SLITHERING SINN FEIN REARS ITS UGLY HEAD
At its annual Ard Fheis in Derry on Saturday 7th March, Sinn Fein rejected the pro-life motion 123; that ‘all children who are diagnosed with fatal illnesses or disabilities before they are born to receive the full protection of the state and that abortion not be permissible under law in these circumstances,’ and instead voted in favour of a motion in support of abortion in cases where an unborn child has been diagnosed with a life-limiting disability. The party also has also taken a position in support of a repeal of the 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution.
Despite media reports that Sinn Fein has now ‘dropped its historic opposition to abortion’, the outcome of this year’s Ard Fheis should come as no surprise to those who have not been duped by Sinn Fein’s semantic dodging through the years. Do not be fooled: Sinn Fein has never been opposed to abortion. Rather, its leaders have merely championed the rhetoric of a woman’s ‘right to choose’ and have spoon-fed their unquestioning faithful voters at their doorsteps year after year.
Despite Sinn Fein’s best efforts to win support for a woman’s ‘right to choose’, there is an unyielding conviction of the people of Northern Ireland that every human being, born or unborn, must be protected in law, policy and practice.
The people of Northern Ireland have repeatedly told the Northern Ireland Assembly that abortion will never be in our name. In 2013 Precious Life presented 250,000 petitions as part of an ongoing campaign to close Marie Stopes. In September 2014, 35,000 petitions were presented in opposition to commercial provision of abortion in Northern Ireland. In January 2015, 25,000 petitions were presented in opposition to David Ford’s proposals to change the law in cases of ‘lethal foetal abnormality and sexual crime’.
Following Sinn Fein’s rejection of the pro-life motion, it is clear that Sinn Fein cannot make the promise to protect the rights of our unborn children. It is not a political party that represents the people of Northern Ireland.
Precious Life, the leading pro-life group in Northern Ireland, and Donegal for Life arranged a peaceful prayer vigil outside the Millennium Forum in Derry where the Ard Fheis was taking place. Speaking on behalf of the pro-life majority of Northern Ireland, Bernadette Smyth, the director of Precious Life, declared, ‘the people of Northern Ireland will rise up in opposition to any change in legislation that would destroy disabled unborn children, or any unborn child for that matter.’
Bernadette Smyth continued, ‘We all feel enormous sympathy for mothers and families faced with the traumatic and distressing news that their precious unborn child has been diagnosed with a life-limiting disability. But mothers and families deserve much more than our sympathy. They need a professional support system in place; they need perinatal hospice care.’
The only promises Sinn Fein can make to their voters are the promises to rid a disabled unborn child of any protection in his or her mother’s womb, and to support an already vulnerable and distressed pregnant mother to ‘choose’ to be responsible for her unborn child’s death.
Mothers and their unborn children deserve better than abortion. Mothers and their unborn children deserve better than Sinn Fein.