Belfast City Hall is to be illuminated on Easter Sunday to celebrate an international campaign to expand abortion legislation globally, despite plans for similar illuminations earlier this year being put on hold due to their controversy.
The decision to illuminate Belfast City Hall on 28 March 2027 was made to celebrate the Global Day of Action to De-stigmatise Abortion after councillors voted the proposals through.
The campaign has claimed that abortion “is a normal part of reproductive healthcare” and explicitly calls for an “end to criminalization” of abortion and advocates “for legal and policy reforms that remove barriers”. The complete decriminalisation of abortion and the removal of all policy barriers would make abortion legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy up until the point of birth.
This extreme position is radically at odds with the general population. Only 1% of women want abortion to be available up to birth, and 70% of women want the abortion limit to be reduced to 20 weeks or lower.
28 March 2027 is not only the Global Day of Action to De-stigmatise Abortion; it is also Easter Sunday.
Councillor Dean McCullough said that even though the initial proposals to illuminate Belfast City Hall for abortion, which did not end up happening, were insensitive, “to then request another on what is arguably the holiest week in the Christian calendar makes it even more insensitive”.
“For many, turning City Hall into effectively an abortion billboard was simply a step too far”, he added.
Bernadette Smyth, Director of the pro-life organisation Precious Life, called the act of scheduling such illuminations for Easter Sunday “deeply offensive to Christians and demonstrates an extraordinary disregard for the religious convictions of many people across Belfast”.
“Belfast City Hall belongs to everyone. It must not become a political billboard for the promotion of abortion. A civic building representing the entire community should never be used to endorse such a deeply divisive issue while disregarding the sincerely held beliefs of thousands of citizens”, she added.
Previous attempt at illuminating Belfast City Hall for abortion failed
Belfast City Council had previously decided to illuminate Belfast City Hall on 28 September to celebrate International Safe Abortion Day after a City Council committee voted it through without debate.
This campaign has explicitly called for the “decriminalisation” of abortion and has called for “expand[ed] access to safe abortion by removing all policy barriers”. The complete decriminalisation of abortion and the removal of all policy barriers would make abortion legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy up until the point of birth.
According to the Belfast News Letter, reports have confirmed that International Safe Abortion Day does not meet the criteria for illuminating Belfast City Hall, something that is usually done for council-run events, tourist events, and significant anniversaries of organisations with a Belfast connection. Groups related to medical procedures are explicitly ruled out in the eligibility criteria. Despite this, the City Council committee voted in favour of allowing it, with no debate.
Sarah Bunting, DUP Group Leader on Belfast City Council, stated that the landmark should not be “used to promote campaigns on deeply divisive and sensitive issues such as abortion”, but rather should be “a shared civic space welcoming to everyone”.
Illuminating the landmark did not go ahead, as a challenge to the decision delayed proceedings, and City Council officials were unable to say whether or not the illumination would happen as late as two hours before it was due to occur.
100,000 alive today as a result of Northern Ireland’s previous pro-life laws
Despite abortion being a devolved issue, English, Welsh and Scottish MPs in Westminster voted in July 2019 to impose an extreme abortion regime on Northern Ireland. No MPs representing a Northern Ireland constituency voted in support of imposing the new regime on Northern Ireland.
Prior to this extreme abortion regime being imposed on Northern Ireland, there were strong protections for the unborn, with abortion limited to situations when a mother’s life was in danger.
As a result of the previous pro-life laws that were in place in Northern Ireland, in January 2017 it was estimated that 100,000 people were alive in Northern Ireland who would not have been if abortion were available as it was in the rest of the UK under the 1967 Abortion Act.
Before the new abortion regime was imposed on Northern Ireland, disability-selective abortion for conditions such as Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot was not permitted, and there was a culture of welcoming and supporting people with these disabilities rather than eliminating them.
The extreme abortion regime imposed on Northern Ireland included a provision that effectively legalised abortion up to birth for babies with disabilities including Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is very disappointing that Belfast City Council is once again taking the controversial decision to illuminate Belfast City Hall in celebration of a pro-abortion campaign that advocates the dangerous expansion of the law”.
“It is especially galling that they have decided to celebrate abortion on Easter Sunday, the holiest day in the Christian calendar. Abortion is contrary to many individuals’ Christian beliefs, and it is hard to see how this is not a deliberate provocation”.
“The planned illumination of the landmark should not go ahead”.
