BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND (Catholic Online) - Marie Stopes International, a London Based NGO, made their public announcement last week that they would be opening a "clinic" in Northern Ireland. The announcement brought a flood of condemnation from people across Northern Ireland who placed calls, wrote to the papers, and gave interviews. Posts on social media about the planned clinic went viral on Facebook and Twitter. 

A poll in the Belfast telegraph showed that at least 53 percent of the respondents opposed the clinic. 

Marie Stopes International also insisted that the clinic is there to promote "sexual health" as opposed to just providing abortions. Unfortunately, that is also a misleading statement since contraceptives and abortifacients as well as non-abstinence based "education" do nothing to promote health. Rather, they promote promiscuity, irresponsible behavior, immorality and fuel the spread of the Culture of Death. 

The public is also very well aware of the location of the clinic on Victoria Street. The media as well as protesters representing both sides of the issue are already working the site.

Northern Ireland currently has some of the world's most "progressive" abortion laws (considered conservative in Ireland, another reason why political language is so slippery), permitting abortions only in cases where the life of the mother is in immediate jeopardy. Women who spite the law to obtain an abortion can face murder charges and a long prison sentence with a maximum term of life. 

Abortions in Northern Ireland are not covered by national insurance.

As a result, many women who seek to have an abortion must travel to England, lured by the hungry clinics there. Locals euphemistically refer to the grisly trip as "making the journey."

Ultimately, progressive laws such as these do save lives and do more to protect women's health than the loose laws in the United States that are trending towards free abortions and sterilizations on demand for all women, including children as young as 10 years old. 

Interestingly, the issue of abortion is also one that does more to unite the typically divided province. Conflicts between Catholics and Protestants is traditional but when it comes to the rights of the unborn, both sides find themselves in agreement. 

Neither the Catholics nor the Protestants in the mainstream churches want to legalize abortion. 

However, since Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, British clinics may freely operate there. 

Despite the opening of the clinic, public officials have promised to prosecute any illegal activity there, which includes abortions. Everyone from the public, to the media, to the government will be watching the little clinic on Victoria Street come October 18. Whatever happens there will soon be known to the world, and hopefully, we pray, justice and the protection of the Right to Life will prevail. 

© 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.