"I sit here imploring you to listen to me and to reflect, to protect and value life."
On Friday we received one of the most moving letters we have ever received.
It was addressed variously to those Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) at Stormont who have tabled amendments, due to be debated tomorrow (9 Feb) and/or Wednesday (10 Feb), to allow abortion in the cases of disability, fatal foetal abnormality and criminal acts (rape and incest).
It read (in part):
"I am at all times a mother to 10 children; two I am lucky to have here with me, seven in heaven and one in a precarious state presently in my womb ... I find your collective stance morally repugnant and exceptionally hurtful in light of what I, a woman, who has had seven unsuccessful pregnancies (where I did not get to bring my baby home), has endured for five and a half very long, difficult and painful years. You care about the women ...well then listen to me, a woman....Have you stopped to think how grossly offensive and deeply hurtful your stance is to those mothers who carried their life-limited babies to term, birthed them with dignity and held them with love as they slipped away? Don't you care about these women?
"I can't 'abort' my grief or memories of those exceptionally difficult experiences...there is no 'quick fix' for me (although it is erroneous to suggest that abortion is a 'quick fix'. It is not. It has profound and long lasting effects on a woman)....I have to endure indescribable pain and suffering... both physical and psychological. I don't have 'a choice'. And I don't have any support.
"It annoys me intensely that abortion advocates are constantly telling women they 'can't cope' in various situations or 'shouldn't have to cope' and they 'need' abortion. No one ever 'needs' abortion. This stance is so insulting to women; almost -somewhat ironically, anti-feminist....women are much stronger than pro abortion advocates give them credit for...
"We absolutely need to support couples in this devastating position...so put your energies into this. Put time, money and energy into peri-natal hospice care...
"Why abort a baby because he/she is the result of rape? Why kill the child? The child didn't rape the mother.
"I sit here imploring you to listen to me and to reflect, to protect and value life."
Have you contacted Stormont yet?
Have you contacted politicians at Stormont to urge them not to allow abortion? Complacency is deadly for unborn children. In 1967 the Abortion Act was passed by a half-empty House of Commons. The churches hadn't been mobilised and the lies of pro-abortion politicians went unchallenged. Don't let the same happen in Northern Ireland.
How to contact Stormont
If you live in Northern Ireland, please contact your MLAs immediately to urge them to vote against the amendments. You can find their names by using www.theyworkforyou.com and their contact address, telephone number or email address from the Northern Ireland Assembly website: www.niassembly.gov.uk (select "YOUR MLAs" in the main menu, then "MLAs" in the drop-down menu. Select "search by" constituency or surname, then view "contact" for the address etc., of each MLA).
If you are not in Northern Ireland, please contact:
In either case, please read:
Please forward any replies you receive from MLAs to Liam Gibson, SPUC's Northern Ireland development officer, by email to liamgibson@spuc.org.uk
Help from SPUC
If you have difficulty accessing the information or don't have access to the internet, please contact SPUC's Northern Ireland office on 02890 778018, or SPUC HQ in London: 020 7091 7091 or 07939 178719.
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