Why are Martin McGuinness and David Ford singling out my child?
In response to the Department of Justice’s proposals to legalise abortion in cases of ‘lethal foetal abnormality and sexual crime’, Every Life Counts, a support group for families whose children were diagnosed with life-limiting conditions, launched the Project Love Campaign. The Project Love Campaign provided a platform for parents whose children had been diagnosed with terminal conditions to talk about their individual experiences, to encourage better provision of perinatal hospice care, and to reject the Department of Justice’s proposal to legalise abortion in these tragic cases.
Precious Life, the leading pro-life group in Northern Ireland, worked together with Every Life Counts and embarked on a public awareness campaign to highlight the dangers within the Department of Justice’s proposals and encourage the people of Northern Ireland to respond to the consultation and completely reject the proposals. As part of the Project Love campaign, Precious Life produced and distributed thousands of submission postcards, giving the people of Northern Ireland an opportunity to show their opposition to any change in the law.
Today, on behalf of the pro-life majority in Northern Ireland, Precious Life was pleased to present to the Department of Justice a total of 25,000 responses to the public consultation, including 18,000 Project Love submission postcards, written submissions and 3,000 signatures collected as part of Precious Life’s online CitizenGO campaign.
The Justice Minister, Mr David Ford, the First and deputy First Minister, Mr Peter Robinson and Mr Martin McGuinness, have shown an unwillingness to meet with and listen to those who do not support a change in the law. Gemma Bradley, a mother whose unborn baby had been diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a condition known as Edward’s syndrome, had written to Mr Ford on the 5th November requesting a meeting with him to discuss her experience and why she felt legalising abortion would not help mothers in her position. In response, Mr Ford refused to meet with her and dismissed her concerns:
‘It is clear from your letter that [abortion] would not have been a choice you would have made [...] My consultation is primarily about seeking a change in the law to enable those women who wish to choose a different path to yours to do so.’
Today at Stormont, Charlene McCabe, a mother whose baby daughter, Myla Faith, was diagnosed with Trisomy 18, delivered a letter to Mr McGuinness on behalf of Gemma Bradley. This letter outlined how hurt and betrayed Gemma and other mothers in her circumstances felt when Mr McGuinness stated that he supported abortion in cases of life-limiting disabilities:
‘You are singling babies like my daughter out for abortion, for no other reason than they have a disability.’
Bernadette Smyth, the director of Precious Life, said, ‘what our Justice Minister is proposing is the worst form of discrimination. It is heart-breaking that he and the First and deputy First Minister would not meet with Gemma and other mothers whose babies had life-limiting disabilities.’
Precious Life is calling on the Government of Northern Ireland to ensure that the unconditional right to life of all human beings is respected, and that all children, before as well as after birth, receive equal protection in law, policy and practice, regardless of their disabilities or the circumstances of their conception.