It is clear to anyone who is aware of the precarious position of protection of life in Ireland that the right to life of the unborn has never been in greater danger and it is worth looking at other jurisdictions to see the damage that has been done by the availability of abortion and to look at the measures they must resort to in order to bring about change.In one of his recent ‘Fr. Frank’s Alerts’, Fr. Frank Pavone (Priests for Life) speaks about abortion ‘clinics’ (or abortion mills, as he rightly describes them) in the State of Kansas, U.S.A. Under the leadership of the new pro-life Governor of the State, Sam Brownback, new health regulations have been enacted, requiring abortion clinics ‘to meet the normal standards of safety, cleanliness, and proper emergency procedures.’
There used to be twelve such premises in Kansas, but through the persistent and untiring work of pro-life workers just three now remain. Fr. Frank has put out an alert to pro-life people to come together in a lobbying effort to have these three premises closed, through the simple expedient of enforcing the new health regulation laws.
In Ireland today we are in a very vulnerable situation with regard to the right to life of unborn children, with the media and the anti-life forces fighting so hard to impose their agenda of death and destruction on us. I have written recently about the shameful meeting that is scheduled to take place in the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, next September, where the subject for discussion is ‘Masterclass 1: Termination of pregnancy: A lawful choice’.
It is up to all pro-life people to ensure that this meeting is not allowed to take place – not only is it proposing the killing of unborn children as a possible option in pregnancy, but it is also totally contrary to the natural moral law to advocate that the life of any human being – before or after birth – can be at the whim of another human being or power. As well, it is against the Constitution of Ireland – that declares the life of the unborn to be inviolable, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – that declares that protection must be granted and recognised for the child ‘before as well as after birth’.
Another area of attack on the unborn is the Government report to the UN Universal Periodic Review. Despite a number of ‘consultation meetings’, and numerous submissions from the public, the beliefs and wishes of the Irish people have been totally ignored in the final report that has been sent to the UN Committee to which the Irish Government will have to submit next October. How does the Government report present Ireland’s pro-life ethos to that Committee? The only reference to the subject of abortion consists of trying to explain how the Government will deal ‘expeditiously’ with the ‘judgement’ of the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) in the so-called A, B and C case v Ireland.
