Letter: Two women do what they believe - one gets an honour for facilitating abortion, the other is arrested for for protesting against it

I write in complete and utter dismay at the state of the law in a nation most of us were once proud of.

Two outrageous contrasts have appeared in the news in recent days.

In King Charles III’s New Year’s Honours List a nurse in Northern Ireland was awarded an OBE (as quoted from the RCN Bulletin)“for her passion for promoting women’s health services and her bravery in continuing to run them in the face of huge obstacles and protests” (‘Pro life group queries OBE for abortion provider,’ News Letter, January 5, see link below).

This nurse was voted RCN Nurse of the Year in 2021 for providing “early medical abortions to women in Northern Ireland during the pandemic” (Quoted from the RCN Bulletin).“She’s since been part of a successful campaign for safe zones around abortion clinics to prevent patients being harassed…….” (Quoted from the RCN Bulletin) One has to ask the question, were such early medical abortions carried out in Northern Ireland during the pandemic done to save the mother’s life, or because the foetus shewed fatal foetal abnormality, or because of rape?

Or were they just to avoid an inconvenience?By contrast, in Birmingham, on December 6, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested for standing, silently, praying in the vicinity of an abortion centre. She was arrested, not before being searched, even her hair was searched, and had tissues in her pocket confiscated.

She was taken to a police station and questioned for four hours before being charged with “protesting and engaging in an act that is intimidating to service users”.At the time of her arrest the abortion facility was closed.Here are two women, both (by their own admission) passionately doing what they believe in. One receives a public honour, the other, a public humiliation.

Isabel is a Christian, and the honour she will one day receive will be greater than an OBE. Earthly honours decay and corrode. Heavenly honours are eternal. Christians, pray for Isabel Vaughan-Spruce as she is due to appear in court on February.

Gordon McNeill, Portadown

Pro-life group queries OBE for Belfast abortion provider in New Year Honours