Ireland rejects UN pressure to legalize abortion

The final report of Ireland’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), was presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday by Ambassador Gerard Corr who told the meting that Ireland had fully accepted 91 of 127 recommendations made by other member states, partly-accepted 17, and not accepted 19.

A number of pro-abortion advocates were furious that the recommendations from, Spain, Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovenia, that Ireland should legalize abortion, were rejected. Pro-life groups on the other hand praised the Irish Government for their continued support of the right to life in accordance with Ireland’s Constitution.

Ambassador Corr also told the meeting which was the official UN follow-up relating to Ireland’s UPR review, which took place in October 2011 that Ireland’s  Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, had set up an expert group on the issue of abortion.  He said the group was expected to present its findings in July of this year.

Patrick Buckley speaking on behalf of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children told the meeting.

The right to life of all members of the human family is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in subsequent Human Rights Covenants and Treaties it is also specifically protected in the Irish Constitution. It is a scientific fact that a new human life begins at conception / fertilisation

The will of the Irish people expressed though a number of Referenda is that the right to life of unborn babies the most vulnerable members of the human family be protected from the very beginning. The inalienable right to life of any section of the human family is not and should not be subject to the will or interests of others.

It is significant that no Treaty or Convention recognises a right to abortion yet many countries during the UPR process took it on themselves to instruct Ireland to introduce abortion. We very much appreciate the fact that Irish Delegation has firmly rejected those calls as set out in the report of the working group conclusions document A/HRC/ 19/9 paragraphs 108-4 to 108-9.

Ireland has an excellent record in the protection of the lives of both mothers and their babies and enjoys one of the lowest levels of maternal mortality in the world.

Lifesaving medical interventions, considered necessary to protect the lives of pregnant women have always been available in Ireland. Every opportunity is given to a mother and her baby to survive. Medical expertise recognises that it is never necessary to terminate the life of a child in order to save a mother’s life. While some children may not survive such interventions, their deaths are an undesired consequence of the treatment of the mother’s condition rather than the intended result of the doctor’s actions. It is important that such interventions are not confused with abortion procedures, which are specifically aimed at ending the life of an unborn child.

Contrary to the claims of abortion advocates, the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the Case of A, B & C v Ireland does not require Ireland to either to introduce abortion or liberalise its abortion laws. What they sought is clarity.

The Court ruled that access to abortion is not a human right; and that Ireland’s constitutional protection for children prior to birth does not violate women’s rights.

 

Ireland's Universal Periodic Review

I have blogged before (4 August, 15 July, 6 June, etc) about the UN Universal Periodic Review, under which the Irish Government will be ‘examined’ to see how far Ireland has ‘progressed’ in the matter of human rights – as determined by the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) system.

You will remember how a number of groups, such as the Irish Family Planning Association, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the National Women’s Council, the Children’s Rights Alliance, etc., got together and compiled their report entitled Your Rights. Right Now (YRRN) This anti life shadow report was singled out for special treatment by one of the Irish Government Ministers despite the fact that a number of other shadow reports which supported life were submitted to both the UN and the Irish Government last March.      

The Government then invited submissions from the public and other interested bodies, and held a number of public consultations throughout the country – seven in all.  The views and suggestions put forward both in the submissions and at the public meetings were supposed to ‘inform’ the Government in the compilation of its own report for its UPR.   The Government report, however, took little – if indeed any – notice of the views of the public whom it had drawn into the discussions.   There was one exception, however - the agenda of the ‘liberal’ groups was of course put forward.   A prime example of this is the section in the Government report that deals with abortion:

‘In December 2010, the European Court of Human Rights judgment in the A, B and C v Ireland case found that there was an absence of accessible and effective procedures to enable Ms C establish whether she had a right to a termination under Irish law and this represented a violation of her human rights.  Ireland is committed to ensuring that the judgment in this case is implemented expeditiously.  In response to the Court judgment, the Government will establish an expert group, drawing on appropriate medical and legal expertise, with a view to making recommendations to Government on how this matter should be properly addressed.’

That’s all!   Having heard and read the submissions of the pro-life and pro-family groups and individuals on this and other relevant matters it is abundantly clear the Government just ignored them.

Another area in which the pro-life voice has been totally ignored is that of the YRRN report itself. 

When it was discovered that quite a number of groups and organisations (for instance, Crosscare, Trócaire, National Council for the Blind, etc) had been innocently or unknowingly implicated in the pro-abortion/anti-family stance of the YRRN report, these groups tried to withdraw their support of it, sadly however it had already been lodged with the UPR review body by that time.   Representations were made directly to the Government, and particularly during the course of the public consultation meetings, calling on the Government to distance itself immediately from the YRRN report based, as it is, on a false premise – the claim that the groups mentioned above (Crosscare, etc.) supported a pro-abortion and anti-family stance.   

What happened?    Not alone does the Government, in its official report to the UPR Committee, ignore its Constitutional obligations to recognise, maintain, support and promote the fundamental unit of society which is the family based on marriage, together with the right to life of the unborn child, but the ‘Summary’ prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner (OHC) for Human Rights (under the heading Right to social security and to an adequate standard of living) states that:

‘While recalling the 1992 Irish Supreme Court ruling clarifying the Constitutional position and a recent ECHR judgment in A, B and C-v-Ireland, JS1 recommended that Ireland immediately repeal the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act and immediately enact legislation to clarify the circumstances under which an abortion may be lawful.’  

 ‘JS1’ is the joint submission from the Your Right. Right Now coalition campaign.

To soften this outrageous statement, the OHC adds a reference to the Pro-Life Campaign’s submission but once again ignored the many other pro-life statements and reports it had received:

‘Referring to the same rulings and to the Supreme Court decision in R-v-R (2009) on human embryos, Pro-Life Campaign (PLC) urged the UN Human Rights Council to recognise Ireland’s outstanding record of care in protecting the lives of women during pregnancy while at the same time affording proper legal protection to the lives of unborn babies.’

The whole UPR process is a shambles

Call to Irish people 'wake up and protect life'

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.

So, Irish people, wake up and take action!   We do not want to have the situation here that Fr. Frank describes – having to fight to close down the clinics of death