- - - PRESS RELEASE - - - History will remember the NI Assembly Members who co-operated with the evil of abortion on 21st October 2019
Northern Ireland’s leading pro-life group Precious Life are at Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast today (21st Oct) to protest at Westminster’s abortion law for Northern Ireland. At 9am this morning, the pro-life group marched up the ‘Stormont Mile’ carrying the banner - “Abortion – Not in our Name.”
NI's Stormont Assembly is sitting for the first time in nearly three years after being recalled in a last-minute attempt to stop the imposition of abortion laws from Westminster. NI has been without a devolved government since January 2017 when the power-sharing parties split. In July 2019, Westminster suspended their normal rules to pass legislation to impose abortion on Northern Ireland if the parties had not formed an Executive by 21st October.
However, pro-abortion Assembly Members (MLAs) have said they will not return to Stormont today, using the excuse that the Recall is a “political stunt.”
Director of Precious Life, Bernadette Smyth said, “We thank all the MLAs who have returned to Stormont today, and we still urge all other MLAs to return and form a power-sharing Executive.
"Those politicians who are labelling today’s Recall - a 'political stunt’ - are the same politicians who were happy to welcome the ‘political travesty’ when this undemocratic abortion legislation was railroaded through Westminster in July, breaking all normal rules, procedures and protocols.
“Even regardless of their stance on abortion – if they were truly committed to democracy and devolution, they would be in Stormont today protesting against Westminster forcing ‘direct rule’ on Northern Ireland. This abortion legislation from Westminster is a shameful and cynical betrayal of the Good Friday Agreement. The hypocrisy of the MLAs who claim they support and defend the GFA is being exposed by their silence and absence today.”
Mrs Smyth added, “The Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr. once said that those who accept evil without protesting against it are really cooperating with it. Every MLA who chooses not to return to Stormont today is cooperating with the evil of abortion. History will remember the MLAs who failed to return to Stormont on 21st October 2019 and allowed this ‘death of democracy’ – and even worse - allowed the deaths of Northern Ireland’s unborn babies.
“But no law, and no government can take away our right to defend the unborn babies of Northern Ireland. No law or government can take away the factual reality that unborn babies are part of our human family. Today – 21st October 2019 – unborn babies are little human beings who must be protected, and will still be tomorrow.
Bernadette Smyth concluded, “The people of Northern Ireland have fought the good fight and will continue to do so. This is our time, this is our battle. The imposition of abortion will be met with opposition from people throughout Northern Ireland. We will increase our campaigns to ensure women are given better crisis pregnancy support. We will step up our ‘Lobby for Life’ political campaigns, and our ‘Youth for Life’ street outreach campaigns to expose the horrific reality of abortion. The battle to protect our most vulnerable citizens – our unborn babies - is far from over and will continue with even greater determination than before.”
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