Belfast, : Campaigners for the right to life of unborn children have welcomed comments by Peter Robinson, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, that his Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will oppose moves within the Province to legalise abortion for babies diagnosed with serious disabilities.
Liam Gibson, development officer for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) www.spuc.org.uk said: "Children in the womb are perhaps the most vulnerable group in society and this is particularly true of babies who are disabled or seriously ill. The pro-life people of Northern Ireland, therefore, will be pleased to hear that attempts to introduce abortion on the grounds of foetal disability are now destined to be thrown out by the government in Belfast."
By describing plans to liberalise the law as "doomed to failure", Mr Gibson said that the First Minister was acknowledging that the majority of people in Northern Ireland are firmly opposed to the idea that disabled babies should be denied the same rights as other children. "When the Justice Department carried out a public consultation on its proposals earlier this year, over 99 percent of responses, tens of thousands of people, were opposed to a change in the law", said Mr Gibson.
"The deliberate killing of even one child because he or she is disabled can never be justified. It is clear, however, that this was only the first stage in a plan to introduce widespread abortion into Northern Ireland. The First Minister, and all the politicians across the political divide who have rejected this proposal deserved to be congratulated for defending the lives of disabled babies.
"What we need now is more support for mothers and better perinatal care for babies with life-limiting conditions. That support - unlike abortion - will provide a genuinely compassionate response to a tragic situation", concluded Mr Gibson.
Liam Gibson, SPUC's Northern Ireland development officer, can be contacted on:
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