For a number of years I’ve been involved in the pro-life movement in Northern Ireland. The day job is a lecturer in Belfast Met and I’m also a DUP Councillor in Ards & North Down. I thought I’d simply share a couple of stories which have impacted on me over the last year.

Before the referendum in the South I posted this tweet,

I was just relating a story that happened that morning over the breakfast table. Yes I received the usual abusive tweets in reply, but what I found the most stunning was that people had thought I’d simply made it up. Perhaps that’s a commentary on politicians in general but of course it really happened and the wisdom of a child simply shone through in her question to me.

Maybe you are pro-life but are afraid of standing up for your views because of what other people will think? My wife Melanie was in that situation. For a couple of years she was simply terrified of posting that she was pro-life on social media. Then a few months ago she was so enraged at something she had seen, the next day she went onto Facebook and shared the following,

 

I want this to serve as an encouragement to others who perhaps feel the same as my wife.

Being a pro-life politician isn’t easy these days but the day I sell out my principals for votes or political expediency (as some have done) well I’ll be leaving politics. I’ve been so very proud to be part of a cross community movement which seeks to protect the most vulnerable in our society. The work continues.