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In announcing that it will put a pro-life pastor on trial for preaching near an abortion clinic, Northern Ireland becomes the latest Western democracy to inflict tyranny on its people in the name of advancing “reproductive freedom.”
It’s hard to imagine that a Christian nation that once afforded full and equal rights to the unborn would not only overturn those legal protections but also arrest and jail those who protest against the murder of those unborn babies.
Abortion was banned in Ireland, also known as the Land of Saints and Scholars, in 1861. Once considered strongly pro-life, even after the country was split in two, the Emerald Isle has now fallen far — both north and south.
The Republic of Ireland decided to overturn its abortion ban in 2018 and Northern Ireland, still part of the U.K., began allowing it a year later, opening the floodgates of depravity by allowing both governments to enact legislation that permits women to take the lives of unborn babies during the first 12 weeks after conception (and even later, if certain requirements are met).
Not satisfied with their victory, abortion zealots in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland proceeded to criminalize protests outside of abortionists’ clinics. Anyone found to violate the law can face hefty fines and potentially months in jail.
This means that abortion clinics, like cancerous tumors, are metastasizing and spreading their influence over wider areas through so-called “Safe Access Zones.”
Ask Clive Johnston, a 76-year-old Irish pastor. Johnston, who called these censorship zones the “thin end of the wedge in restricting freedom of speech,” is now facing a trial and potential jail time in Northern Ireland for the crime of preaching close to an abortion-providing hospital.
Councilor Áine Groogan, a member of the Green party responsible for spearheading the “Safe Access Zones” legislation, expressed her “delight” at the penalties imposed on Johnston.
In under a decade, Ireland went from protecting the lives of the unborn to putting senior citizens in handcuffs for preaching against the murder of babies.
Sadly, these evil laws are not limited to Ireland.
In nearby Scotland, the police arrested a 74-year-old grandmother, Rose Docherty, for holding a sign saying she was “here to talk, only if you want” outside of an abortion clinic, as the Standing for Freedom Center recently reported.
Just as in Ireland, a Scottish Green party member, Gilliam Mackay, gave voice to her joy at the arrest of a senior citizen, calling Docherty’s protest “utterly shameful” and expressing her gratitude “to Police Scotland for acting so quickly.”
As Vice President J.D. Vance recently pointed out at the Munich security conference, Scotland’s restrictions on pro-life protests are so draconian that praying for an unborn baby’s life within one’s own home — assuming it is within the boundaries of an abortion “buffer zone” — can lead to criminal charges.
And lest we think that “it can never happen here,” don’t forget all the American pro-life protesters who were charged with conspiracy and tossed in prison in recent years (though they all were recently pardoned under the new administration).
The oppressive pro-abortion laws in Ireland and Scotland — as well as other countries — bring to mind the Apostle Paul’s warning that “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). Though Paul was specifically referring to heresy and sin in his letter to the Galatians, his statement applies to the crime of abortion.
The “leaven” in this case, abortion, is all-consuming. Pro-abortion activists typically start their protests in countries that defend unborn lives by claiming they only want to protect women who are victims of rape and incest.
Once that goal is achieved, they move on to legalizing baby murder in drastically expanded circumstances, and once that is accomplished, they move on to pursue the routed remnants of their opponents, mercilessly hunting down those opposed to the new order.
The manifest and horror-inducing injustice of abortion “buffer zones” brings to mind Solomon’s lament: “Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness” (Ecclesiastes 3:16).
But Solomon continues in the very next verse, clarifying that “God will judge the righteous and the wicked,” and stating in a later chapter: “If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them” (Ecclesiastes 5:8).
Those verses should give Christians hope wherever they fight for the lives of the innocent all over the globe.
The spectacle of seeing the elderly put in handcuffs and then sent to jail for silently protesting against baby murder can drive us to fury and despair. But knowing that we have a righteous God who punishes injustice should instead motivate Christians to bear up bravely under such persecution, be inspired by pro-life champions like Johnston and Docherty, and continue to fight for the Lord’s cause. God sees what is happening and, as promised in Ecclesiastes 12:14, He will “bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Photo: Pastor Clive Johnston is confronted by Irish police for giving a sermon near Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, in July 2024. Credit: Facebook
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