Westminster Government takes power over NI Assembly to force killing of more babies
Precious Life has condemned the Westminster Government and NI Secretary of State for taking power over the NI Assembly to force "fully-commissioned abortion" in Northern Ireland.
“Fully-commissioned abortion” means abortion-on-demand, for any reason, right up to the moment of birth.
BACKGROUND:
The laws in Northern Ireland that had protected women and unborn babies from abortion were dismantled in 2019 while the Assembly was suspended, and Westminster forced abortion on Northern Ireland through Section 9 of the 'NI Executive Formation Act'. But since the Stormont Assembly got been up and running again in January 2020, the full commissioning of abortion was stalled due to disagreement on the issue within the Executive of the Assembly.
Since abortion was forced on Northern Ireland, over 2394 babies have now been killed. But Brandon Lewis said it’s “entirely unacceptable “ that more babies haven’t been killed. He even had the audacity to claim he has "a moral duty” to ensure more unborn babies are killed here, and that the killings must be of "high-quality."
NORTHERN IRELAND EXECUTIVE "WILL BE DISREGARDED"
Brandon Lewis will override the Stormont Assembly and strip away the need for the NI Executive Committee to give its approval to any “full commissioning” of abortion here. He said any need for approval from the NI Executive “will be disregarded”.
He added that the Westminster Government is “steadfast in its belief” that the Department of Health should “drive forward” the killing of unborn babies “without further delay.”
Lewis demanded that Stormont's Department of Health must start setting up fully-commissioned abortions for Northern Ireland "within days to weeks".
Brandon Lewis also conferred on himself further powers to interfere if the Department of Health does not commission and fund abortion as directed by him. He has given himself the power to do ANYTHING that a Northern Ireland Minister or Department could do for the purpose of ensuring more abortions are carried out.
The NI Health Minister Robin Swann said Brandon Lewis’ demands to kill more babies would be given "careful consideration" by his Department.
Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O'Neill said she welcomed the interference by the British Government to kill more Irish babies. "No more delays. It must be provided now", she said.
£5million - "NOT A LOT OF MONEY" TO KILL BABIES
It is understood the cost of fully-commissioned abortions could be about £5million for Northern Ireland.
But Brandon Lewis insisted it was "within the budget” of the NI Department of Health to pay for the killing of the babies.
He said “…it's not a lot of money…” when you look at the several hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayer’s money that the NI Executive has.
But the Health Service in Northern Ireland is already in crisis due to lack of funds.
The BBC recently reported that it could take up to 10 years to tackle Northern Ireland's current waiting lists, which are increasing daily.
The report revealed that Northern Ireland has the worst waiting times of any UK region. More than 300,000 people are waiting for a first consultant appointment.
But these 300,00 people – including hundreds of thousands of women and girls - are irrelevant to Brandon Lewis and the Westminster Government. Their priority is for more abortions in Northern Ireland.
Abortions cost approximately between £500 - £1,500 depending on the age of the baby. Killing a baby up to 10 weeks using the abortion pill costs around £500. Killing a baby at 24 weeks costs over £1500
Precious Life spokesperson Bernadette Smyth said, “Using even the lowest estimate of £500 for each of the 2394 abortions in Northern Ireland means that almost £1.2million has already been spent to kill those babies. It’s an outrage that. due to lack of funds, 300,000 people are waiting years for genuine and necessary medical treatment. Yet more than £1.2million has been spent on abortions, with a further £5million to be spent in the coming year."
She added, “Westminster’s cruel and devastating abortion agenda is not supported by the people of Northern Ireland
“Westminster ignored the 79% of people who responded to the public consultation on abortion law in Northern Ireland and stated they did not want to see any change to our pro-life laws.”
RIGHT TO LIFE …DEMOCRACY …DEVOLUTION IGNORED
“Westminster has not only ignored the right to life of unborn babies, but has also blatantly ignored the principles of democracy and devolution by seizing power to override the Stormont Assembly. Westminster does not ignore devolution in Scotland and Wales, yet they have no hesitation in doing so in Northern Ireland", said Mrs Smyth.
“This also exposes the hypocrisy of pro-abortion MLAs in Sinn Fein, Alliance and SDLP, who protest when Westminster tries to interfere on other issues – yet welcome and support Westminster’s interference when they force abortion on Northern Ireland.”
Bernadette Smyth concluded, “Precious Life will continue our campaign to Repeal Section 9 and restore full protection for all unborn babies in Northern Ireland.”
Watch UTV news report...