Politicians in Stormont showed courage on abortion issue - we should ask the same of those seeking the Dáil

Two weeks ago, politicians in Stormont voted down two proposals to make abortion available in the north where the baby was either conceived by sexual assault or had a severe disability – a so-called ‘fatal, foetal abnormality’.

The measures were decisively defeated. The proposal to allow abortion where a baby has a severe disability was defeated by 59 votes to 40. A second amendment to allow abortion in the case of sexual assault was voted down by a two to one majority.

The reaction of the Irish and British media was predictably hysterical.

They carried reams of commentary from the usual suspects slamming the politicians who voted against abortion. The vote was described as a ‘betrayal of women’ by Amnesty (who now rate killing babies as a step forward for human rights), while Sinn Féin said that voting against abortion was a “disservice to women”, as if women were supported or served by killing unborn babies instead of supporting both mother and child. There is nothing compassionate or progressive about abortion.

Precious Life the day before vote

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The Stormont vote took place after more than 12 months of a non-stop media campaign in favour of legalising abortion, spearheaded by a belligerent Stephen Nolan of the BBC who allowed unborn children with a disability to be dehumanised on his programme. History has taught us that when people are dehumanised, we become blinded to their suffering, even to the point where their lives can be taken with impunity and with legal sanction.

History has taught us that when people are dehumanised, we become blinded to their suffering, even to the point where their lives can be taken with impunity and with legal sanction.

That didn’t happen in Stormont, however. Instead, a rare courage was shown – the kind of courage that we should demand from our own politicians as we go to vote in Election 2016 this Friday.

Firstly, the politicians who voted No to abortion showed the courage of their convictions. Knowing that abortion kills a child and hurts a woman, knowing that the 1967 Abortion Act has led to carnage in Britain, knowing that there is a more progressive answer than abortion when a crisis arises in pregnancy, most of the men and woman sitting in the legislature voted No.

At a time when we are all angry at broken promises and the dearth of principle in politics , surely that’s something to admire. Politicians who act as if their conscience is their guide offer real progress for representation and for democracy.

Secondly, it’s clear that politicians actually listened to the evidence on this difficult and complex issue, and that the evidence impacted on their decision to try to do their best for both mother and baby. Instead of being bullied by the media, or by well-funded abortion campaigners like Amnesty, they obviously took stock of the medical, legal evidence presented and of the personal testimonies from both sides of the debate.

Instead of being bullied by the media, or by well-funded abortion campaigners like Amnesty, they obviously took stock of the medical, legal evidence presented and of the personal testimonies from both sides of the debate.

So SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly recounted that doctors had given evidence that “there is no such definition” as ‘fatal foetal abnormality’, which was the evidence of senior consultants, both to MLAs in Stormont, but also in public debate. Prof Jim Dornan, an Obstetrician who favours changes to the abortion law, admitted that the phrase was not a medical term on BBC NI’s The View in December 2015.

Others, such as Arlene Foster of the DUP, agreed, and pointed to the need for better services to support families given a diagnosis of a life-limiting condition for their child.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General John Larkin QC, argued that the move to legalise abortion for babies with a life-limiting condition could breach obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

It’s interesting that MLAs in Stormont have listened to the experiences of women such as Sarah Ewart, who wants abortion legalised, but they also listened to parents (below) who testified in Stormont as to the value of their child’s life, however short that life was, and of the need for better care, rather than abortion.

The group, Every Life Counts, giving testimony in Stormont

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The experience of the north is in stark contrast to what happened in Dáil ÉIreann in 2013, when Enda Kenny established a series of hearings which heard that abortion was not a treatment for suicide,. He then went on, not only to ignore that evidence and move a bill allowing abortion on suicide grounds, but to expel party members who voted, according to their conscience, against abortion.

These are strange times. I’m an unreconstructed and unapologetic believer in the Irish Nation, and yet, in the that we year celebrate the men and women of the 1916 Rising, I find more to admire in the courage of the DUP than those in the North who claim to represent nationalist communities but would happily allow the killing of babies before they are even born. Even worse, they hide behind the most vulnerable children of all – those with a severe disability – to justify pushing abortion. 

Even worse, they hide behind the most vulnerable children of all – those with a severe disability – to justify pushing abortion.

Their stance is both hypocritical and shameful.Before politicians make decisions, they should be guided by their conscience and they should listen to the evidence. And they should have the courage to seek better answers for women in crisis, and to stand up for vulnerable, helpless babies whose lives are threatened by abortion.

That’s the minimum we should demand from the men and women we elect this Friday. #VoteProLife