SW News: The Northern Bishops have voiced their grave concern over proposed regulations in the Westminster Parliament making it compulsory for all second-level schools in Northern Ireland to teach children about access to abortion and prevention of early pregnancy.

The bishops have said that Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton Harris has already imposed some of the most radical abortion laws in the world on the people of the nation without their consent. The Irish Bishops called on him to respect the internationally recognized rights of parents, and the principles of consultation and devolution in the Good Friday Agreement, and to withdraw this legislation. They further said that the Secretary of State now seems determined to impose an ideologically biased view of abortion on all schools, irrespective of parental rights or school ethos.

“There is no such thing as a neutral view on abortion. There is no such thing as a value-free or ethically neutral approach to the question of when life begins and when we have a duty to protect and care for all human life. These are matters subject to sincerely held differences of opinion across the world. It is not for a Government to impose one ideological approach on children, parents or on our schools, over others,” their statement said.

The Bishops called on all politicians in Northern Ireland, and those MPs in Westminster with a genuine commitment to the principles of pluralism to oppose the regulations in Westminster.

“We also encourage parents and teachers in schools in Northern Ireland to challenge the unjust presentation by the Secretary of State, and the NI Human Rights Commission, of the outstanding, ethically responsible and scientifically balanced work they are doing in our schools in regard to Relationships and Sexuality Education. Finally, we call on young people themselves to challenge the view that they are passive, uninformed and unable to engage confidently and maturely in open debate about all the issues raised in this important part of the school curriculum," the statement said.