PSNI rejects complaints against unborn baby posters

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has rejected complaints about images of unborn babies being displayed on signs around Enniskillen.

The posters, depicting a 10 week old baby in the womb with the words ‘This is a baby’, were reported to the police and Department of Infrastructure by Alliance Party representative for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Matt Beaumont.

The Belfast Telegraph newspaper branded them “explicit anti-abortion posters” and a “shock tactic”.

No offence

Speaking to the newspaper, Beaumont claimed to have received numerous complaints about the images and called them “graphic” and “deeply upsetting”.

He also complained: “They’re not massive posters, but the majority of the actual photo is a picture of a foetus at about ten weeks old”.

But the PSNI said that it was not pursuing the case, explaining that no offence had been committed.

The Department for Infrastructure also rejected the complaints. It said: “The Department is aware of one poster in the Enniskillen area and does not propose to take any action at this stage as it is not causing any health and safety risk.”

‘Clearly human’

The Christian Institute’s Northern Ireland Officer Callum Webster said: “These posters simply show babies at 10 weeks gestation. Everyone who sees them were once like that.

“The baby may be small and vulnerable but it is clearly human. Yet under regulations imposed by Westminster politicians, babies like this can be aborted for any reason in Northern Ireland.

“This is no way for a civilised society to treat its most vulnerable members”