Baby Loss Bill exposes hypocrisy of pro-abortion Parties in Northern Ireland
The hypocrisy of pro-abortion Assembly Members was exposed during a debate for the Second Stage of a Bill to make provision for the issue of certificates recognising the loss of a baby in the womb before she or he is 24 weeks old.
Director of Precious Life Bernadette Smyth said the “uncomfortable truth” referred to by Timothy Gaston MLA during the debate is that the Bill rightly recognises the loss of a baby in miscarriage, but ignores the killing of thousands of babies by abortion in Northern Ireland.
The "Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Bill" is sponsored by Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd. Sinn Fein support the killing of unborn babies throughout all stages of pregnancy, right up to the moment of birth. Together with the SDLP, Alliance Party, Green Party, PBP, and members of the UUP, they supported the abortion legislation forced on Northern Ireland by Westminster through Section 9 of the Northern Ireland Executive Formation Act.
Timothy Gaston MLA from the TUV said, “…I feel a moral duty to speak out for the life of the unborn. I am pro-life, and I will take the opportunity in my brief remarks to make some of those points…
“…Like all other Members, I welcome the intention behind the Bill. The loss of a baby at any stage is a devastating blow to any family and something that the mother will feel particularly deeply, having carried the child…It is therefore right that, for parents who wish to have them, we make provision for the issuing of certificates that recognise the loss of a baby.
“… However, I want to make some observations about the Bill and the language that it employs…The title of the Bill is the Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Bill. Throughout the Bill, the word "baby" is used. In the Bill, a baby is never referred to as anything else. For example, it is never referred to by the cold term "fetus", nor should it be. I put it to the House that the language used in the title of the Bill and its clauses is an acknowledgement of the personhood of the unborn children who tragically never get a chance to live outside the womb. It acknowledges their value. It acknowledges their potential to have brought love and joy into the world. It acknowledges their potential to have contributed to society and to have grown up to become a great leader, a great writer or a great scientist. It acknowledges that, although they may not have become any of those things, they would still have been loved as a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a son, a brother or a father.
“…The fact that the Bill acknowledges all those things is right, just and good, but — here we come to the uncomfortable truth contained in the Bill — if all those things are true of the child who, sadly, is stillborn, they are equally true of the 8,093 babies who have been aborted since our abortion laws were changed.
“…Although I regret the fact that the Bill is not wider in its scope and will not even, I believe, provide scope for tabling amendments that would address the threat to unborn babies, I welcome the fact that it does address an important issue.
“…I welcome the fact that Members across the House today, by the very act of voting in favour of the legislation, will be accepting, whether they care to acknowledge it, the central tenet of the pro-life argument, which is that an unborn baby is just that: an unborn baby.”
Diane Forsythe MLA of the DUP also spoke in the debate saying, “…The DUP is a pro-life party. We recognise and value every life from the moment that it is formed in the womb.”
The Second Stage was passed, and the proposed legislation will now move to Committee Stage.
Director of Precious Life Bernadette Smyth concluded, “This debate has laid bare the hypocrisy at the heart of those pro-abortion parties in Northern Ireland —where the deep sorrow of miscarriage is recognised, yet the deliberate killing of thousands of babies through abortion is ignored. As the Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Bill moves forward, it forces a moral reckoning: if we acknowledge the humanity of babies lost before birth, how can we continue to ignore the same truth when it comes to abortion?”
WATCH TIMOTHY GASTON'S SPEECH HERE...