Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has imposed new relationships and sex education (RSE) regulations on the Province, demanding that all post-primary schools have “a compulsory component of curriculum for adolescents, covering prevention of early pregnancy and access to abortion in Northern Ireland”.
Responding to the order, the NI Department of Education said it would “now consider the implications of the new duties placed on it, including assessing any additional resources that will be required”.
NI church leaders have condemned the move, including Dr John Kirkpatrick, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, who slammed the Secretary for attempting to “impose a particular worldview on the education of children in Northern Ireland”.
Catholic Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown also denounced the plan: “I am really concerned this seems to be a decision by the secretary of state that will impose a particular way of approaching the issue on all schools… a new ideology that says: ‘This is the right way to do it.’”
He continued: “I don’t think you need to impose a duty on schools, that come from a range of different backgrounds, an obligation to provide information as if abortion and that whole area is somehow or other a value-free thing.”
“A mockery of the right of parents to raise their children”
Liam Gibson, SPUC’s Legal and Policy Officer based in Belfast, said: “These regulations will turn our schools into the sales division of the British abortion industry. In practice, teaching children how to access abortion means schools will hand girls over to abortion providers without even informing their parents.
“A large proportion of the people of Northern Ireland recognise that abortion is not healthcare, but a lethal act of violence directed at an unborn child. Yet, teaching children that the child in the womb is a human being and therefore has the right to life will now be forbidden.
“This makes a mockery of the right of parents to raise their children according to their moral and religious beliefs without the interference of the state. It’s indoctrination, not education.
“This change to the law will result in the deaths of thousands of unborn babies and leave countless girls emotionally scarred. Politicians, parents and school governors must resist this. A steadfast refusal to accept this blatant attempt at social engineering will force the London Government to back down.”
