This should come as no surprise, considering that at its annual Ard Fheis in March 2015, Sinn Fein rejected the pro-life motion that ‘all children who are diagnosed with fatal illnesses or disabilities before they are born to receive the full protection of the state’, and instead, voted in support of a motion calling for legalisation of abortion of unborn children with life-limiting disabilities right up to the moment of birth.

Bernadette Smyth, the director of Precious Life, commented on the party’s latest manifesto:

“Sinn Féin has never been a ‘pro-life party’. They have merely hidden behind the rhetoric of ‘choice’ and fooled voters on their doorsteps with their word games year after year, but their latest election manifesto makes it loud and clear that a vote for Sinn Fein is a vote for abortion.

“Martin McGuinness says that we don’t want to be part of a ‘backward region’. But there is nothing progressive about calling for the killing of unborn children with disabilities. It is outright discrimination.

“Sinn Féin counts on getting the ‘the Catholic vote’, but no Catholic can in good conscience vote for this political party.

“It is vitally important that the people of Northern Ireland come out on 5th May and vote only for political candidates who will stand strong in their defence of all unborn children to ensure that our pro-life laws never change.”