Bishops accuse Westminster of 'ideological colonisation' over abortion propaganda in Irish schools

The bishops of Northern Ireland, speaking at the annual Irish Catholic Bishops Conference in Maynoth, just outside Dublin, issued a very strong and frank rebuke to the ideological imposition of a liberal secularist agenda in Northern Ireland. The Bishops were speaking in response to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton Harris, laying regulations in the Westminster Parliament making it compulsory on all second level schools in Northern Ireland to teach children about access to abortion.&nbsp; The attempt at further imposition in Northern Ireland of Westminster imposed laws that exceed even those that are in place across the water in the UK, takes place in the continued absence of a government structure in Northern Ireland with the Northern Ireland Assembly currently suspended.&nbsp;&nbsp; The Northern Ireland Assembly has the power to make laws in a wide range of areas, including housing, employment, education, health, agriculture and the environment but has failed sit for a number of years as electoral changes and other issues have resulted in an impasse between the major Nationalist and Unionist parties.&nbsp;&nbsp; The UK government has previously taken advantage of the suspension to impose an abortion regime exceedingly more permissive than is available in the UK itself.&nbsp;&nbsp; Instigated in 2019 under a proposal from Labour MP Stella Creasy, taking effect from 31 March 2020, the law permitted abortions in all circumstances in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and beyond that in other cases including no term limit in cases of life limiting conditions, where there is a substantial risk that the baby would die or, if born, would suffer a severe mental or physical impairment.&nbsp; When limited progress was made in operationalising the instruction from London, a High Court judge in February 2022 ruled that then Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis had the legal authority to direct the establishment of abortion services. Mr Justice Colton held that Mr Lewis was compelled to take the step citing non-binding recommendations from UN reports as justification for the intrusive actions.&nbsp;&nbsp; Citizens on both sides of the Nationalist/Unionist divide were incensed at the overreach of the UK Government in dismissing the devolved authority in Northern Ireland, effectively imposing a new form of sectarianism from outside the country.&nbsp;&nbsp; Speaking from Maynooth, the bishops said: "Having already imposed some of the most radical abortion laws in the world on the people of Northern Ireland, without their consent, 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. "This is radical legislation the British Government doesn’t even impose on schools in Britain, where the right of parents to be involved in decisions about such ethical and pastoral issues is fully respected.”&nbsp; Reminding the government of the principle of subsidiarity and the rights of parents to educate their children in moral formation, the bishops note that it is not even the right of the Northern Assembly to impose such ideologically driven views on children and schools, let alone the administration based in London.&nbsp;&nbsp; “It is not for a Government to impose one ideological approach on children, parents or on our schools, over others. "This is why the right of parents to an education for their children that is an accordance with their ethical, religious and philosophical convictions, is an internationally recognised human right. "It prevents Governments from the kind of over-reach in relation to the rights and freedom of parents that this legislation represents. "We call on the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to respect the internationally recognised rights of parents, and the principles.”&nbsp; The bishops added: “The Secretary of State, and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, need to move away from their tendency to ideological colonisation in this area, and trust parents, teachers, young people and local politicians in Northern Ireland to balance the rights and responsibilities involved."&nbsp; The issue of&nbsp;<em>relationship and sexuality education (RSE)&nbsp;</em>is a sensitive topic across the island of Ireland with the Republic of Ireland department of education recently releasing guidelines for Social, Personal and Health Education that requires teachers to cover contested issues such as gender identity and other sensitive issues that ought to remain the responsibility of parents, with critics questioning the claim that the RSE is factual, evidence-based and value neutral.&nbsp;&nbsp; The Catholic Education Partnership in Ireland has recently developed a course outline that attempts to navigate the requirements of the national curriculum while remaining true to Catholic teaching.&nbsp;&nbsp; <em>(Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP) (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)&nbsp;</em>