This morning Jim Wells MLA will be presenting to the Speaker of the Assembly 300,000 petitions collected by Precious Life on behalf of the pro-life majority in Northern Ireland. This is in response to Clare Bailey MLA presenting to the Speaker of the Assembly last week 45,000 petitions in support of Amnesty International’s campaign for legalised abortion in Northern Ireland.
Bernadette Smyth, the director of Precious Life, who will be at Stormont this morning to listen to Mr Wells MLA present the 300,000 petition to the Speaker, argues that Amnesty’s claim of a “45,000 strong petition” holds no weight and should not be taken seriously, and that MLAs should instead pay heed to the overwhelming evidence presented before them today that their voters do not want abortion in Northern Ireland:
“Anyone from anywhere in the world can ‘sign’ Amnesty’s online petition. A person ‘signing’ Amnesty’s online petition is only asked to provide his or her name and email. These petitions hold no weight and should not be taken seriously by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
“In contrast, the signed petition postcards and petition sheets that are being presented this morning are on behalf of the thousands and thousands of people who are calling on the Northern Ireland Assembly to protect unborn children and their mothers from abortion.
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“With names, addresses and signatures, these petitions are real proof of the united and unyielding conviction of the pro-life majority in Northern Ireland that every human being, born or unborn, has an unconditional right to life and should remain protected by our laws,” said Bernadette Smyth.
Jim Wells MLA will be presenting the petitions to the Speaker of the Assembly at 11.30 this morning. Bernadette Smyth will be available for interviews after the presentation.
