Chai Brady
The northern bishops have written to members of the region’s assembly to voice their opposition to new regulations regarding abortion, insisting it must be debated “as a matter of urgency”.
They said the current regulations, which were brought in due to legislation passed in Westminster, must be formulated to reflect the position of the majority of people in the North.
Last year, abortion was decriminalised in the region over the heads of locally-elected politicians by British MPs in a move that was widely criticised and opposed by all members of the UK Parliament from the North who take their seats.
The bishops said their objection to the regulations are founded in Church teaching concerning the dignity of every life and “prohibits the direct and deliberate intention to end the life of an unborn baby at any stage of his or her development”.
However, they argued that the current regulations exceed the requirements of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc.) Act 2019.
“While we regard this to be an unjust law, which was imposed without the consent of the people of Northern Ireland, we are morally obliged, wherever possible, to do all we can to save the lives of unborn children, which could be lost through abortion, and to protect mothers from the pressures they might experience at the time of an unplanned pregnancy,” Archbishop Eamon Martin and Bishops Donal McKeown, Noel Treanor, Larry Duffy and Michael Router stated in a letter signed by each of them.
“We trust that you recognise this to be an obligation we all share as concerned citizens and public representatives.”
They said politicians should take steps to formulate new regulations that “reflect more fully the will of a significant majority of the people in this jurisdiction to protect the lives of mothers and their unborn children”.
“Indeed, as the (Northern Ireland Office) has noted, this commitment to protect life was expressed by 79% of people, who responded to the consultation exercise conducted by the UK Government last December.”
The bishops added: “As the Catholic Bishops of Northern Ireland we are eager to enter into dialogue with MLAs from across the political parties in an attempt to explore, where possible, how new Regulations can be formulated, which express the will of most people in our society to support and protect the lives of mothers and their unborn children.”