Opinion

Abortion legislation is undemocratic, discriminatory and detrimental to society

On behalf of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland, I am appealing to members of the House of Commons and House of Lords to vote against the Abortion (Northern Ireland) No. 2 Regulations 2020 this week.

The decision to impose draft regulations was made in a vote last July during which 100 per cent of MPs elected by the people of Northern Ireland, who were

present, voted against the change. In that moment we were disenfranchised on a matter of key importance. This was made worse by the fact that some MPs suggested that there was a human right imperative for doing so relating to the CEDAW Convention. The CEDAW Convention, an unelected and non-judicial UN committee, does not even mention abortion and has no standing to ‘read in’ a right to abortion in UK legislation.

Northern Ireland was further disrespected by the fact that in the resulting consultation 79 per cent of submissions rejected the government’s proposals – views which have been ignored. Moreover, the government compounded the difficulty by not giving parliament the opportunity to repeal Section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2020, once the Northern Ireland Assembly had been restored. This would have returned responsibility for developing a new abortion law to the devolved institutions. Instead it proceeded to develop regulations that are more permissive than those required by the legislation, which even pave the way for abortion on request based on gender selection.

On Tuesday June 2 the Northern Ireland Assembly did have its say when a cross-party majority voted to “reject the imposition of abortion legislation which extends to all non-fatal disabilities, including Down’s Syndrome”.

Indeed, in two separate votes a total of 75 out of 90 MLAs made it clear that they do not support abortion on the basis of non-fatal disability.  During that debate MLAs highlighted the important work of disability campaigner Heidi Crowter and her message that allowing abortion up to birth for disabilities is not only discriminatory, but against the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities own recommendations. In responding through a BBC interview the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland refused to respect the vote, invoking once again the mistakenly interpreted international legal imperative to be ‘CEDAW compliant’.

As Christians we not only believe that people are precious because they are made in the image of God. We also believe in respecting each other. In the United Kingdom that means its different constituent parts respecting each other and affording each other proper constitutional due process, something that has been entirely absent in the development of this legislation.

On behalf of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland I urge all parliamentarians to vote against these regulations which are undemocratic, discriminatory, and detrimental to the flourishing of all in society.

REV DANIEL KANE


Convener, Council for


Public Affairs Presbyterian Church


in Ireland

Delayed justice

Martin Luther King once remarked that the colour of a man’s skin should be of no more significance than the colour of his eyes. Unfortunately, as we have seen in the case of George Floyd and others, this is not the case. On Saturday June 6 hundreds of protesters gathered at the US embassy in Dublin and around the world in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in the aftermath of the death of Mr Floyd. In August 1971 members of the First Battalion Parachute Regiment stationed in Ballymurphy in west Belfast randomly shot and killed 11 innocent people in hugely controversial circumstances. All those killed were Catholic nationalists. It took 45 years for Sir Declan Morgan, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, to recommend an inquest into the killings be held. Almost half a century after these killings the families of the victims are still being denied justice.

As part of his general election manifesto in 2019, British prime minister Boris Johnson pledged to amend the law to protect former British soldiers from legal actions, including those relating to killings of the Troubles.


Under the proposals the British Conservative government, if returned, would amend the Human Rights Act in the UK. Mr Johnson said: “If I’m elected I want the message from my government to our armed forces to be louder and clearer than ever – we salute you and we will always support you.”


Mr Johnson’s Tory Party was returned to power with a huge mandate from the British people.


It seems that Catholic/nationalist lives still don’t matter.

TOM COOPER


Irish National Congress, Dublin 2

People’s pandemic prayer

When this pandemic passes I feel St Newman’s “May the Lord support us all the day long” very short prayer will be remembered as the peoples’ pandemic prayer. It embraces our whole day in a loving way – in just six “accessible” short lines.

In my view the prayer does an outstanding job in connecting us “down here” in a human, practical, every day way with our Maker “up there”.

The prayer is available by googling Cardinal Newman’s prayers. For folk not on line, in hospital or nursing homes, the words are:

May the Lord support us all the day long.

Till the shadows lengthen and the evening comes.

And the busy world is hushed

And the fever of life is over

And our work is done.

Then in Thy mercy grant us safe lodgings, holy rest, and peace at last.

It’s not “owned” by any religion. It’s very popular in England, Cardinal Newman being an Englishman. And also in the US. It’s now becoming popular here too, likely because of the pandemic.

Indeed it was said on Tuesday May 26 during the “pandemic” daily religious service broadcast at 10.30am on RTÉ.

TOM BRADLEY


Derry City

Interesting facts about Edward Colston

I had never heard of Edward Colston until I watched his statue being unceremoniously dumped in the water in Bristol. I decided to look at his history. I came across some interesting facts:


His company was called Royal African Company (RAC) and was headed by the brother of King Charles II who later took the throne as James II (of Battle of the Boyne fame). The company sold at least 100,000 West African slaves. They bought them for £5 and sold for £20. They branded the slaves with the company’s initials RAC on their chests – including men, women and children.

In 1689 Colston sold his shares to William Prince of Orange (of Battle of Boyne fame). William is also famous for the Glorious Revolution, beloved by the orange brethren. What is not told is the Glorious Revolution fostered the growth of slavery. Those black inhabitants of the British Empire did not see any freedoms but did see the expansion of servitude.

TONY CARROLL


Newry, Co Down