Abortion bill 'a slippery slope' for those with disabilities says pro-life group

Pro-Life group Cherish All the Children Equally has described an abortion bill put forward by David Ford as a “slippery slope with regards to disability.” The group, which was formed in September, opposes the move by former Alliance leader Ford which aims to legalise abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities. In a statement Francie Brolly said that “Cherish all the Children Equally defends the right to life of all Irish children, born and unborn.” “In countries where abortion has been legalised, initially in limited circumstances, it very quickly has become ‘abortion on demand,’ no baby is safe.  In the United States it is estimated that almost 50 million and rising, babies have been killed in the womb,” he said. “In Britain, 90% of all children diagnosed with Down Syndrome before birth have been clinically aborted.  Shockingly, Denmark aims to be Down Syndrome free by 2030.  The truth is, in abortion regimes you are far more likely to be aborted if you are disabled.” His wife, former Limavady Mayor Anne Brolly, said that she believes that people are not aware of the full extent of Ford’s proposals. “People are saying we do not want the extension of the 1967 act, but actually if they go for Ford’s Bill then they will have accepted the worst sections of the 1967 act,” she said. “It would mean that people who would have a disabled child can abort the baby up to the age of nine months, while for others it’s 24 weeks.” She said that the law was a “slippery slope with regards to disability” as she believes that abortions can be carried out based on relatively minor disabilities, like a cleft palate. “It’s important when we look at the Paralympics and we look at the inspiration that we are given from these people with their own special talents that we remember the one criteria that’s needed to compete is that they are disabled.” The group recently marched with banners during the annual Bloody Sunday March and have put up a poster on Dungiven’s Main Street. After being asked if the poster was ‘anti-Sinn Féin,’ as the party supports abortion in limited cases, Mrs Brolly said the decision was ‘strategic’ to make the message visible to as many people as possible. “I said we had Sinn Féin people involved in our organisation, who are very pro-life. I said this is to do with the most strategic place to put it,” she said. “This is the only town you go through on the way from Derry to Belfast, so strategically we decided that the best place would be Dungiven. “ She said that she attended a recent ‘Vote Pro-Life’ meeting by Precious Life in Derry, where they urged voters to support certain candidates, like the TUV’s Jordan Armstrong in East Derry. She said that Cherish All the Children Equally aims to educate people and does not intend to try and influence people’s decisions at the ballot box. “What they’re doing is they’re actually telling people how to vote,” she said. “We’re not getting involved in that, what we’re doing is we want to give people the facts about what is happening with regard to abortion in the north and the south.” “We believe that people are intelligent enough to know how they should vote. We would never dream of telling people how they should vote. Who the heck are we to tell anybody how to vote?” She said that the group encourages people to lobby politicians about the issue as Ford’s Bill is considered in Stormont. “We would hope that we would impress on them the importance of not going for the bill, that within the current legislation that we have room for manoeuvre with regard to very difficult cases with mother and children.” “This is a campaign that will be ongoing and we hope that we can give people information and tell them the truth about what the government is trying to do, both north and south, because people on the ground don’t realise they’re not being given the whole detail and they’re not being given the truth.” The Green Party’s election candidate in East Derry, Anthony Flynn, hit out at both Cherish All the Children Equally and Precious Life, claiming that their information is “not backed my medical and scientific evidence” and that they put forward “extreme views to get a reaction that doesn’t hold up to any sort of scrutiny.” “Obviously a lot of the information that these pro-life groups give out is very inaccurate, often at times it’s outright lies to be perfectly honest and it can’t really be backed up by evidence,” he said. “What they’re really doing is they’re relying on people to listen to their quite extreme message to try and get things across and they don’t actually want people to ask questions, because often whenever you ask these people questions about what they’re actually saying they won’t be able to give you an answers.” He added that recent campaigns by Amnesty International show that the majority of the people in the north would like to see abortion law reformed. “I believe we’re the only party in Ireland at the moment that supports the decriminalisation of abortion for women. We’re very happy to see that moving forward. I do think other parties are coming along  but we’re maybe leading the way,” he said. “We base our policy on scientific evidence and based on polls and statistics, so all of our policy and everything we talk about in relation to this issue all can be backed up.” Cherish all the Children Equally are to host a meeting at the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny on February 16. The event begins at 8pm and features speakers Peadar Tóibín T.D. and Dr Anne McCloskey. There will be a video presentation compiled by pro-life group ‘Every Life Counts’.