By Susan Gately - 09 May, 2015
Pro life group Precious Life has welcomed the result of the general election in Northern Ireland, noting that fourteen of the eighteen elected Westminster MPs “will uphold the right to life of unborn children at the Westminster Parliament”.
Prior to the election Precious Life ran a campaign Every Vote Counts calling on the public to vote for pro life deputies. (See https://www.catholicireland.net/probe-life-views-election-candidates-urges-ni-group/).
In the run up to the election, the SDLP and DUP both came out as opposed to abortion, the UUP was split – some candidates for and others against while Sinn Féin and the Alliance party both recommended liberalising abortion law.
The result of the poll in Northern Ireland saw the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) secure eight seats, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) three, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) two, and Sinn Féin four.
Independent MP Sylvia Hermon, widow of former RUC chief constable John Hermon, won the seat in North Down. The Alliance Party did not take any seat.
Reacting to the result, Bernadette Smyth thanked everyone who helped with the Every Vote Counts Campaign.
“The results of the 2015 Westminster Election clearly show that the people of Northern Ireland voted pro-life,” she said as she congratulated Gavin Robinson who gained a DUP seat from Alliance’s Naomi Long, and Tom Elliot from the UUP who took the former Sinn Féin seat in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
“Both have reassured us that they will stand up for unborn children at Westminster,” she added.
In the run up to the election, Precious Life ran Every Life Counts ads in the main newspapers and distributed over 100,000 leaflets throughout the six counties informing the public of parties’ and candidates’ positions on abortion.
The agency thanked its volunteers who sacrificed their time to distribute leaflets.
“All our hard work has paid off with fourteen of the eighteen elected politicians pledging to uphold the rights of unborn children,” said Ms Smyth.
“The Westminster Parliament is the most pro-abortion government in Europe, sanctioning the killing of over 200,000 unborn children every year, 600 every day.”
“Today, the election results make clear that the people of Northern Ireland will always make their vote count for unborn children.”
“Without the right to life, all other political promises are meaningless. We trust that our fourteen pro-life politicians at Westminster will keep their promise and do everything they can protect mothers and their unborn children in Northern Ireland and in the rest of the UK.”
