New threat to NI's unborn children as fresh legal challenge is launched
Northern Ireland's unborn children are facing a chilling new threat as a fresh legal challenge against our pro-life laws has been mounted.
Sarah Ewart, a Belfast woman who went to England to have a late term abortion five years ago because her baby had a life-limiting condition is applying for a judicial review to change Northern Ireland's pro-life laws. She is seeking a declaration of incompatibility with human rights law in cases of so-called 'fatal foetal abnormalities' - a term that is not medically recognised but is often used by the abortion lobby to describe children with life-limiting conditions.
Ms Ewart attended Belfast high court on Monday morning to seek leave to apply for a judicial review of the current laws. There are four respondents in the case, Northern Ireland’s Secretary of State Karen Bradley, Northern Ireland’s Department of Justice, the Department of Health and the Executive Committee.
The case, which is being heard by Mr Justice McCloskey, started on Monday morning and has been postponed until Friday over paperwork issues. Green Party South Belfast MLA Clare Bailey was among the supporters who turned up to the courtroom for the hearing.
Speaking outside court, accompanied by her mother Jane Christie and Amnesty International NI campaigns manager Grainne Teggart, Ms Ewart said she was encouraged that after five years the case is being heard. “We are encouraged by what the Supreme Court said, that Justice McCloskey realises this is an urgent matter and we are going back in four days,” Ms Ewart told the Press Association.
Exploitation of a tragic case
It is clear that the abortion lobby have greatly accelerated their push to overturn our laws which stop abortion, opportunistically using this woman and wrongly exploiting her tragic case . In her situation, Sarah Ewart should have been offered real care and options, such as the loving support system of perinatal hospice care. This service gives families the precious time they need with their sick babies, and gives these babies the dignity and love they deserve, no matter how short their lives may be.
Making abortion look ‘compassionate’
Northern Ireland's leading pro-life organisation Precious Life commented on the case today. "Those working to overturn our legal protection for the unborn are attempting to make abortion appear to be a compassionate response to a woman facing a poor diagnosis for her unborn baby," Precious Life Director Bernadette Smyth said.
She continued, "People are being fooled into thinking that abortion is a humane answer for a baby who is not going to survive for long after birth. The heart-breaking reality however is that these late term abortions for babies with life-limiting conditions literally tear these babies apart in the womb, and so often leave women suffering with long-term grief, regret, anxiety and other mental health problems caused by the abortion and their knowledge that their baby's death was a chosen one. We can and will do so much better for women and their children in Northern Ireland than offering them the barbaric violence, distress and heartbreak of abortion."
The harrowing reality of late-term abortion
It is important to note that Sarah Ewart's baby was killed in an abortion following her 20-week scan. By 20 weeks, babies can survive outside the womb and there are many global cases where these extremely premature babies have gone on to thrive. The excruciating pain that her baby went through in that abortion is unfathomable - babies do not deserve to be killed so barbarically for any reason, or simply because they have a disability.
We must work to inform the people of Northern Ireland about the reality of abortion and what happens in the abortion procedure.
In a late term abortion between 15 and 24 weeks, the unborn baby’s body parts are pulled apart piece by piece with a long toothed clamp and removed. The baby’s head is grasped and crushed in order to remove through from the mother’s cervix. In an induced labour abortion (after 20 weeks) the mothers is given drugs to bring on contractions and to expel her baby. After 21 weeks and 6 days, it is ‘recommended’ that potassium chloride be injected into her unborn baby’s heart to stop her baby’s heartbeat. This is to ensure the baby is ‘delivered’ dead. If aborted alive, the baby will be left to die. NHS statistics estimate that 66 babies a year are left to die after late-term abortions gone wrong in Britain.
This is not healthcare. This is not compassion. This is cold-blooded killing - please continue to stand with us as a light in the darkness and a voice for unborn babies and their mothers who deserve all the help, love and support we can offer to encourage them to choose life.
Will you lobby for life?
Please CONTACT us today to get our new 'Lobby for Life' Campaign petitions, demanding that we want unborn babies and their mothers protected from abortion. We are calling on the Westminster Parliament to respect the democratic process in Northern Ireland and acknowledge the clear pro-life message sent out from our Assembly in February 2016