SPUC welcomes climbdown on extension of abortion law to Northern Ireland Belfast, 22 October - The pro-life lobby in Northern Ireland have welcomed moves taken by Gordon Brown's government to prevent the Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill from being used to extend the Abortion Act to the Province.

Exactly a year after the Northern Ireland Assembly gave overwhelming backing to a motion rejecting the extension of the Abortion Act, Mrs Betty Gibson, Northern Ireland chairwoman of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said: "This is a significant victory for the people of Northern Ireland and our pro-life politicians who have urged the Prime Minister, not to allow the abortion lobby in Britain to impose the Abortion Act upon us. "Gordon Brown has recognised the strength of opposition to liberal abortion within Northern Ireland Assembly. The leaders of the four major parties in Northern Ireland wrote to every MP opposing the extension of the Act and many members of the Assembly made it clear that they would not implement the law if it was imposed. In the face of such opposition the Prime Minister has realised that if pro-abortion MPs outside Northern Ireland ignored the Assembly it would have created a constitutional dilemma which he would have had to deal with."Pro-life opposition in Northern Ireland has meant that it was more practical for the government to prevent any of amendments tabled to the Abortion Act from proceeding. Had these measures gone through then lives of thousands of unborn children in both Britain and Ireland would have been threatened. We all owe Northern Ireland's politicians a huge debt of gratitude for their consistent defence of the sanctity of human life ," said Mrs Gibson. "Women deserve better than abortion and many women opt for abortion because they feel they have no other choice. We must now ensure that every woman in Northern Ireland gets all the help and support she needs to care for her unborn child," she said.