ACTION ALERT: As a matter of urgency, contact your MLAs to protect the Petition of Concern
On Tuesday (7th May), talks involving the Northern Ireland political parties got under way after the British and Irish governments set out details of how they intend to restore power-sharing in the Stormont Assembly. There will be a weekly round-table meeting involving party leaders and working groups to deal with several key issues, one of which is reform of the ‘Petition of Concern’ mechanism.
With such an accelerated push from pro-abortion politicians and the current precarious state of the Petition of Concern, it is so crucial that your MLAs hear the pro-life viewpoint of the citizens of Northern Ireland. We urge you to write to your MLA to implore them to protect the Petition of Concern to safeguard our pro-life laws and ultimately save mothers and their unborn children.
What is a “Petition of Concern?”
When elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, an MLA can designate his/her community identity as 'Unionist,' “Nationalist”, or “Other”. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the Petition of Concern mechanism was designed to ensure that MLAs from one community did not trample upon the human rights of another community.
A Petition of Concern ensures that contentious legislation can only be introduced with cross-community support - by both a ‘majority of unionists’ and a ‘majority of nationalists’ - rather than just a ‘majority vote’ in the Assembly.
Why do we need you to TAKE ACTION immediately?
We need you to TAKE ACTION immediately because a number of pro-abortion MLAs want to remove the Petiton of Concern because they know its effectiveness in blocking their attempts to legalise the killing of our unborn children. Therefore, it is so important that the Petition of Concern remains in place to ensure our unborn children are protected from the cruel and extreme abortion agenda of these pro-abortion MLAs.
Their agenda was exposed in June 2018 when MLA Paula Bradshaw of the pro-abortion Alliance Party admitted that changing the Petition of Concern was the “next step” in legalising abortion. She stated, “…we are now in a position where even if a vote went in favour [of abortion], it could be blocked [by a petition of concern]…that must be changed.”
In a confusing statement, the NI Assembly’s largest Party with a pro-life policy, the Democratic Unionist Party, have stated they want to scrap the Petition of Concern. However, the Petition of Concern is the last remaing line of defence for unborn children and it is essential that the Petition of Concern remains to ensure that pro-abortion MLAs do not trample upon the most basic and fundamental human right - the right to life – of our unborn children.
That is why it’s so important that you contact your MLAs immediately - including those from the DUP - to urgently implore them to fight to protect the Petition of Concern.
TAKE ACTION
Contact the Political Parties and tell them that when power-sharing is restored in the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Petition of Concern mechanism must remain in place to ensure that the human rights of our unborn children are not trampled upon, and their right to life continues to be acknowledged and protected, in law, policy, and practice.
To write to your MLA:
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