Let DUP understand that many unionist voters are more disturbed about abortion-on-demand than they are about an Irish language act

I hope they have taken note of a very significant week for the pro-life cause in Northern Ireland.

I am referring to the packed-to-overflowing prayer gathering ‘For the Soul of the Nation’ at St Anne’s Cathedral, the 20,000 people attending the ‘NI voiceless’ event at Stormont on Friday evening and another large crowd at Saturday’s ‘Precious Life’ march in Belfast.

I was surprised to see several of our local unionist politicians appearing in the march up to Parliament Buildings.

I and many others were marching to Stormont because our politicians had gone AWOL.

We are saying to our local politicians, especially the DUP and Sinn Fein: we hold you responsible to get back into Stormont to legislate for us on the abortion issue. It will not wash to push all the blame on Westminster. We have been given a window of opportunity to take control of this recent legislation IF we can restore our institutions by 21st October.

It will not wash for the DUP to blame Sinn Fein for that not happening.

The DUP must yield on the main issue apparently blocking the return of the Assembly – namely the Irish language act.

If they put everything on the table in order to be able to take local control of the abortion legislation, and Sinn Fein refuse to co-operate, then we will know we can blame Sinn Fein.

But first it is time for the DUP to choose.

Do they put the Irish language act above defeating the abortion-on-demand legislation?

Let them understand that many unionist voters are much more disturbed about the introduction of abortion-on-demand than they are about Irish language legislation.

Let the DUP listen to their core voters and also reach out (as they have in the past) to pro-life nationalist voters.

Let them listen to their voters as they say (to use the name of one of our excellent NI pro-life groups) Both Lives Matter.

Both lives matter to us as we go out to vote.

Do they matter to the DUP?

If the DUP make the wrong choice, they will certainly suffer in the elections that are coming soon.

If the DUP make the wrong choice, we will hold them responsible for the blood of the innocents that will soon be spilled in our hospitals and clinics.

Sid Garland, Dunmurry