Stormont vote on abortion: Sinn Fein couldn't care less about protecting human life
This week, some observers on the pro-life side praised Sinn Fein for tabling an amendment to a DUP motion on abortion, due to be voted on at Stormont today (Tuesday 2nd June).
The DUP motion “welcomes the important intervention of disability campaigner Heidi Crowter and rejects the imposition of abortion legislation which extends to all non-fatal disabilities, including Down syndrome”.
Sinn Féin in its amendment alters the DUP motion so that it would read that the Assembly “welcomes the important intervention of disability campaigner Heidi Crowter and rejects the specific legislative provision in the abortion legislation which goes beyond fatal foetal abnormalities to include non-fatal disabilities, including Down syndrome”.
The Sinn Fein amendment would apply to the element of the legislation which allows unborn children with conditions such as Down syndrome, cleft palate or club foot to be aborted up to birth in Northern Ireland.
Do not be fooled
Some have heaped praise on the notoriously pro-abortion party under the false illusion that Sinn Fein are making some sort of effort to protect human life, particularly the lives of those with specific disabilities. However, there is absolutely no excuse to be fooled – Sinn Fein single-handedly brought abortion into Northern Ireland in their disgraceful refusal to return to Stormont to reinstate the executive last October. Their failure and outright refusal to take action in the midst of huge public uproar about Westminster’s abortion law, came despite MLAs drawing in more than £17 million in salaries for the duration of the Stormont deadlock.
There is no excuse for tolerating, or worse yet, applauding Sinn Fein. Their despicable actions – refusing to take British Parliament seats but delighted to see direct rule imposed when it suits them, in the case of abortion – must never be forgotten by the electorate. If you are pro-life, you can neither vote for nor remain within its ranks.
Sinn Fein’s Stormont Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill (who herself travelled to Westminster to beg British politicians to impose this law) has made it clear that the party do not support the repeal of this abortion law.
Speaking on Monday (1st June) she said: “It is our view that the DUP motion is an attempt to reject the entire abortion legislation and we will oppose that in the Assembly.”
Sinn Fein’s amendment is nothing more than a cheap token which is being cynically employed to try and win back the votes of pro-life republicans. For a party so vociferously pro-abortion, any attempt to claim to care about unborn life must be discarded as wholly disingenuous.
A discriminatory amendment
It is also very important to note that their amendment only deals specifically with ‘non-fatal abnormalities.’
In effect, this means that the party are advocating abortion up to birth for babies who have ‘fatal’ disabilities, such as children diagnosed with anencephaly and other conditions with a short predicted lifespan. These children are just as precious, valuable, and worthy of life as a child with Down’s syndrome or cleft lip. The Sinn Fein amendment is ill-conceived, inconsistent and hugely discriminatory.
The party must also be asked, what about the lives of those in the womb without ‘non-fatal’ disabilities? What about the 200,000 children aborted each year in Britain, many of whom did not specifically have a non-fatal disability? According to the UK Department of Health, approximately 98% of all abortions are performed on healthy babies.
To recognise the humanity of unborn children with certain conditions, but to deny the humanity of all the other victims of abortion, exposes the ugly hypocrisy of Sinn Fein’s position. To advocate protection to some and not others is the height of discrimination. It is not pro-life to pick and choose who is worthy of life – it is pro-abortion.
Do not forget that Sinn Fein are directly complicit in the deaths of 129 unborn children who have been killed in Northern Ireland’s new abortion regime in the past 2 months alone. No-one should be patting Sinn Fein on the back for this amendment; they couldn't care less about protecting human life.
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