BELFAST, N. Ireland, September 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Northern Ireland’s leading pro-life group Precious Life has organised a campaign of ‘40 Days of Prayer and Fasting’ in an effort to stop the serious abortion threat to Northern Ireland.
The campaign will be launched with a special Mass in All Saints Church, Ballymena. The 40 Day Campaign begins on Monday 8th September – the birthday of Jesus’ mother Mary – and continues until Friday 17th October, and will culminate in a ‘Rally for Life’ at Stormont in Belfast on Saturday 18th October.
The abortion threat to Northern Ireland comes from a group of MPs in Westminster who have put forward a proposal to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to the province, despite strong opposition from the people, politicians, and churches. There could be a vote on the proposal in the Houses of Parliament as early as October during the ‘Report Stage’ of the controversial Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
Director of Precious Life, Bernadette Smyth said, “This could be our last chance to stop one of the most serious abortion threats to Northern Ireland. I have written to all the Parish Priests across Northern Ireland asking them to promote our 40 Day Campaign. It is my hope that all parishes across Northern Ireland will be united in a simultaneous mobilisation of prayer and fasting before attending the Rally for Life.”
She added, “The Rally for Life is supported by a coalition of pro-life groups, local MPs, and Assembly Members. The Rally will give the people of Northern Ireland an opportunity to send out a clear message to Westminster that we will never accept the extension of the Abortion Act.”
Bernadette Smyth concluded, “Prayer and fasting has always been an absolute necessity for the success of all Precious Life’s vital front-line action. Our efforts to stop the extension of the Abortion Act cannot succeed if we rely solely on our own human efforts. We must be totally dependent on God.”