JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: Northern Ireland unity against British abortion law

Tuesday 5 February 2008

Northern Ireland unity against British abortion law

I attended a meeting today at the Northern Ireland Assembly led by Jeffrey Donaldson (right), a DUP MLA and MP and chairman of the all-party pro-life group at Stormont and Pat Ramsey (left), an SDLP MLA and vice-chairman of the group.

Also there were Johanna Higgins, a pro-life barrister, Karen Jardine of the Evangelical Alliance, Mrs Betty Gibson, chairwoman of SPUC Northern Ireland, Liam Gibson, SPUC development officer in Northern Ireland, Bernie Smyth, leader of Precious Life, Lynn Coles of Silent No More in Northern Ireland, Aidan Gallagher of Human Life International, Ireland and a number of other MLAs and pro-life activists.

Everyone at the meeting was united in opposing the imposition of Westminster-style abortion legislation on Northern Ireland which was overwhelmingly opposed in a debate at Stormont last October 22nd on a motion which was agreed unopposed.

About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.