On 21 October 2019, 31 unionist MLAs signed a petition to reconvene the Northern Ireland Assembly to pass legislation to keep abortion illegal. The sitting was boycotted by Sinn Féin, the Alliance Party, the Green Party, and People Before Profit, and as a result the speaker, Robin Newton, ruled that the Assembly could not conduct business after an election unless a speaker could be elected on a cross-community vote. The sitting was therefore abandoned, and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Julian Smith, stated in the House of Commons that the British Government would issue the regulations as obliged. The regulations came into effect on 13 January 2020, the date upon which same-sex marriage became legal in Northern Ireland. The first legal same-sex wedding ceremony in Northern Ireland took place on 11 February 2020 between Belfast couple Robyn Peoples and Sharni Edwards-Peoples.