Pro-life campaigner: don’t forget politicians who voted to kill disabled babies at next election

On Tuesday, a bill to legally prevent women from terminating a pregnancy because their baby would be born disabled was narrowly voted down at Stormont by 45 MLAs to 42.

Bernie Smyth of pro-life group Precious Life said: “People need to consider how politicians have voted in abortion debates when deciding who to vote for at the next election.

“We’ve already been working on a campaign that exposes the politicians at Stormont who support the killing of unborn babies.

“I think yesterday in particular has highlighted the true reality of the depth that some of the politicians are willing to go, and went to, when they denied the right to life of children with disabilities.”

She added: “There has been in a change in Northern Ireland politics. If we look back to before 2019 when the Westminster government forced abortion in, we had a different make-up in the assembly.

“Now we’re seeing that the Northern Ireland Assembly is turning into the most liberal government in Europe. Five to 10 years ago we could have said it was a pro-life government.

“I feel these politicians are not fit to hold office, they are willing to deny the right to life of the most vulnerable.

“What message does this send to the Down Syndrome community, to children who don’t have a fatal fetal abnormality?”

In contrast to the views of Precious Life, the politicians who helped defeat the bill which sought to restrict abortion access were praised by pro-choice group Alliance for Choice.

The group said: “We commend the politicians who had the courage and conviction to vote against such a cynical attempt to deny women and pregnant people the reproductive justice they deserve and are entitled to in any society that values human rights.

“We are indebted to those women and pregnant people who, time and time again, selflessly put their abortion journeys in the public domain, for the benefit and betterment of the rights of those who need compassionate and conscientious abortion healthcare in our society.”

The group said it is now incumbent on the Northern Ireland Executive to commission compliant abortion provision: “The repeated attempts to stall, thwart and undermine this legislation are nothing short of a denial of the human rights of women, girls and pregnant people.”

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