Presbyterian Moderator writes to every NI congregation over proposed new abortion laws

Presbyterian Moderator, Rt Rev Dr William Henry, wrote to more than 400 Presbyterian congregations in total to urge people to sign an online petition opposing changes tgo Northern Ireland’s abortion laws, and to lobby elected representatives.

His letter follows an appeal he, alongside the leaders of the Church of Ireland, Catholic and Methodist churches, made on Monday to oppose the introduction of legislation to liberalise the abortion regime in Northern Ireland later this month.

“Our joint statement this week, calling people to action, was the first time that we have come together collectively as Church leaders to say, very clearly and with one voice, that the imposition of this legislation would herald an almost unregulated abortion regime on Northern Ireland,” Dr Henry said.

“I have written to all our ministers and congregations in Northern Ireland calling on them to take some simple, but powerful steps to prevent this. The first one is to pray.”

In his letter, the Presbyterian Moderator also encouraged as many people as possible to sign an online petition by Baroness O’Loan, which calls for the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive by October 21 to ensure the legislation from Westminster would not be imposed.

Dr Henry also suggested meeting with local elected representatives from all parties in the area to encourage them to take the steps necessary to re-establish devolved government.

He continued: “As a Church we have consistently called for decisions on contentious matters to be made by local politicians within our locally devolved structures.”

Dr Henry added: As we said in our joint statement, our political parties have it in their own hands to do something about this.”