Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Northern Ireland have received an ‘unprecedented’ response from constituents calling on them to form an executive and prevent an extreme abortion regime from being imposed upon the province.
Staff from MLA offices across Northern Ireland has said that they had been inundated with tens of thousands of emails, letters, postcards and phone calls requesting the restoration of Stormont.
One staff worker disclosed: “This is the highest level of correspondence I have seen on any single issue,” while another claimed the level of correspondence received was “unprecedented”.
A number of MLAs confirmed that they had never received as much correspondence on an issue from constituents on another issue ever with one commenting that they had to take on an extra part-time employee to deal with the amount of correspondence they received on the issue.
A recent poll, weighted to reflect Northern Irish society, revealed that excluding those who were unsure 57% of people oppose the new abortion regime, with fewer than 43% in favour.
Opposition to the extreme law change formed a majority among every age category, across both men and women.
Carla Lockhart, a DUP MLA for Upper Bann, has challenged Westminster MPs over their attempt to impose abortion on Northern Ireland.
She told political blog, Slugger O’Toole: “The Northern Irish public have not been consulted upon around the detail of any amendments that may be tabled and this is not the way to pass legislation on sensitive social issues.
“The irony is that in a recent inquiry by the Women and Equalities Committee at Westminster 88% of submissions said no to Westminster imposing law change on abortion in Northern Ireland.
“Just last year a ComRes poll year showed that two-thirds of women (and 70% of 18-34-year-olds) in Northern Ireland don’t want abortion laws imposed by Westminster.
“Another ComRes poll from last year showed that 72% of Conservative Party MPs did not support the imposition of abortion laws on Northern Ireland from Westminster.”
She added: “Many people see a much more positive vision for women and their unborn children. One where both lives are respected and can flourish together as far as humanly possible.”
In July, Westminster politicians voted to impose abortion on Northern Ireland if the Stormont Assembly has not returned before 22 October. All Northern Ireland MPs who were present voted against it.
The last time MLAs voted on the issue of abortion, in 2016, they opposed any change to current abortion laws by a wide margin.
Spokesperson for Right to Life UK, Catherine Robinson said:
“The unprecedented number of emails to MLAs is further evidence that the majority of people of Northern Ireland do not want this extreme abortion law imposed on them. No Northern Ireland MP voted in favour of the abortion amendment proposing these changes, and the majority of councils in Northern Ireland have now voted against these changes.
“We now have just 2 days for Sinn Féin to form an Executive with the DUP and prevent this horrific abortion regime from becoming law”.
