate centres

upon when the foetus becomes sufficiently human to

Opponents believe the foetus is never anything other

than human from conception, and therefore has a right

It's a key point in the debate, especially for those

involved in drafting laws regulating abortion.

There will be a period of public consultations, but ultimately,

it's up to the members of the House of Keys to decide whether

Social isolation can be a major problem for people who are blind or

partially sighted. But in Lancashire, sport is playing a

surprising role in helping young people who are born without vision

or are losing their sight. Simon O'Brien investigates.

Take a careful look. This is no ordinary game of cricket. Which is

just as well! Because these are no ordinary players. All of the people

playing are blind or partially sighted. Yeah, I know. How do they

do that? Good question. And who better to answer it than the club

founder, who himself is partially sighted? First of all, this game,

communication is a massive factor. In this game. If you have limited

sight, audibility is a big part. The ball is going to bounce twice, so

that blind or low sighted player who comes into that classification has

an opportunity to hear the ball on bounce, second bounce, so they have

an opportunity to play. You can feel quite isolated at times so this is a

way of getting like minds together. When they first come, some are quite

reserved and they try to do other sports and don't do as well, but

coming with those first steps in breaking the ice and having a sense

of belonging, somebody belonging to a club that they can relate to, it's

grown so much and the members have grown so much in confidence and

become their own people. And, as you can see, they are pretty good at it!

Last year, the Lancashire cup in Lions finished second in the blind

league for the second year in a row and made it to the blind sports

final. The team is mixed. Male and female. It's made up of all ages,

from 11 to 64. Saleem has been playing for two seasons for them and

is now training the England blind is now training the England blind

development squad. Keen cricket player? I actually don't like

cricket! Funnily enough! How come you got involved with the Lions,

then? Is because I'm eager to get involved in competitive sport.

didn't know what to do, so coming didn't know what to do, so coming

along here gives me an opportunity to play competitive sport, but apart

from that, is the opportunity to meet new people. He and his younger

sister Nadia were born with a genetic site condition. It

degenerative, causing them to lose degenerative, causing them to lose

Van Gogh has any sight in his left Van Gogh has any sight in his left

eye and only limited vision in his right. -- he no longer has any

sight. A lot of people with people have tunnel vision as well as night

blindness, and does the condition gets worse, their central vision

starts to go and leaves you totally blind. I had to deal with things,

OK, my site is going, and it's a question of accepting it or falling

it into, I guess, depression. -- my sight. I didn't have role models but

claim to know what would happen so I had to bite the bullet, live my life

and, you know, I lived by this motto that I might be blind but I have a

vision, and if I can just carry on living my life, inspiring people.

Which is what he does. As well as being an excellent cricketer and

all-round sportsman, he is a very good musician. And he writes his own

blog, the aptly named Blind Journalist. I think my blog played a

big impact, because again, it was a platform for me to portray the work

I've done, and now I'm currently working at BBC radio Manchester. I

want to work at Northwest tonight. It's a scheme where you get to work

all over the BBC and become a multi-platform journalist. Sport

plays a big role in all of the lives plays a big role in all of the lives

of the men here, but nowhere more so than in the lives -- the life of

Amelia. I got a phone call saying, would you like to come and play for

us? And I was over the moon because I just couldn't wait to go and play

for cricket, because I had never been able to play cricket because I

would just miss every shot when the ball came. But I was actually

managing to hit the ball doing it this way and it gave me a good

feeling. I like the cricket itself. But I also like the people and

playing with because they are so nice and so supportive of you.

Amelia's mum and dad believed playing sport has helped her

confidence. She loves it. She's a different child when she is doing

it. She gets such a buzz from it, doesn't she? She does. I couldn't

really imagine her... How she would be if she didn't have it. And

actually feels that she can play the game very well with other people who

are visually impaired, whereas I think before she thought, I'm not

properly. And it's changed around properly. And it's changed around

that she's thinking, I can be, I can do well. And she doesn't just stop

at cricket. At his school -- her school, Amelia joined in with all

the other children. Apart from Amelia, every other girl can see

perfectly well and you probably couldn't tell the difference with

her being there. She's as able as anybody else. If you really try then

you can go far. So... Like me. I want to be in the Paralympics. So

that's where I'm going to want to get. Now, listen, I've been watching

you play. I'm no good at cricket at the best of times and I'll have a go

in it. Give me some advice, some tips. Just listen carefully and try

to hit the ball! Thanks for that(!) When you hit the ball, try to see if

there's spaces between any of the players fielding. OK, all right. But

how can I do that? Because I'll be blindfolded. You can ask them to

give you a clap. OK, so before I have a go, I get everyone to clap

and so I know where they are. Thanks for that. Top piece of advice. I

actually find this whole experience utterly humbling. Completely

uplifting. But at the same time, quite distressing, because about

three years ago, I had a freak accident and after a

desperate operations, the eyesight desperate operations, the eyesight

in my left eye deteriorated until in the end it's just nothing, so if I

close my right eye, I am in their world. I can see nothing at all. But

to see these guys, and I thought I to see these guys, and I thought I

went for a bad time, to see these guys being so positive, what an

amazing group of people. Well, I guess it's my turn now, isn't it? As

I say, I'll have to close one eye and put the blindfold on. And

humiliate myself! Here I go! Collide have a clap just in case I do find a

gap? Can we have some clapping? OK, yeah. That didn't help at all!

Thanks very much(!) OK... Ha-ha! Right, I give up! Thanks! Brilliant,

that! Cheers. Brilliant. Honestly, I was never any good at cricket anyway

and I can tell you that is just simply impossible! How they play

that game is beyond me. Amazing. Amazing testimony to the skill

involved there. Incredible. I don't think they're going to call me next

week! It's the Chinese Year

of the Rooster, and if you've been out and about in recent weeks,

you'll have seen the posters They were designed by the Manchester

illustrator Stan Chow, whose work is in demand

across the globe. Stan Chow is famed for his

distinctive two-dimensional illustrations which grace walls

and magazine covers Closer to home, they're featured

on Manchester's Metrolink network and promote

the Chinese New Year celebrations. When I'm going round Manchester

with my kids and they spot my work, they're like, "Daddy,

did you do that?" and I say, "Yeah, I did,"

and there's work that I did that they will just recognise cos

it's my style. I'm thrilled to be doing

the Chinese New Year stuff and thrilled to be doing

stuff for Manchester. Stan is first-generation

British Chinese. His parents came over from Hong Kong

to work in the catering trade. My dad came over to England

in the late '50s and worked in a restaurant in Halifax,

and then moved to Alderley Edge I'd be sat in the back with the chip

paper in the back and I'd I don't remember having any toys cos

we weren't that well-off. So basically my toy

was just drawing pictures. When I was growing up, I was

the only Chinese boy in the town. In the suburbs it was

hard being Chinese. I was subjected to

certain types of racism. There were four or five kids

who would do the slanty-eyed stuff and there was kind of you just

accepted it, to a certain degree. And I used to go to school

with my packed lunch and my mum would give me my lunch in a Chinese

supermarket carrier bag, and that used to freak me out loads

cos I don't want to be Chinese, I want to be English,

cos everyone else is English, and that's pretty much how I felt

during my school years. But Stan is now fiercely proud

of his Chinese heritage and his childhood memories

are the inspiration for an exhibition of his work

at Manchester's Centre For Chinese My favourite one, I would say,

is the fried dace one. It's basically cans of fried

fish, and that was my I've hash-tagged it "food

of the gods", and I used to eat that a lot when I was a child,

so I thought that was I've done me as a banana, cos

basically, when I was growing up, when I met other Chinese friends

or going back to Hong Kong they'll always describe me as a banana boy ?

white on the inside and yellow I see myself as more

English than Chinese, so they have a case in calling me

a banana boy, really! You know, and when it comes

to football or sport, even though it's important,

it's secondary and I see myself Stan's distinctive 2D style evolved

after he'd finished art college. His dad, with an eye to the future,

bought him a computer, and swapping his pencil for mouse,

Stan learnt to draw digitally. Much of his work is of sports stars,

inspired by the Panini Collecting football

stickers was my life blood. And when I started to

do my illustrations, I just wanted to portray that

simplicity of the head shot, and at the time,

when I started doing my style, no-one was really illustrating

like that, so I guess I kind of made them my own,

really, to kind of Hotel Football have got all my work

in there in their space and it's great that Gary Neville

and his mates like my stuff enough But Stan's big break came

from an unusual source. American band The White Stripes

spotted a bootleg poster Stan had designed for one of their gigs

and got in touch. which were loaded with the album on,

and these got nominated for Best Packaging in the 2008

Grammy Awards, and that was it - Stan had broken into the American

market and was soon illustrating for the prestigious

New Yorker magazine. All the best artists tend to end

up in the New Yorker, and when you're growing up looking

through illustration annuals, all your favourite artists seem

to work for the New Yorker. And that's something that I felt

like I should strive for. And then actually being in it,

I was like, "Woah! And then from being in

the New Yorker, I ended up being in Time magazine

and the New York Times and the Wall St Journal

and stuff like that, so just from this bootleg poster

for The White Stripes, it's opened up a whole new door

for me, a whole new world. Stan landed his most

prestigious commission yet - the front page of the New York Times

- with his illustration of Donald Trump, at the height

of the Presidential campaign. We had this idea for Donald Trump

on a hot air balloon. The thing about Donald Trump

is that he's got a very kind of chameleon face,

you know, and for me, I struggled with him a bit

but I think I finally got him. You look at a picture

of Donald Trump and he seems to look And the way I illustrate things,

I make them as expressionless as possible, so I'm trying to cut

out all the expression, and I finally got there

but he was tricky to do. Stan sells his prints all over

the world and believes art should I don't want to limit it to rich

people who can only have their art. It means the student who's a fan

of my work can buy a print cheaply. ?20 is pretty reasonably

priced, if you ask me. From chip paper to the New York

Times, Stan has come a long way and sees himself not just as a role

model for Chinese kids In terms of Chinese role models,

all I had was Bruce Lee. It wasn't just Chinese

guys who liked him - everyone liked him, and I think

that was really important. That he crossed over

from being Chinese and then actually being a success among the Western

white world is fantastic, and that's something that there's

probably not enough of in society now, so if I'm a role model

for anyone, then that's great. I am sure we'll be seeing a lot more

of his work. That's all from us for this week. See you next week.

Goodbye. Have you got cannabis in there by

any chance? Next week, we investigate the growing number of

people driving under the influence of drugs. They could potentially go

to prison. They'll lose their job, their license and they just don't

think about this before they go out on the road.