Paul KeenanThe North’s leading pro-life group Precious Life has submitted a massive 300,000-strong petition to Stormont urging legislators to keep Northern Ireland abortion-free.
In a response to a recent petition on behalf of Amnesty International calling for abortion access to be extended to the region, which claimed 45,000 signatures, Bernadette Smyth of Precious Life joined with Jim Wells of the Democratic Unionist Party in presenting the counter petition on November 28.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Ms Smyth said the Amnesty petition “holds no weight” for Northern Ireland given the fact that anyone, anywhere in the world was in a position to sign that document. “The Precious Life petition was signed by people in Northern Ireland,” she stressed.
Real proof
“The signed petition postcards and petition sheets presented are on behalf of the thousands and thousands of people who are calling on the Northern Ireland Assembly to protect unborn children and their mothers from abortion.”
And, she pointed out: “With names, addresses and signatures, these petitions are real proof of the united and unyielding conviction of the pro-life majority in Northern Ireland that every human being, born or unborn, has an unconditional right to life and should remain protected by our laws.”
Ms Smyth added further that the 300,000 signatures gained by her group is “the largest petition ever presented to Stormont on any issue”, demonstrating clearly both the majority opposition to any move on liberalising abortion laws there and the “hypocrisy” of the Amnesty International document.
Addressing fellow MLAs at Stormont as he presented the petition, Mr Wells said that Britain’s 1967 Abortion Act had to date claimed “eight million unborn children”.
“I am absolutely convinced the people of Northern Ireland do not want that law to extend to this part of the UK,” he said.