Courtney McGrailStaff Reporter
Last weekend’s ‘All Ireland Rally for Life’ in Belfast was an important step in fostering a pro-life movement across the island of Ireland, a leading campaigner has said.
“We were very happy with the increase in young people and families,” Precious Life’s Bernadette Smyth told The Irish Catholic, continuing, “this is the tenth rally, and I’ve noticed in Northern Ireland a real increase in the numbers of young people coming out to attend the rally.”
Describing this as “very encouraging”, Ms Smyth said of the rally which thousands attended: “We’re doing something right in terms of passing the culture of life on to the next generation, and that would be my long term goal as a campaigner.”
Amazing day
Ms Smyth praised the speakers at the rally, who included Fionnuala McArdle, whose baby girl Meabh, born with a 1% chance of survival, is now nearly nine months old, and said “overall it was an amazing day”.
Relating how participants in the rally had said how “uplifted” the rally had left them, she said she hoped this would inspire them “to go back into their own communities to be a voice for the unborn child – to become better lobbyists, to become better involved in youth outreach and crisis pregnancy centres”.
Last year 833 women from Northern Ireland had abortions in England and Wales.