The News Letter Covers Precious Life’s Response to 300,000 Criticism
23/12/2016 Belfast Newsletter
The pro-life campaign group behind a 300,000 strong petition presented at the Assembly last month have hit back at suggestions the petition was 'misleading'.
Last month, DUP MLA Jim Wells presented the largest ever collection of signatures to the Northern Ireland Assembly, collected by the campaign group Precious Life.
The delivery of the signatures came as MLAs consider the findings of an expert panel tasked with examining Northern Ireland's abortion laws in cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormailities.
The 300,000-strong petition also came just weeks after Amnesty International delivered a 45,000-strong online petition in favour of abortion law reform.
Justice Minister Claire Sugden, responding to a query from Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw, said the Precious Life petition was a collection of nine previously collated petitions, one dating back as far as 2001.
The minister's comments prompted criticism of the 300,000 strong petition from Ms Bradshaw, who branded it 'misleading'.
Precious Life, however, say they made it known to the Justice Minister from the outset that the signatures were collected over a number of years in a number of campaigns.
The pro-life group's Director, Bernadette Smyth, said: "This was to show, contrary to suggestions from Amnesty International, that people's views on abortion in Northern Ireland have not changed over the years. The majority of people in Northern Ireland, as shown by the support given to our campaigns over the years, are opposed to abortion."
She added: "The Justice Minister made a number of points which I believe, whether advertently or inadvertently on her part, underminded the credibility of the 300,000 petitions presented by Precious Life, and consequently, the voice of the pro-life majority in Northern Ireland.
"Contrary to what Paula Bradshaw claimed, the 300,000 petitions were neither 'misleading' nor 'dishonest'. Neither Jim Wells MLA nor I claimed that the 300,000 petitions were collected from one campaign or within specific time period, nor did we claim that the 300,000 petitions concerned the current push for abortion of unborn children with life-limiting disabilities.
"The 300,000 petitions presented were simply an impressive representation of the pro-life majority in Northern Ireland who believe that every human being, born or unborn, has an unconditional right to life and should remain protected by our laws.."