Precious Life’s Bernadette Smyth Comments on the Results of a ‘1967 Abortion Act’ Opinion Poll

The results of an opinion poll conducted by LucidTalk between 30th November and 2nd December 2016 shows that “55% of people in Northern Ireland support an extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland”, it has been claimed.

In response to this claim, Bernadette Smyth, the director of Precious Life, states:

“The results of this opinion poll cannot be taken seriously. Only 1080 people were asked to take part in the survey; 55% of 1080 is only 594 people.

“The people who responded to this survey were asked: ‘Would you like to see Northern Ireland’s abortion laws ‘liberalised’ and become more in line with the abortion laws that apply throughout the rest of the UK?’ But before anyone can answer this question, they need to be informed on the facts. For instance, were the people who took part in this survey informed of what abortion is, how it destroys the life of an unborn child and physically and psychologically harms the mother?

“Abortion on demand is the law that applies throughout the rest of the UK. Since the 1967 Abortion Act came into force, at least eight million unborn babies have been killed. For women resident in England and Wales, over 98% of the 185,824 abortions carried out in England and Wales in 2015 were for ‘social reasons’.[1] 

“Abortions are allowed up to birth if the unborn child has been diagnosed with a ‘serious handicap’, which includes a cleft lip or cleft palate. Over 90% of unborn children diagnosed with Down’s syndrome are aborted.[2] The number of abortions for reasons of the unborn child’s disability is rising every year.

“The pro-life majority in Northern Ireland have made clear that the unborn child is a person who must be protected from the moment of conception. No exceptions. No compromise. On Monday 28th November, 300,000 pro-life petitions were presented at Stormont Parliament Buildings. This overwhelming number of pro-life petitions puts this opinion poll to shame.

“There is no will for our pro-life laws to be changed in any circumstance.”



[1] See Department of Health Abortion Statistics 2015, page 13.

[2] See the findings of the Bruce Inquiry, a Parliamentary Inquiry into Abortion on the Grounds of Disability 2013, chaired by Fiona Bruce MP.






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