“The child by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth” UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Today December 10th the United Nations celebrates Human
Rights Day.
The UN, instead of clapping itself on the back at its own
perceived success in promoting human rights, should hang its head in shame at
its abysmal failure to protect the rights of the most vulnerable members of our community, unborn
babies.
The UN, its agencies and organs appear to be more influenced
by ideology than in upholding truth and justice even though the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenents
enacted under it are crystal clear.
It is now fifty years since the UN adopted the International
Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which along with the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights constitute the International Bill of Rights that recognize 'the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world'. In addition to the foregoing the Convention on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) in its preamble tells us that 'Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of
the Rights of the Child, "the child, by reason of his physical and mental
immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal
protection, before as well as after birth".'
Sound science recognizes that human embryos, from the moment of
fertilisation, are new living human beings. To use the words of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights we are all members of the 'human family'. From
the moment of fertilisation we all share a common humanity. Human embryos
are equal members of the species homo sapiens and each stage of development is
equal in value to every other stage.
There is a connection between the self-interest of certain
communities and the line to be drawn between recognition of persons and
non-persons.That self-interest may be
driven by eugenic, economic, social or political factors such that those a
society wishes to exclude are deemed to be non-persons.History is replete with examples of this
phenomenon.
However cleverly the arguments are presented, the taking of a
human life, the killing of a human being is a heinous crime, it is called murder.
The killing of the most vulnerable human beings, unborn babies, is the most
heinous of crimes.
We call on the Secretary General and the United Nations
General Assembly to redress this blatant injustice, to uphold its own declared
values and to immediately reject the wholesale killing of the unborn.
Denying embryonic and foetal human beings their fundamental
and inherent right to live, either by design or by omission, diminishes the whole of humanity, hinders the
search for justice and truth and brings the UN, its organs and agencies, into disrepute.
The New York Times reports on an impressive series of
sculptures by Damien Hirst in Doha Qatar depicting the journey of an unborn
baby from conception to birth.
See complete article below and this link to slide show
DOHA, Qatar — For weeks, 14 giant balloons had been
mysteriously parked in front of the Sidra Medical and Research Center, a
hulking steel, glass and white ceramic building devoted to women’s and
children’s health that is to open on the outskirts of this city in 2015.
The unveiling of “The Miraculous Journey,” by Damien Hirst,
a series of sculptures that culminates in one of a 46-foot baby, on Monday in
Doha, Qatar. More Photos »
At 7 on Monday evening, to the amplified sound of a beating
heart, members of Qatar’s royal family, government officials and local artists
watched as each balloon, bathed in purple light, opened like a giant flower to
reveal an unusually provocative public artwork. Called “The Miraculous
Journey,” it consists of 14 monumental bronze sculptures, by the British artist
Damien Hirst, chronicling the gestation of a fetus inside a uterus, from
conception to birth, ending with a statue of a 46-foot-tall anatomically
correct baby boy.
Even for a Persian Gulf country that is aggressively buying
its way into modernity, this installation takes official acceptance of Western
art to a new level. Local women still adhere to centuries-old Islamic
traditions, wearing the abaya, a long cloak, and niquab, or face covering;
images of women are routinely censored in books and magazines. Even the
representation of the human form is unusual.
To commission such an audacious work of art is considered a
particularly bold move for Sheikha al Mayassa Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, 30,
chairwoman of the Qatar Museums Authority and a sister to the new emir of this
oil- and gas-rich state. The sculptures are reported to have cost $20 million.
“To have something like this is less daring than having a
lot of nudity,” said the sheikha, interviewed on Monday morning in her office
at the Museum of Islamic Art, a modern, sun-filled space with sweeping views of
the gulf. “There is a verse in the Koran about the miracle of birth,” she said.
“It is not against our culture or our religion.”
Rather, she sees the sculptures as an extension of her
mission to create a platform for contemporary artists from around the world,
transforming this city of gleaming skyscrapers and sandy beaches into a center
for arts and culture. Whether the public likes it or not, she believes, “it’s
important to have an ongoing conversation.”
The museums authority has also organized a giant
retrospective of Mr. Hirst’s work, “Relics,” which opens on Thursday.
Known as one of the most powerful forces in the
international art world today, with exceptional buying power and forward
thinking, Sheikha al Mayassa is a vocal advocate of contemporary art and arts
education. She has been criticized by some as brazen or for embracing only
celebrated artists, yet is praised by others for her commitment to the art of
the new.
“She’s brave to introduce new visuals and new thoughts,
especially in Doha, which is more conservative than other Middle Eastern
cities,” said Nada Shabout, a professor of art history at the University of
North Texas who works with the Arab Museum of Modern Art here. “Most of the
Arab world has not seen public nudity. Sex is not taboo here, it’s just a very
private affair. I have no idea how the public will react to these sculptures.”
Generally, the public does not take to the streets to voice
disapproval and is considered unlikely to deface any public artwork. Instead,
residents seize on social media platforms, like Twitter or blogs. After a
16-foot-tall bronze sculpture depicting one soccer player head-butting another
was installed last week on the Corniche, a popular waterfront promenade here,
some residents called online for its removal on the grounds that the sculpture,
by the Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed, offended religious sensibilities. The
sheikha shrugs off the criticism, saying that contemporary art is vital to the
city’s landscape.
Purposely provocative, Mr. Hirst, 48, was long controversial
in his own country, known for startling works that have included rotting cows
positioned to simulate copulation; sharks and sheep preserved in formaldehyde;
maggots attacking a cow’s head; and medicine cabinets full of hundreds of
different kinds of drugs. Yet, in recent years, exposure to his work has been
oversaturated in the United States and Europe.
He is fascinating to many, nonetheless, in a city like Doha.
Sheikha al Mayassa recalled visiting Mr. Hirst’s studio in Gloucestershire,
England, around 2009 and asking him to consider creating an outdoor sculpture.
Mr. Hirst showed her some drawings of prenatal and natal
development he had made in 2005, from sperm to fetus to newborn. “I had always
envisioned them to be monumental sculptures, and the sheikha had the idea of
putting them in front of a woman’s hospital,” he said. (The installation’s full
title is “The Miraculous Journey (2005 to 2013).”
It was a commission fraught with secrecy. “The first meeting
I had with the architects, I was not allowed to tell them what the sculptures
were because they wanted it to be a surprise,” he recalled. Most of the work,
which took three years, was carried out in his studio in England.
There is nothing secret about them now: he positioned the
sculptures so they can be seen both from the motorway and the desert. Together
they weigh a total of 216 tons.
Wearing scruffy blue jeans and a white T-shirt, Mr. Hirst
was watching workers put the finishing touches on his retrospective at Al
Riwaq, a nondescript building — now covered in his signature dots — that is
next to the Museum of Islamic Art, which was designed by I. M. Pei and opened
in 2008.
Mr. Hirst said he became fascinated with childbirth after
having children of his own. “Everyone talks about our life’s journey, but we
have a whole journey before you’re born,” he explained.
Both Ms. Shabout and Zainab Bahrani, a professor of Near
Eastern art and archaeology at Columbia University, pointed out that depictions
of naked women bathing have been common throughout the history of Islamic art —
for example, in ancient illuminated manuscripts. Such images are not, however,
readily available to the population here.
“People are not aware here that it has a long tradition,”
Ms. Shabout said.
Ms. Bahrani said: “I am sympathetic to the fact that art
makes us feel uncomfortable, can challenge. On the other hand, you don’t want
to shock. So it’s a fine line.”
But to Sheikha al Mayassa, it is one more step in the
process of introducing art to Doha. Already she is planning two more museums
here: the National Museum of Qatar, designed by Jean Nouvel, and the
Orientalist Museum, designed by the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron.
Although the sheikha declined to confirm or deny the
reported cost of Mr. Hirst’s sculptures, she said the outlay was “not a crazy
number.”
“For us, it’s about the bigger picture,” she said. With an
impish grin, she added: “Although he denies it, I think the baby is really
Damien. It looks like him.”
When winds kicked up the other day, the balloon shrouding
the baby boy accidentally blew off. Mr. Hirst, who was in London at the time,
received an e-mail from Sheikha al Mayassa that read:
Contact Gènéthique reports that, Spanish doctors on 13 March 2012, announced that they had carried out an operation in utero on the lung of a foetus aged 26 weeks and weighing 800 grammes with a bronchial obstruction. The little girl was born eleven weeks later. Now aged 16 months, she is in good health.
Eduard Gratacos, head of the foetal medicine department of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, said that "this is the first time in the world that such an operation has been attempted and succeeded."
The bronchial atresia that he foetus was suffering from was life-threatening: developing abnormally, the lung "behaved like a tumour" liable to compress the heart and provoke cardiac arrest. Affecting one foetus out of 10,000, this genetic malformation leads in 90% of cases to the death of the foetus or the new-born child.
The operation took less than 30 minutes. The doctors carried out an endoscopy to reach the point of obstruction in the bronchial tubes which they perforated by laser before "reconnecting them" in the bronchial tree. It was an extremely delicate operation as the tissue involved is as "fine as cigarette paper". The diseased lung was thus reduced to the normal size. The child was born some time later and was treated without complication for a slight respiratory insufficiency.
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.
One of my colleagues, Vincenzina Santoro Chief United Nations Representative – American Family Association of New York, writes - Let’s hold UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to his words! and then continues:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s year-end press conference did not exactly make it to the front pages of the world’s newspapers. However, for the occasion, Mr. Ban was keen to remind reporters that he was completing his first five-year term at the end of 2011 and was looking forward to his second mandate. In his remarks, he stated that the world needs the United Nations now more than ever. This is debatable, but he gave us some food for thought. According to Mr. Ban, over the past five years, he tried to “advance a practical, action-oriented vision of the UN as “the voice of the voiceless and the defender of the defenceless.”
Reflecting on his words, who could be more voiceless and defenceless than the unborn? Is this not especially true of the unborn who are to be aborted – their very tiny existence about to be crushed, dismembered and terminated, yet they cannot utter a word or take a stand? They were not part of his “action-oriented vision.” If the Secretary-General were truly sincere about defending the “voiceless and defenceless” he should be a defender of all the unborn. Mr. Ban indicated that in January he would present the outline for his second term, making references to commitments to the rights of women and children with the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development to be center stage among 2012 events. Perhaps he should include the unborn.
While Mr. Ban conducted his news conference, given the season, elsewhere in New York theatre troops were busy presenting the Dickens classic: “A Christmas Carol.” The character of Ebenezer Scrooge early on, in his unrepentant stage, refuses to give alms to the poor and ill so that the “ranks of their populations” could be thinned! Was such an attitude the forerunner of today’s population controllers? Possibly. But Scrooge saw a guiding spirit and soon enough experienced a conversion. Can we be a modern day “ghost of Christmases past” for the Secretary-General and use his very own words to draw their rightful conclusion?
There is something else that could boost a pro-life stance with the Secretary-General. Mr. Ban’s country of birth, South Korea, has the lowest fertility rate among developed countries: 1.15 children per woman, the result of all too successful official family planning policies pursued for decades. Today there is much hand wringing in South Korea about the implications of a shrinking population. Such concern ought to work in favor of the voiceless, defenceless unborn.
Starting with the Secretary-General’s own words, if all pro-lifers – at the UN and elsewhere –began a (massive?) writing campaign and asked him to support the voiceless and defenceless unborn child, would this not be the true meaning of his words and a new, right vision for the UN?
The address is:
Hon. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General of the United Nations
United Nations Headquarters
New York, NY 10017
Cardinal Raymond Burke gave the keynote address at a Prayer Breakfast that took place in McHenry County, Illinois, U.S.A., at the end of October.The title of Cardinal Burke’s address was ‘Advancing the Culture of Life in Hope and with Obedience’, and he started off by honouring Bishop Thomas Doran, Bishop of Rockford, on the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of his priestly ordination.The Cardinal quoted from Bishop Doran’s book At the Crossroads: A Vision of Hope:
We accept things in contemporary society that we know in the depths of our being are terribly, terribly wrong, and we do not want to talk about them.If a child is inconvenient before it is born, kill him, kill her, but do not call it killing, call it abortion.If a person lives beyond the years when the doctor and society consider that person to be useful, kill him, kill her, but do not call it killing, call it euthanasia.
Cardinal Burke continued, in his own words:
[…] We are presently experiencing in our nation a period of intense struggle in the advancement of the culture of life.Our government follows openly and aggressively a totally secularist philosophy with its inherent anti-life and anti-family agenda.[…] Catholics in public office, who obstinately persist in advocating and providing for the most egregious violations of the natural moral law, are the cause of the gravest scandal; they confuse and lead into error their fellow Catholics and non-Catholics alike regarding the most fundamental truths of the moral law.[…] Western Europe, for example, has become pervasively secularised.A culture which is totally Christian in its roots and owes its entire development to the Christian faith now does not want in any way to be associated with the name of Christ.It is a culture which is dying, but there are many faithful Christians who live in Western Europe, who have not given up hope and who work to transform the society.[…] Many of our citizens defend the right to observe the dictates of a rightly-formed Christian conscience, against those, even in government, who want to force Christians to violate the dictates of conscience regarding the most fundamental moral truths, that is, the inviolable dignity of innocent and defenceless human life, and the integrity of marriage as the faithful, enduring and life-giving union of one man and one woman. […]
Today, sadly, through a failure of education, first, in the family and then in our schools, many do not understand the nature of human life itself, created in the image and likeness of God, and redeemed by the suffering and death of God the Son Incarnate.They have lost the sense of their own inherent dignity as true sons and daughters of God and, therefore, have lost respect for their neighbors as brothers and sisters in the one family whose Father is inHeaven and loves His children with all His heart.Our mission of promoting respect for all human life must, in a particular way, devote itself to promoting purity of heart, sexual purity.The virtue of purity is fundamentally the disciplined expression of respect for life as God created us, male and female.In this regard, I note the confusion and error diffused through the language of gender, which fundamentally denies manhood and womanhood, and manipulates human sexuality to include a host of immoral activities which are a violation of the relationship of male and female, as God ordained it from the beginning. […]
I refuse to believe that most of our fellow countrymen are in favor of destroying babies in the womb in order to honor the so-called right of a woman to make a choice about pregnancy, as if we are ever free to choose with regard to what nature itself has ordained, in accord with God’s plan for man and woman.I refuse to believe that most of our countrymen are in favor of generating human life artificially and then destroying it at the embryonic stage of development for the sake of experiments, no matter how noble may be the supposed goals of the experimentation.I refuse to believe that most of our countrymen are in favor of the redefinition of what nature has ordained regarding the union of man and woman in marriage for the sake of their salvation and the procreation and education of offspring to include relationships which are contrary to nature and a betrayal of true friendship between persons of the same sex. […]
The manipulation of the conjugal act, as the Servant of God Pope Paul VI prophetically observed, has led to many forms of violence to marriage and family life.Through the spread of the contraceptive mentality, especially among the young, human sexuality is no longer seen as the gift of God, which draws a man and a woman together, in a bond of lifelong and faithful love, crowned by the gift of new human life, but, rather, as a tool for personal gratification.Once sexual union is no longer seen to be, by its very nature, procreative, human sexuality is abused in ways that are profoundly harmful and indeed destructive of individuals and of society itself.One has only to think of the devastation which is daily wrought in our world by the multi-million dollar industry of pornography.Essential to the advancement of the culture of life is the proclamation of the truth about the conjugal union, in its fullness, and the correction of the contraceptive thinking which fears life, which fears procreation. […]
The Cardinal referred to
[…] the hypocrisy of Catholics who claim to be practicing their faith but who refuse to apply the truth of the faith in their exercise of politics, medicine, business and the other human endeavors.These Catholics claim to hold ‘personally’ to the truth of the faith, for example, regarding the inviolability of innocent and defenceless human life, while, in the political arena or in the practice of medicine, they cooperate in the attack on our unborn brothers and sisters, or on our brothers and sisters who have grown weak under the burden of years, of illness, or of special needs.Their disobedience pertains not to some truth particular to the life of the Church, that is, not to some confessional matter, but to the truth of the divine natural law written on every human heart and, therefore, to be obeyed by all men. […]
Cardinal Burke then spoke about the true meaning of the phrase ‘the Common Good’, particularly in the context of what he had already said.His speech is recommended to be read in its entirety.
Although he was speaking to an American audience, his words are equally relevant for and to all of us in Europe today.
Cardinal Burke's full address can be accessed on the Rockford Diocese website by following this link and scrolling down to the relevant news item
According to an Irish Times article a Millward Brown Poll carried out on behalf of the Pro-Life Campaign found that over two thirds of Irish people want to see the right to life of the unborn child protected in law.
The poll was based on a national random sample of 984 adults.
To the question: “Are you in favour or opposed to constitutional protection for the unborn that prohibits abortion but allows the continuation of the existing practice of intervention to save a mother's life, in accordance with Irish medical ethics?”
61% were in favour of constitutional protection for the unborn child, with 17% opposed. 22% didn't know or had no opinion.
When the “don’t knows” are excluded, 78% are in favour of legal protection for the unborn, while 22% are opposed.
The survey also asked the following question: “In a recent Supreme Court decision, the judges said that human embryos were not protected by the Constitution but deserved respect and that their protection was a matter for the Government. Do you think the Government should legislate or not to protect human embryos from deliberate destruction either by experimentation or by methods of assisted human reproduction that destroy embryos?
59% were in favour of Government legislation to protect the human embryo, 16% were opposed and 26% did not know or had no opinion.
When the “don’t knows” are excluded, 79% are in favour of legislation to protect the human embryo and 21% are opposed.
The San Jose Articles which were launched on 6th October 2011 at the UN in New York and subsequently in London and Madrid are available in English Spanish German and French. The articles are a declaration on the rights of the unborn child and they are designed as a challenge to claims by UN officials that there exists in international law a right to abortion.
According to the website
The San Jose articles were created to help governments and civil society promote human rights through a proper understanding of how the rights of the unborn child are protected in international law. The articles should be used to counter false assertions, such as the erroneous notion that abortion is a human right.
LEGISLATORS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALSshould use the San Jose Articles to help channel international aid to maternal and child health care programs which ensure a healthy outcome of pregnancy for both mother and child and to justify the withholding of funds which violate the right to life of the unborn child from conception.
John Smeaton in his BLOG points out that the declaration
is the latest in a series of initiatives by various organizations over recent years – including the Amnesty for Babies’ initiatives and others – which insist that international human rights agreements uphold the right to life of unborn children.
The signatories include Professor Robert George of Princeton, former US Ambassador Grover Joseph Rees, Professor John Finnis of Oxford, Professor John Haldane of the University of St. Andrews, Francisco Tatad, the former majority leader of the Philippine Senate, Javier Borrego, former Judge of the European Court of Human Rights, and Professor Carter Snead of UNESCO’s international committee on bioethics.
As Professor George pointed out, they can be used to oppose the work of UN officials “who say falsely that governments are required by international law to repeal domestic laws protecting human beings in the embryonic and fetal stages of development against the violence of abortion”.
Like the Amnesty for Babies’ launch at the Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2006, the San Jose Articles were launched in the presence of representatives of the Holy See. The Holy See’s presence at such events witnesses to the fundamental importance of the Catholic Church – with its unequivocal defence of the value and inviolability of human life – for the pro-life movement worldwide.
History will judge the strength or otherwise of this or of that initiative. For example, the San Jose Articles can be used, with its list of distinguished signatories, to oppose the work of UN compliance committees which are seeking to put pressure on developing countries to legalize abortion by falsely representing the meaning of international agreements.
Equally, the World scientists' and physicians' declaration on human rights for nascent human beings, launched in October 2008, can be used to develop support for ethical scientific research which respects, in the words of the declaration “the inherent rights of human embryos and foetuses during our quest for beneficial knowledge, just as we respect the inviolable and inalienable rights of children and adults."
And the Amnesty for Babies petition, launched in June 2006, provides legislators with the opportunity of signing a petition to members of the United Nations general assembly. The petition calls on nations to ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child before as well as after birth; and to adopt all measures necessary to protect adequately human life and dignity in the application of life sciences.
On the other hand, reasonable disappointment has been expressed that, after three years, more scientists and physicians have not been found to support the world scientists’ and physicians’ declaration, and that, after five years, more legislators have not been found to support the unequivocal defence of the right to life expressed by the legislators’ Amnesty for Babies’ petition.
Equally, reasonable disappointment has been expressed by pro-life observers, myself included, that the San Jose articles contain a conclusion which needs to be stronger. In Article 8, it’s not sufficient to declare that laws “may and should [my emphasis] invoke treaty provisions guaranteeing the right to life as encompassing a state responsibility to protect the unborn child from abortion”.
Analogy helps in such cases. It would have been wholly inadequate for the world to have told South Africa 30 years ago that “it may and should end apartheid”. It was rightly warned by world’s nations that it must do so. "Should" is ambiguous, expressing either an obligation or an aspiration.
Proponents of the culture of death are not so inhibited. In September 2010 at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ban Ki Moon the UN Secretary General, and Navanethem Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, launched a report “on discrimination against women, in law and practice, and how the issue is addressed throughout the United Nations human rights system”. In that report they called for the policing of nations worldwide to “address the refusal of physicians to perform legal abortions”.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the professional body in the UK governing pharmacists, rules that health professionals, with a conscientious objection to, say, abortifacient products, must refer patients seeking them to health professionals with no such objection.
The truth is that the obligation is exactly the other way round: the right to life must be upheld and abortions must not be facilitated. If we fail to insist on that obligation the pro-life movement will, ultimately, complete succumb to the superior force (force majeure) being used against us.
During the recent 10th anniversary of 9/11 both in Pennsylvania and New York, in addition to those named in the commemerations, unborn babies who were victims were also remembered.
When the names of the victims in Pennsylvania were read out a bell was rung each time
Jill Stanek writes in her BLOG post
"Shanksville memorial service acknowledges preborn baby as 9-11 victim"
One of my Facebook friends was at the Flight 93 memorial service yesterday at Shanksville. She said the names were read. A woman’s name was read and also “an unborn child.”
The bell was rung twice.
Also in New York the 9/11 Memorial Lists 11 "Unborn" babies
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Ten women who died on Sept. 11, and one in the Feb. 1993 bombing, were known to be pregnant. Their names are being listed on the memorial with the phrase "and her unborn"
The rally for life location rotates between Dublin and Belfast. Last years Belfast rally was well attended and supported by groups and individuals from all over Ireland.
Keeping Ireland abortion-free was the theme of the last Dublin rally held in 2009. This year however it must be emphasized that threats to the right-to-life of the unborn are now greater than ever before and come in myriad forms, not only within Ireland, but from the EU, The Council of Europe, The European Court of Human rights and the United Nations. The pro-life world nationally and internationally are invited to show solidarity with Ireland and our continual struggle to protect the lives of the most vulnerable during these grave times.
Archbishop Charles Chaput, of Denver (USA), gave the keynote address at the student-organised Right to Life lecture series at the University of Notre Dame recently.The Archbishop chose ‘Politics and the Devil’ as the theme of his address to the gathering.It is a lengthy document, and I hope that in having chosen a small number of excerpts from it I have not in any way detracted from the entire message.
‘All law in some sense teaches and forms us, while also regulating our behavior.The same applies to our public policies, including the ones that govern our scientific research.There is no such thing as morally neutral legislation or morally neutral public policy.Every law is the public expression of what somebody thinks we “ought” to do.The question that matters is this.Which moral convictions of which somebodies are going to shape our country’s political and cultural future – including the way we do our science?
‘The answer is pretty obvious: if you and I as citizens don’t do the shaping, then somebody else will.That is the nature of a democracy.A healthy democracy depends on people of conviction working hard to advance their ideas in the public square – respectfully and peacefully, but vigorously and without apologies.Politics always involves the exercise of power in the pursuit of somebody’s idea of the common good.And politics always and naturally involves the imposition of somebody’s values on the public at large.So if a citizen fails to bring his moral beliefs into our country’s political conversation, if he fails to work for them publicly and energetically, then the only thing he ensures is the defeat of his own beliefs.
‘We also need to remember that most people – not everyone, of course, but most of us – root our moral convictions in our religious beliefs.What we believe about God shapes what we think about the nature of men and women, the structure of good human relationships, and our idea of a just society.This has very practical consequences, including the political kind.We act on what we really believe.If we don’t act on our beliefs, then we don’t really believe them. …
‘The moral and political struggle we face today in defending human dignity is becoming more complex.I believe that abortion is the foundational human rights issue of our lifetime.We can’t simultaneously serve the poor and accept the legal killing of unborn children.We can’t build a just society, and at the same time legally sanctity the destruction of generations of unborn human life.The rights of the poor and the rights of the unborn child flow from exactly the same human dignity guaranteed by the God who created us.
‘Of course, working to end abortion doesn’t absolve us from our obligations to the poor.It doesn’t excuse us from our duties to the disabled, the elderly and immigrants.In fact, it demands from us a much stronger commitment to materially support women who find themselves in a difficult pregnancy. …
‘I have two final thoughts.First, nothing we do to defend the human person, no matter how small, is ever unfruitful or forgotten.Our actions touch other lives and move other hearts in ways we can never fully understand in this world.
‘Don’t ever underestimate the beauty and power of the witness you give in your pro-life work.One thing we learn from Scripture is that God doesn’t have much use for the vain or the prideful.But He loves the anawim – the ordinary, simple, everyday people who keep God’s Word, who stay faithful to his commandments, and who sustain the life of the world by leavening it with their own goodness.That’s the work we are called to do.Don’t ever forget it, if you speak up for the unborn child in this life, someone will speak up for you in the next, when we meet God face to face.
‘Second, a friend once shared with me the unofficial motto of the Texas Rangers: “No man in the wrong can stand up against a fella that’s in the right, and keeps a-comin.”The message is true.Virtue does matter.Courage and humility, justice and perseverance, do have power.Good does win, and the sanctity of human life will endure.It will endure because if “God so loved the world that He gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16), then the odds look pretty good, and it’s worth fighting for what is right."
According to an Irish Times report the new Irish Government Cabinet has discussed the possibility of amending Ireland’s abortion laws in support of which they quote the new Minister of State for Disability, Equality and Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch. See Irish Times article
Ms Lynch yesterday launched a new report which called for the immediate enactment of legislation “to clarify the circumstances under which an abortion may be lawful”. The Your Rights. Right Now report, produced by a coalition of 18 non-governmental organisations and trade unions, said the Government should address the recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights in 2010 and the Constitutional Review Group in 1996.
“I do know that this issue has been discussed already in Cabinet, because at the end of the day we have a High Court, Supreme Court judgment coming down the tracks at us,” Ms Lynch said.
This new attack on unborn life is extremely serious in that it is backed by a Minister of State. It is also a very one sided report in that it fails to acknowledge the importance of the right to life of the unborn and that the report in question is not the only one. The Ministers statement and the Irish Times article completely ignore the fact that a large number of pro-life organisations have also lodged reports with the Irish Government in preparation for the UN Universal periodic review which will take place later this year.
There is a great pro-life video to be found here: Personhood
Watch it, listen to it – watch it again and listen to it again, and again. Tell your friends about it. It is particularly interesting in that a former world leader and President of his country is addressing these words of truth to the whole world, and that even today his words have not been forgotten.
Would that the present President – Obama – of the United States would follow the path of his great predecessor in recognising the humanity of the unborn child – rather than pursuing the policies of destruction of human life that he is so intent on putting into action.
Would that our own political leaders and political representatives here in Ireland at this present time took note of what the former President of the United States says in this video. Let us be aware that the Labour Party, in particular (they have already announced this as their intention if they succeed in entering into Government) will attempt to introduce legislation to allow abortions to be carried out in Ireland. Remember this threat when you are deciding for whom you are voting. Could you, in conscience, vote for someone whose Party policy is the killing of unborn children? Do not be deceived by election promises that candidates are pro-life, pro-family, etc.
The Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) today announced the date of the much anticipated general election, which has now been scheduled to take place on Friday March 11th next.
I would encourage all my Irish colleagues to contact representatives of all parties to clarify their position on the critical social issues such as the right to life of the unborn and to vote only for pro-life, pro-family candidates. It would be a grave error for political parties to focus only on economic policies when there are equally disastrous social policies that require urgent attention
For some years now I have felt completely alienated from all the major political parties by their liberal policies and the enactment or attempted enactment of legislation on social issues which contravene natural law.
I am also of the belief that I am not alone in the perception that the major parties have lost on way on these issues and I am aware of a large constituency of voters who are like-minded.
May I suggest to all the major parties that you should look again at your party roots and at the disastrous liberal social agenda which has been adopted in recent times by successive governments. I am convinced that strong statements now by all parties on the importance of the natural family based on marriage, the right to life from conception to natural death, the rights of parents in respect of their children's development and education together with real commitments to improve their position in the future administration, will attract real support from the electorate particularly if these issues are held sacred and and are non negotiable and without compromise,
I would also ask colleagues to contact me when and if you succeed in getting real commitments from potential candidates so that we can make a strategic list of candidates who are willing to make firm commitments on critical issues such as the right to life of the unborn.
We have just received links to newly published videos showing Chilean respect for all human life. "Viva Chile" is a really groundbreaking video and depicts the humanity of the unborn child in the womb. “Chile, the Miners, and Respect for Human Life” is the title of another video which points out that Chile in many ways is a model for other countries to follow, not only in the case of the recent successful rescue of the 33 miners trapped underground for 69 days. Chile’s constitution and whole legal system protects all human life, including the child before birth.
Chileans are serious about protecting unborn children. All abortion is illegal. Mother and child have an equal right to life in law.
“Chile, the Miners, and Respect for Human Life” includes some moving video of the miners’ rescue, and also includes two wonderfully positive and creative TV spots which were originally aired on Chilean TV to inaugurate the government’s program to promote and protect the well-being of young children. That program, “Chile Crece Contigo” (“Chile Grows with You”), by definition includes the unborn child.
Chile’s pro-life policies have helped make Chile the safest place in all of Latin America for a mother to give birth. Chile has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the whole continent.
Chile’s new president, Sebastián Piñera, expressed a strong position against abortion during his campaign, and during his May 21st presidential speech to the nation, he announced a new government program called “Committed to Life” to offer help to pregnant women to carry their babies to term.
The government of Chile has also made strong declarations at recent UN meetings explaining that Chile is a pro-life country, and will not accept abortion.
For more information about Latin America and the pro-life cause, contact Dan Zeidler, the representative in the U.S. for the Caracas-based Latin American Alliance for the Family:FriendsofLatinAmerica@gmail.com
Following the recent by-election in Ireland, in the constituency of Donegal South-West, the Sinn Féin candidate, Pearse Doherty, won the vacant seat.His victory in doing so was (and is) a huge boost for Sinn Féin, and a great disappointment to Fianna Fáil – the leading Government party – whose percentage vote dropped to about 20, from a previous 51 percent.The figure of 20 percent, however, was in excess of that garnered by either of the Opposition parties, although following the fourth count and distribution of first preference votes the Fine Gael candidate overtook the Fianna Fáil candidate.
The reason why I am commenting on this by-election is that each of the candidates was questioned on his or her stance in relation to pro-life/protection of unborn life.The interesting information that emerged from that query is that the Fianna Fáil candidate gave a written personal commitment, if elected, to ‘oppose any legislation that would make abortion available in Ireland and supports a law to protect the human embryo from deliberate destruction.’This candidate is a Senator – so, from now on, we will be looking forward to hearing his public defence of unborn life from the moment of conception.
The Sinn Féin party policy is pro-abortion, and it is therefore extremely interesting to hear that the newly elected deputy Pearse Doherty has given ‘a written personal commitment to oppose any legislation that would make abortion available in Ireland and supports a law to protect the human embryo from deliberate destruction.’Is he indeed at odds with the policy of his party?Will we hear Pearse Doherty standing up in the Dáil (lower house) to defend and demand protection for the unborn, from the moment of conception?It is sad to report that it is unusual to have such a defence of human life declared in the Dáil.
The remaining candidates gave indecisive or ambivalent replies to the query.
According to a report in the Irish Sun, a South African radio station reported last Friday that hundreds of aborted babies and dead newborn babies are being dumped in the Johannesburg and Pretoria area each year, .
The report by Johannesburg's private 702 radio station highlights a report by the South African Medical Research Council and the Pretoria-based University of South Africa as saying at least 446 bodies of foetuses and babies under one years of age were turning up in drains, gutters and rubbish bins in Gauteng province.
According to the report at least part of the problem was thought to stem from the proliferation of illegal abortion clinics. In addition to the dumping of aborted preborn babies the statistics also included the bodies of some newborn babies.
Dumping of newborns is apparently a well-documented problem in the South Africa and the report says that the South African media regularly carries stories of desperate, often hard-up teenagers and young women disposing of their babies in toilets following unplanned pregnancies.
Gauteng, where Johannesburg and Pretoria are situated, is South Africa's most populous province.
In a recent issue of the Irish Medical Times, Dr.Ruairí Hanley, a regular contributor to that journal wrote an article on the most critical issue of our times, the right to life of the unborn child. Dr Hanley wrote as follows:
‘… In six years of writing, there is only one issue that I have never addressed for fear of the hysterical retribution that will follow. This topic appears to inspire irrationality in the most educated of minds and base hostility in others. … I have decided this week to discuss the most contentious subject in the world of Irish medicine – the one that inspires referendums, street protests and occasional riots. God help me, but I’m going to write about abortion. ‘Let us begin with the facts. It is beyond dispute that several thousand Irish women travel to the UK every year to have a termination of pregnancy. It also appears that the overwhelming majority of these are not performed for medical illnesses. In effect, for personal, financial or social reasons these women do not want to have a child. ‘Their legal right to travel and avail of this service in another state is beyond dispute. However, to carry out such procedures in Ireland is a criminal act as the unborn is protected by the Constitution. ‘The “pro-choice” movement believes that this country should provide a similar service to that in the UK, and that this is a basic right of women. The “pro-life” organisations, meanwhile, believe that the unborn child is a living person with a right to existence, and that termination of that life should remain a crime. … ‘Unfortunately, in Ireland this fundamental issue cannot be debated honestly. Thus we have a situation where the discussion appears to centre around rare medical conditions that might put a pregnant woman’s life in danger. These unlikely clinical scenarios are highlighted by the pro-choice movement as alleged examples of where Ireland’s lack of abortion services puts women’s lives at risk. ‘I admit this type of discussion makes me angry due to its fundamental intellectual dishonesty. Maternity related deaths in Ireland are among the lowest in the developed world, so to somehow suggest that the existence of abortion clinics would lower this figure further is not supported by any scientific or medical evidence. … ‘I believe that to suggest such interventions [e.g., in the case of an ectopic pregnancy] are in any way comparable to social abortion is to engage in extremely manipulative behaviour. The pro-choice movement is well aware of this, which begs the question why they spend so much time talking about the incredibly rare, medically necessary abortion rather than arguing the case in favour of the right to choose? ‘It has occurred to me that such tactics are being used for a very cynical reason. Pro-choice activists may have concluded that they cannot win a fair democratic debate in a conservative country such as Ireland. So they might have decided to confuse the issue, in the hope that their ultimate aim will be introduced by stealth. I believe this to be disingenuous in the extreme. …’
An interesting approach, as Dr. Hanley – from what he says at another point in the article – does not appear to be what we might call ‘totally pro-life’. He admits that ‘in a country where contraception is universally available, even after potential conception’, he instinctively finds it difficult ‘to accept the need for facilities to terminate healthy established pregnancies.’ However, he believes that ‘there is something breathtakingly appalling about bringing an unwanted child into the world.’ He suggests what he calls ‘a simple solution’ – ‘another referendum calling for the introduction of abortion facilities in Ireland broadly similar to those in the UK. Let both sides explain why they are either in favour or against this proposal and advance their arguments accordingly.’ A dangerous precedent to set, I would suggest?
To encourage a commitment and witness within the Church to love and life, a prayer initiative to be led by Pope Benedict XVI is being promoted by a pair of cardinals. All bishops of the world are being asked to invite the faithful to pray for the unborn during the prayerful season before Christmas according to a Catholic News Agency (CNA) report
On Nov. 27, to mark the start of Advent, Pope Benedict will preside over first vespers in St. Peter's Basilica as is customary. According to a note from Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi, however, this will take place within a broader scope than usual. Vespers will be included in Sunday's "vigil for nascent life," in light of the beginning of Advent and the proximity of the Lord's Nativity.
Benedict XVI will not be the only one leading the vigil, as the initiative is being promoted through bishops' conferences throughout the world. A letter from Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and Cardinal Ennio Antonelli of the Pontifical Council for the Family has been sent to the bishops of the world to invite a similar celebration and prayer initiative on a local level throughout the Catholic Church.
Fr. Lombardi said through Vatican Radio that the events will take place "in spiritual union with the Holy Father, to promote the commitment and the ecclesial witness for a culture of life and love."
I was born in Galway, Ireland where I attended first Scoil Fhursa and then St Ignatius (Jesuit) College. My family moved to Cork in 1960 and I spent my last year at the Christian Brothers College in Mc Curtain street Cork (CBC).
I came to Dublin in 1963 where I met and married my wife Philomena. We have lived in Dublin since then and have been blessed with seven children and 17 grandchildren (so far). When I finished school I studied architecture through the professional institutions and I am a retired Member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (MRIAI). I also hold a BSc. in psychology and political philosophy.
I currently lobby pro-life and pro-family issues at the United Nations in New York and Geneva and occasionally at the European Parliament and Council of Europe. I am a member of the pro-life, pro-family coalition operating within the international institutions and I am a consultant to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children SPUC on UN and related matters.
Between 1978-85, as a married couple Philomena and I were involved in the presentation of Marriage Encounter Weekends and pre-marriage courses. We also represented Worldwide Marriage Encounter on a committee for the family in the Dublin Archdiocese. Between 1985-1988. I was appointed National Secretary and then President of the Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Association (CSPA). I have been lobbying pro-life issue at the UN for upwards of 12 years.
I am a past President of the National Association of Catholic Families (NACF)
Publications:
1997: Anthology of pro-life verse
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