Precious Life oustide Westminster Parliament in London
Last week, the Northern Ireland Assembly reached a deal on the devolution of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Northern Ireland.

While this has many political implications, Precious Life welcome this as great news for our unborn children. It now means that legislation on abortion in Northern Ireland will be controlled by own Assembly - with a pro-life majority - rather than controlled by the Westminster Parliament in London, which has a pro-abortion majority.

At a recent meeting in Belfast, the tiny pro-abortion movement admitted that “all doors have closed” in their attempts to have the 1967 Abortion Act extended to Northern Ireland. They said they will now have to focus on seeking international support to further their deadly objectives.

Precious Life was formed in 1997 specifically because of the abortion threat from Westminster. The Labour Government had come into power, and the extension to Northern Ireland of the 1967 Abortion Act (which only applies in England, Scotland, and Wales) was their official party policy.

For over 12 years Precious Life battled against this threat. We successfully challenged every attempt by pro-abortion Westminster MPs to force abortion on Northern Ireland. We collected hundreds of thousands of petition signatures opposing the extension of the Act. We continuously lobbied our politicians to speak out against this threat. In 2000, and again in 2007, our Assembly Members passed motions stating their opposition to abortion. Precious Life was instrumental in the setting-up of the All Party Pro-Life Group of the Northern Ireland. In 2008, the leaders of the four main political parties in Northern Ireland united to sign a letter to Westminster MPs stating their opposition to plans to extend the 1967 Act contained in the “HFE Bill”.

And of course, most importantly, for over 12 years Precious Life organised countless Prayer and Fasting Campaigns to stop the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.

We give thanks to God that all our work and prayers have been rewarded with the transfer of Policing and Justice Powers. Now, our local Assembly will be able to create new criminal offences and will also be able to introduce tougher penalties for existing offences.

In Northern Ireland, abortion is a serious criminal offence. Precious Life will continue lobbying our Assembly to ensure the current law against abortion in Northern Ireland is tightened even further to stop any attempt to legalise abortion ‘through the back door (see our current battle against Abortion Guidelines); and block any outside pressure to legalise abortion from international pro-abortion organisations like CEDAW or Planned Parenthood.

The devolution of policing and justice from Westminster to Stormont, will formally take place on 12 April 2010.



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