Aontú offers a pro-life option for abandoned Catholic pro-life voters

It was the grin that got me. From a former St Dominic’s Catholic schoolgirl who is now Lord Mayor of Belfast. Róis-Máire Donnelly was about to endorse a decision to illuminate City Hall to mark “safe” abortion day on September 28. She caught someone’s eye and smiled. Perhaps it was a thoughtless moment, but given the solemn nature of these proceedings and the context, it was deeply disturbing.

Why is it that the unborn child is the only human being whose destruction is routinely described as ‘safe’?

The defence of the unborn in Belfast council was mainly left to the politicians from the unionist benches. “There is no greater blessing from God than a newborn baby,” said Traditional Unionist Cllr Ron McDowell.

These unionists are historically opposed to Irish language rights and Irish unity, so most nationalists who tend to be Catholic, are unlikely to vote for them.

Abandoned

This means nationalist voters – who adhere to Catholic teaching on abortion, and do not want to choose a unionist representative – have effectively been abandoned, even by the SDLP, the party of civil rights, which once aligned with Catholic social teaching.

Since 2018, the SDLP’s official position on abortion is that members are free to vote with their conscience.

The current leader Claire Hanna, and her predecessor Colum Eastwood embraced abortion law. What a pity they did not apply the teaching of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former leader John Hume – who said that violence solves nothing. Abortion after all involves violence against a defenceless tiny human being, by poisoning, or dismembering and killing a boy or girl before birth. Despite justifying violence during the Troubles, Sinn Féin only belatedly stooped to actively supporting and promoting abortion. Since abortion was introduced on this island, a staggering 70,000 boys and girls have been killed off.

On September 1, of the four SDLP Councillors, the SDLP leader’s own husband, Donal Lyons, and  SDLP colleague Séamas de Faoite effectively voted to illuminate City Hall to mark “safe” abortion day. The council recording shows that two other SDLP councillors Carl Whyte and Gary McKeown did not vote. A council spokesman said that Cllr McKeown had declared an interest in having previously worked for the Public Health Agency and had left the meeting while the item was under consideration.

Last Thursday I attended a pro-life political meeting in North Belfast, organised by Aontú whose leader Peadar Tóibín addressed almost 100 people from areas as far as Derry and Tyrone.

Mr Tóibín has high hopes that Aontú will make gains in next year’s Council and Assembly elections, attracting disillusioned Catholics who previously voted SDLP or Sinn Féin.

It is a human being. If it’s not a human being, what species is the child of God?”

The TD for West Meath famously quit Sinn Féin after it sanctioned him for defying the party whip and opposing abortion during the Repeal referendum in 2018. “I said loud and clear that my seat in the Dáil is not worth the life of one individual living human being,” Mr Tóibín declared.

He denounced efforts to erase the humanity of the aborted child. “Remember that we are talking about individual living human beings here.”

The Aontú leader said the baby in the womb has its own DNA, heartbeat and is living and growing. “It is a human being. If it’s not a human being, what species is the child of God?”

Mr Tóibín took pains to explain his party’s broad agenda on social and economic issues – while stressing that its anti-abortion stance is foundational for Aontú.

He said abortion has resulted in the closing of schools and has been catastrophic for Ireland, where 13,000 human lives were ended through abortion last year alone. “That is a shocking situation,” said the Aontú leader. “It’s equivalent to 586 classrooms of children. Deleted. Gone in one year. An incredible thing.”

He pointed out that almost all children with Down Syndrome are being destroyed.

Dark times

“We are living through dark times,” said Bernie Smyth from Precious Life who addressed the meeting along with another pro-life campaigner, Liam Gibson from SPUC. He noted that Northern Irish Catholics had never voted for abortion law which was imposed from Westminster.

But then he questioned if this was really true, given that so many Catholics have continued to endorse parties and politicians who had either failed to object to the move – or had endorsed abortion policy.

Trainee teacher Ryan McErlean, a Catholic, is now organising for Aontú. He is from Bellaghy, a traditional stronghold for Sinn Féin. But he is hopeful that a change is coming. “The problem with evil is, eventually, it has to show its face,” he said. “And I think when we saw Sinn Féin out celebrating their increased numbers of abortions, I think people started to question, like, ‘okay, this is actually not what I signed up for’.”

At the weekend, Cllr Margaret-Anne McKillop, an independent, announced that she was joining Aontú. She is expected to defend her council seat and stand in North Antrim for the assembly.

She left Sinn Féin over its attitude to abortion back in 2013 and served for eleven years in the SDLP before quitting the party in 2025, as its once pro-life stance had just dwindled away. “I got into politics to help people but the core of my values has always been the right to life.”

It’s just gut-wrenching to look at the SDLP and what they have turned into”

“There was an incident which happened at the SDLP conference last year and there was a debate on abortion where one of their elected representatives got up and was jeering and shouting and I think that was my turning point.”

Cllr McKillop is attracted to Aontú’s policies on Irish unity as well as its pro-life stance. “It’s just gut-wrenching to look at the SDLP and what they have turned into.”

Indeed, in a weekend interview Ms Hanna said people were now looking at the SDLP in a “different way”. That is true: I am among those who look at the SDLP with horror at what it has become.

Unionist councillors have sought to legally challenge the decision to illuminate City Hall on September 28. Whatever the outcome, it has backfired on both Sinn Féin and the SDLP as it has highlighted their radical pro-abortion position, views the media largely ignores.

Aontú candidate Aiden Carlin, a Catholic solicitor who will stand for Aontú in next year’s council elections in north Belfast, said the abortion industry had worked to make the reality of abortion invisible.

Dismayed

He is dismayed that pro-life positions are not heard – and even describes the courts in Northern Ireland as a “cold house for pro-life voices.”

“Unfortunately there is no one in the political arena who represents my views.”

“The right to life has been undermined at every twist and turn,” he said. “Aontú is the only all-Ireland party that stands for the right to life.”

‘It’s not perfect,’ he said. ‘but it’s probably the only show in town’”

Tyrone republican, a former IRA prisoner and Sinn Féin activist, Gerry McGeogh came along to the meeting. He is now an active member of St Joseph’s Rosary Group, a pro-life prayer group in Dungannon. He has pledged to support and vote for Aontú. “It’s not perfect,” he said. “but it’s probably the only show in town.”

He quit Sinn Féin years ago, he added, when he recognised their desire to bring in abortion.

The challenge for Aontú is building membership and finding suitable candidates in a culture where Sinn Féin dominates most nationalist areas.

Jack Murray of Ogra Aontú is just twenty-one and passionately pro-life. “We’re serious about this, you know. We mean business.”

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At the weekend I watched a new Christian movie, A Great Awakening, the story of an unlikely friendship between Methodist preacher George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin, a deist and founding father of the United States. It is an excellent film about the transforming power of the word of God when preached with passionate authenticity.

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Stephen Walker, a former BBC colleague, was laid to rest on September 11, after a service at Bangor Abbey. His friends and family spoke of the joy he had brought to all our lives. He was author of five books including biographies of John Hume and David Trimble – though his best I think was Hide and Seek, the story of the Irish priest Fr Hugh O’Flaherty, a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. O’Flaherty was famously portrayed by Hollywood actor Gregory Peck in the film, The Scarlet and the Black. Stephen had added a great deal of detail to the story – including the conversion of the Nazi officer who sought to destroy O’Flaherty.