ACTION ALERT - ask your MLA to listen to a woman who was helped outside an abortion centre - and vote against 'Abortion Zones' Bill on Thursday.
Green Party Leader Clare Bailey's Bill to criminalise pro-life people outside abortion centres was due to be debated in the NI Assembly today. Claire Bailey wanted to suspend Assembly rules and allow her Bill to proceed to the Final Stage a day earlier than the Assembly rules would normally allow. However, suspending the rules went to a vote but was defeated. Deputy Speaker Roy Beggs then ruled that the Bill could not be debated today. The Bill is now likely to be debated on Thursday. This gives us another chance to continue lobbying the MLAs. Many members of the Northern Ireland Assembly support the draconian and discriminatory Bill While they claim to support women's "right to choose", these MLAs have not listened to the women who chose to keep their babies after talking to and receiving help from pro-life groups outside abortion centres. Precious Life give a voice to one of those many women. Watch her testimony here... (36) Mother chooses life for her baby after meeting Precious Life outside abortion centre in N. Ireland - YouTube Assembly Members will break Good Friday Agreement if they vote to pass Abortion Access Bill
In its section affirming the Human Rights of everyone in Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement states, ‘The parties affirm their commitment to the mutual respect, the civil rights and the religious liberties of everyone in the community ...the parties affirm in particular ...the right to freedom and expression of religion’. But this Abortion Zones Bill will deny the civil rights and religious liberties of anyone who prays outside an abortion centre.
TAKE ACTION - Stop the 'Abortion Zones Bill' NOW
Send the video link to your MLAs - https://youtu.be/6lYKx46sK6w Also tell your MLAs to uphold one of the key principles of the Good Friday Agreement - the right to freedom and expression of religion. Tell your MLAs that pro-life vigils are peaceful, and the police already have adequate powers to deal with any alleged actions that are against the law. Tell them that regardless of their views on abortion, the right to freedom of assembly, and the right to freedom and expression of religion, are fundamental human rights that they must uphold and protect. Also ask them to sign the Petition of Concern against the Bill - even at this late stage.
Find all your MLA's contact details here... http://aims.niassembly.gov.uk/mlas/contacts.aspx
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