As Northern Ireland reels under the U.K. Parliament’s forced legalization of abortion and same-sex “marriage” in the Christian nation, medical doctors and clergy are taking a strong stand against the new laws.
In July Parliament passed legislation forcing Northern Ireland to join the rest of the United Kingdom in allowing mothers to kill their pre-born babies at up to seven months into a pregnancy, and allowing for homosexual couples to “marry.” The laws took effect on October 21, but nearly one thousand doctors and other medical professionals in Northern Ireland have said that they will refuse to comply with legalized abortion, according to the UK’s Independent newspaper.
Similarly, according to the U.K.’s Christian Institute, “the largest Christian denominations in Northern Ireland have said they will not conduct same-sex weddings in their churches.”
As reported by the Independent, “Andrew Cupples, a Northern Irish GP who is strongly opposed to the liberalization of abortion laws, has said a number of healthcare professionals have personally told him they would leave their jobs if they were made to carry out an abortion.”
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Cupples was quoted by the Independent as saying that “hundreds of healthcare professionals in northern Ireland will refuse to be involved in abortion services. There are even people who are planning to walk away from the healthcare service if they are forced to participate in abortion services.”
Over 900 medical professionals reportedly signed on to a letter penned by Cupples, informing the Northern Ireland secretary of their intentions to take a bold stand against the killing of pre-born babies. “The doctors, midwives, and nurses who have signed the letter, which was submitted last month, have said they are against abortion reform and have called for a guarantee they will not have to either carry out or help with abortions,” reported the Independent.
Christianity Today noted that “Northern Ireland’s longstanding opposition to abortion has made it a pro-life holdout in the United Kingdom, with a local ban against the procedure in all cases except if a mother’s health is in danger. Yet, these abortion restrictions were overturned after lawmakers failed to assemble on [October 21] to block laws passed on its behalf by the United Kingdom.”
Peter Lynas, Northern Ireland director of the pro-life Evangelical Alliance of the United Kingdom, pointed out that the new abortion law will mean that “Northern Ireland moves from having the most protective environment for the unborn to having some of the most liberal abortion laws in Europe.” He added that the pro-abortion changes “were imposed without the consent of the people of Northern Ireland and will fundamentally shift our culture.”
As for same-sex “marriage” in Northern Ireland, “the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI), the Church of Ireland, and the Methodist Church of Ireland have all confirmed that they will uphold the biblical definition of marriage,” reported the Christian Institute, an organization that monitors attacks on faith-and-family values across the United Kingdom.
Confirming his denomination’s biblical position on marriage, the Reverend Jim Stothers, deputy clerk of the PCI’s General Assembly, quoted the words recited at every PCI-officiated marriage in Northern Ireland: “Since the beginning of creation God, in His gracious purpose, provided marriage as the accepted way in which a man and a woman may come together as husband and wife.”
Stothers added that “the introduction of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland does not change that conviction.”
Similarly, reported the Christian Institute, “a Church of Ireland spokesman confirmed that in accordance with ‘our Lord’s teaching,’ the denomination would not conduct same-sex weddings.”
And a spokesperson for Northern Ireland’s Methodist Church re-iterated to the Belfast Telegraph that, as far as the denomination is concerned, marriage is between “one man and one woman.”
Same-sex “marriage” was legalized in the rest of the United Kingdom in March 2014, with the staunchly Christian Northern Ireland holding out for the past five years.
