Government ministers and abortion campaigners want you to believe that the referendum on May 25 is about limited abortion in hard cases. This is far, far from the truth.
The referendum, if passed, will completely remove the right to life from all children in the womb. The rights of unborn children will not be diminished by repeal, they will be eliminated entirely. The Government needs to strip the unborn of all their legal protection in order to pave the way for an extreme abortion regime which will entail abortion on demand throughout the entire first 12 weeks of pregnancy, broadly accessible abortion up to 24 weeks on poorly defined “mental health” grounds, and abortion up until birth in cases of certain disabilities.
When we vote we need to know what it is we are voting on. The Government could have given us a middle ground referendum to deal with hard cases. But it hasn’t. It has given us an extreme referendum proposal. Every year thousands of healthy babies of healthy mothers will be aborted if this proposal becomes law.
Politicians are also choosing to ignore what science teaches us about the development of an unborn child. By eight weeks, a child in the womb already has eyes, a mouth, a beating heart, arms, legs and a developing brain. He or she is most definitely a little person. He or she is entitled to basic legal protection. If the referendum passes he or she will have none.
This is what abortion campaigners want in order to allow for abortion on demand. The more candid among them are open in their view that abortion is a right and should be permitted up to birth.
Government ministers are also trying to claim that the referendum is about providing women with necessary healthcare. But abortion is not healthcare. Healthcare heals, which is the opposite of what abortion does.
Without abortion, Ireland is one of the six safest countries in the world for women to give birth in. In addition, five former chairpersons of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have recently confirmed that current Irish law allows pregnant women to receive all necessary care. Ireland has a better record of protecting women’s lives in pregnancy than almost every country with abortion-on-demand, including the UK.
By making abortion rare, the Eighth Amendment has saved an enormous number of lives. In fact, it is estimated that there are at least 100,000 people alive today because of it.
However, if we pass this referendum it is highly likely we will soon match the British abortion rate where one baby will be aborted for every four who are born. This will equate to roughly 13,000 abortions per year. It cannot be said often enough: this is not about the hard cases, it is about abortion-on-demand, whatever the consequences for women and their unborn children.
The Government’s proposal is far too extreme. Minister Simon Harris could have put forward any number of other referendum proposals, but he chose not to. The Government has gone for a radical approach which, if adopted, will lead to us having one of the most extreme abortions laws of any country in Europe.
If you oppose this, then you need to vote ‘No’, and to encourage your friends and family to vote ‘No’ also.
