Crowds of thousands attended the March for Life in Dublin earlier this week following a review that recommended that doctors be immune from prosecution for performing abortions at any point up to birth and also recommended the removal of the three-day wait before an abortion.
Following the publication of the “extreme” recommendations from a review of the Irish abortion law, abortion is set to be a major election issue according to pro-lifers in Ireland.
Pro Life Campaign spokesperson, Eilís Mulroy told the gathering that these recommendations were so extreme that “abortion is now guaranteed to be an election issue.”
“The recommendation to scrap the life-saving three-day reflection period before an abortion happens is reckless and the proposal to decriminalise abortion entirely, would, if given effect, clear the way abortion on request up to birth.”
Ms Mulroy went on to describe the report as a “travesty and betrayal of women and unborn babies”.
30,000 abortions in four years
Ms Mulroy said that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s comments about the recommendations made clear that he too recognised how extreme they were but she expressed concern “that the Government will seek to give effect to them for no other reason than to placate the very vocal and never satisfied pro-abortion lobby”.
Wendy Grace, a media commentator, told the March: “Government policy is directly responsible for nearly 30,000 abortions being carried over the past four years. One baby is now being aborted in Ireland for every seven babies born – a truly shocking statistic.”
“There are children missing from every pre-school classroom in the country because of our new abortion law. What’s happening in the name of “choice” and “progress” is dreadfully sad.”
1,228 classrooms-worth of children
Aontú leader and TD for Meath West, Peadar Tóibín, told the crowd “The number of abortions jumped a devastating 25%, just in the last year. In the four years that the law has been in place nearly 28,500 babies have been aborted. It’s the equivalent of 1,228 classrooms for children. It is the equivalent to the population of Kilkenny City”.
The crowd also heard from Amrita Kaur, from England, who had begun a medical abortion but changed her mind after taking the first abortion pill of two. She sought medical help and ended up giving birth to her daughter in November 2021. “It is shocking the lack of information that is available to women on what options they have before and after taking the abortion pill, the effects of abortion pills on women’s bodies and the support that is out there if they decide to keep their child”, she said.
Ms Kaur asked the abortion provider when her baby would have a heartbeat and “the nurse responded with something along the lines of ‘it is either a yes or no do you want the abortion pill or not?’”
The Pro Life Campaign urged pro-lifers across Ireland to elect pro-life TDs so that they are properly represented in the Dáil.
Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said “Well done to the thousands of people who took to the streets of Dublin to make it clear that Ireland doesn’t need an even more extreme abortion law.”
“Ireland’s abortion regime has already resulted in tens of thousands of lives lost to abortion, but this doesn’t seem to be enough for abortion campaigners who relentlessly try to introduce extreme changes to abortion legislation.”
