Assembly Election Candidates must be challenged on Secretary of State's abortion plans
Precious Life has called on NI Assembly Members to protect babies in Northern Ireland and reject the Secretary of State’s attempt to force more abortion on the province. The call follows a High Court ruling today (8 Feb) where Mr Justice Colton rejected a challenge by pro-life campaigners to Brandon Lewis’ powers to impose a deadline on Stormont for putting in place a centralised system for killing babies before birth. Precious Life said they will name and shame candidates in the forthcoming Assembly Election who will not promise to protect unborn babies in Northern Ireland.
BACKGROUND: In October 2019 while Stormont was suspended, abortion was forced on Northern Ireland by the Westminster Parliament, through Section 9 of the NI (Executive Formation etc) Act. This overturned the legislation in the “Offences against the Person Act” that had previously protected unborn babies and their mothers from abortion. Westminster’s new abortion regulations came into force in March 2020. Since then, over 2,394 babies have been killed by abortion. But despite the large numbers of babies already killed, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis issued a directive in July 2021 to force Stormont to fully commission the abortion of babies up to the 24th week in pregnancy, and abortion up to the moment of birth for babies with disabilities, including Down’s Syndrome, Club Foot and Cleft Palette. The directive by Brandon Lewis was challenged in the High Court in October 2021.
Director of Precious Life Bernadette Smyth said, “We urge all MLAs, who claim to uphold the principles of devolution, to block any attempts by Westminster or the Secretary of State to force more abortion on Northern Ireland.
“Westminster not only ignored the right to life of our unborn babies, but also blatantly ignored democracy and devolution when it seized power to override the Stormont Assembly.
"On other devolved matters in Northern Ireland, we hear Assembly Members calling on Westminster to respect devolution and stop interfering. But there is a deafening silence from many of the same MLAs when it comes to Westminster interfering in the devolved matter of abortion law. Those who remain silent, and even support this interference, are hypocrites!
"Personhood and full legal protection must be restored to every unborn baby in Northern Ireland. The Assembly election is only a few short months away. Precious Life have already started the “Restore Personhood Campaign” urging the electorate to vote only for candidates who will uphold the right to life of EVERY person in Northern Ireland. We will distribute hundreds of thousands of leaflets calling on people to contact the Political Parties and demand they repeal Westminster's Section 9 legislation, which robbed our unborn babies of their personhood.
"We will name and shame any candidate who will not promise to uphold the right to life of unborn babies. Our Campaign will also expose the Political Parties who support Westminster riding roughshod over the Assembly and showing only contempt for the views of the people of Northern Ireland."
Bernadette Smyth concluded, "We will not let the killing of 2394 babies be forgotten. Pro-abortion candidates must rejected at the ballot box. They are not fit to hold political office. If they cannot respect the right to life of a little baby in the womb, how can they be trusted to respect or uphold any of YOUR rights? The most fundamental human right is the right to life itself – without it, all other rights are meaningless.”