“Long Live One Of Us!”
Members of Precious Life and Stanton Healthcare Belfast were honoured to represent Northern Ireland at the first ONE OF US European Forum on 12th March 2016 in Paris.
The ONE OF US European Forum was organised by the first federation of national pro-life movements; the ONE OF US Federation. The Federation was launched in September 2014following the great success of the ONE OF US European citizens’ initiative that gathered almost 2 million petition signatures calling on the European Commission to end EU funding of research which involved the destruction of human embryos. Disgracefully, even though the initiative had exceeded the required number of signatures in order to be considered by the European Commission, the Commission decided to ignore the petition and refused to recognise the humanity of the unborn child and refused to withdraw funding of this destructive research.
But the European Commission’s cowardice and contempt for human life couldn’t discourage us in our fight for justice. The ONE OF US FEDERATION is here to defend human value and dignity from conception until natural death and to strengthen the voice of European pro-life movements.
The ONE OF US European Forum
At the beautiful Salle Gaveau concert hall in Paris, experts from all around Europe spoke so powerfully and passionately about how we must work together in the fight against the culture of death which is plaguing Europe and its most vulnerable citizens.
Among the topics discussed at the conference were the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the world’s largest abortion provider, and the recent spine-chilling exposure of its involvement in the harvesting and selling of organs and body parts of aborted babies in the United Statesand its implications for Europe, euthanasia of disabled children and adults, the trafficking of women and children through surrogacy, and the disturbing reality of transhumanism.
Special guests included: Sophia Kuby, the Director for EU Advocacy at Alliance Defending Freedom International in Brussels, Belgium; Gregor Puppinck, the Director General of the European Centre for Law and Justice in France, and; Jean-Marie Le Méné, President of Jérôme Lejeune Foundation.
Bernadette Smyth, the director of Precious Life, the leading pro-life group in Northern Ireland, attended the conference and caught up on the latest developments in the pro-life movement across the water with dear friends Josephine Quintavalle, the founder of Comment on Reproductive Ethics (CORE), Mr. Jaime Mayor Oreja, President of the ONE OF US Federation, and Carlo Casini, former MEP and Honorary President of the ONE OF US Federation.
“I am very privileged to be here today at this wonderful conference organised by such courageous and committed defenders of human life. The One of Us Federation shines like a beacon of hope in Europe where a great darkness has fallen and the value and dignity of the human person is under such ferocious attack. I am very proud to be part of this Federation. In the words of Jean Frederic Poisson (Member of the National Assembly of France), ‘long live One of Us!’”
‘All the Europeans must work together, organise resistance, and propagate hope!' – Jean Frederick Poisson
‘One of us is a movement which cannot be bypassed. We have committed ourselves to defending human life and we are proud of it!’ - Alberto Ruiz Gallardon
‘Showing beats knowing. The humanity of the unborn is known but proof doesn’t always lead to acceptance. You need to show!’ – Jeffrey Ventrella