The annual conference of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), addressed last weekend by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, chief whip of the Democratic Unionist Party, saw the launch of the Society’s biggest ever grassroots campaign to resist abortion, according to John Smeaton, SPUC CEO.
"Our abortion resistance campaign is beginning in Northern Ireland and will spread to every part of the UK in the coming weeks and months" said John Smeaton.
"In July, Westminster politicians voted to impose an extreme abortion regime upon the people and region of Northern Ireland" he continued.
"The regime is expected to come into force on October 21st 2019, unless Stormont is re-convened.
"Our enemies hope to sow the seeds of the culture of death for generations to come. It is our job to stop them. SPUC have a strong team in place which combines decades of experience and a growing youthful vigour. We will never stop campaigning. We will never stop battling to save lives."
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson delivered a passionate presentation on battling to defend the lives of unborn children In Northern Ireland. He said:
"The pro-abortion lobby, very skilfully and deviously use language, they never talk about the unborn child. The unborn child does not exist in their narrative. The have tried to narrow down and close the debate down. In Northern Ireland, we do not conform to this narrative. We have established our own narrative which is winning hearts and minds. We focus on both lives."
"Northern Ireland has been a battleground on these issues. We resisted the 1967 Abortion Act. Because of that, in my part of the United Kingdom, there are 100,000 of my fellow citizens alive today, who would not be, if we did not stand for their right to Life. We now have a situation where if devolution is not restored by the 21st of October this year, abortion will be decriminalised.
"They are now prepared to impose an extreme abortion regime. Which not a single person in Northern Ireland voted for. Which not a single peer in Northern Ireland voted for. And they call that democracy. They call that the will of the people. Let’s get Stormont back up and running. Let’s stop this now."
John Smeaton added:
"The decriminalisation of abortion imposed on the people of Northern Ireland by Westminster flies in the face of justice and constitutional conventions. If the Northern Ireland Assembly is not reconvened and the legislation goes ahead, there is every danger that it will be followed by an aggressive campaign to achieve the same inhumane and destructive objective in the rest of the UK.
"However, SPUC intends to use such setbacks to renew our educational and political campaign to treat unborn children as equal in their right to life as any other member of the human family. According to the British Government, on its website concerning the Criminal Justice System: ‘The purpose of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) is to deliver justice for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent.’"
John Smeaton continued:
"There are no grounds whatsoever, scientific, logical, or moral why innocent unborn children should not be embraced by the British criminal justice system and SPUC will be bold and clear in saying so."
The 2019 National Conference held in Derby last weekend, attracted delegates from throughout the UK
Other addressing the conference included Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute on "The fight to defend marriage in the United Kingdom"; Obianuju Ekeocha, of Culture of Life Africa on "Abortion, Population Control and the West’s ideological neo-colonialism in the 21st century" and Dr Anthony McCarthy who spoke on euthanasia.
John Smeaton concluded the conference by telling delegates "We will never stop campaigning. We will never stop battling to save lives."