More Public Meetings

Last week I drew your attention to a public meeting on ‘The Cost of Living and The Cost of Dying’ (sub-titled ‘why we can’t afford to ignore the inevitable’) that was held in Dublin as part of the Forum on End of Life in Ireland.

Three further, similar, public meetings are planned to take place during the coming week, as follows:

Galway:
TODAY – Radisson Hotel, Galway, 6.30 p.m.
Limerick:
Wednesday, 1 July – Clarion Hotel, Steamboat Quay, Limerick, 6.30 p.m.
Cork:
Thursday, 2 July – Gresham Metropole Hotel, MacCurtain Street, Cork, 6.30 p.m.

Please do your best to attend one of the abovementioned meetings, if at all possible.

It is interesting to note that Dr Deirdre Madden (Faculty of Law, University College Cork) will act as Chair of the Cork meeting. This is the lady who is foremost in the promotion of experimental research on human embryos. She was a member of the Irish Government-appointed Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction, and chairperson of the University Research Ethics Board at University College Cork when that institution voted to allow embryonic stem-cell research to be carried out at its premises.

At the Dublin meeting last week, one participant highlighted the fact that the HSE (Health Service Executive) had invited Prof Len Doyal, who is a noted proponent of euthanasia, to speak in Cork recently, and also that Prof Doyal advocates euthanasia as a ‘cost-cutting’ method in dealing with elderly and ill patients. The serious implications of this did not appear to impact greatly on those present at the meeting.

The representative of the Irish Hospice Foundation assured the participant that such a proposal would never be considered by the Foundation.

Nevertheless, bearing in mind the appalling statement made by the HSE recently in relation to people suffering from, for instance, spina bifida and scoliosis – together with the involvement of the HSE in the visit to Ireland by the euthanasia promoter Prof Doyal, and also the abortion of Irish babies in the UK – we will have to be on our guard in relation to the activities of the HSE.

A second leading article in the Irish Times (25 June 2009), commenting on the Forum on End of Life in Ireland, states: ‘ … the debate cannot expect to be untouched by calls for the legalisation of assisted euthanasia. No doubt the palliative care movement will prepare a trenchant rebuttal.’

Three flames

h/t to Love Undefiled for this thought-provoking film reflecting on the nature of love and how much contemporary society misunderstands it.

FertilityCare and NaPro Technology

I met Dr Phil Boyle at the SPUC National Conference some years ago and was very impressed by his presentation on the work of his Galway clinic. 800 children have now been born as a result of Dr Boyle's pioneering work. As one couple say on the film, this technology needs to be promoted nationwide - spread the word!

FertilityCare and NaProTechnology from Fertility Care on Vimeo.

h/t Love Undefiled

The HSE's shameful attitude towards disability

Ireland's Health Service Executive has come under a barrage of well-earned criticism, following its crass remarks about children with disabilities. The HSE has suggested that Ireland's high levels of Spina Bifida and other disabilities are the 'fault'of Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion. In other words the HSE has a problem with Ireland protecting its most vulnerable citizens and an even bigger problem with parents who have the audacity to bring disabled children into the world. Disability rights groups and parents of disabled children have reacted angrily to the comments, calling them "insensitive" and "disgraceful" but tragically, the HSE's appalling attitude towards disability is common among lawmakers and members of the medical establishment across Europe. Abortion has fuelled the eugenicist notion so popular among the Nazis that some lives are not worth protecting, and this view is being shamelessly propagated by those who claim to speak in the name of liberty.

The HSE should issue a full and public apology to the thousands of Irish citizens who are living with disabilities or caring for those with disabilities. Ireland has a pro-life constitution of which it should be proud, we remain one of the only countries in Europe to afford protection to the most vulnerable and innocent human lives. We have a duty to ourselves and to the world to continue to welcome and protect people with disabilities, the unborn and all sections of the population other countries regard as expendable.

Teengers tell the real story of abortion

h/t to Witness to Love for alerting my attention to this incredible website for teenagers considering abortion. Abortion promoters and providers such as FPA, BPAS and Marie Stopes International, bombard teenage girls with the message that abortion is a straightforward, morally neutral decision that will have no consequences other than leaving them feeling relieved and ready to get on with their lives. Teen Breaks allows teenagers who have been through abortion to tell the real story, which they do with harrowing honesty. To give you a few examples:

"It has been almost a year since the abortion, and it hits me every day. I regret it so much. Before you make a decision, think about whether it is worth the pain of only 9 month or the pain of a lifetime."

"They never told me about the depression, anger, anxiety, fears, and self-hatred that I would experience after the abortion. They didn't tell me I would lose sleep and my appetite for weeks or continue to be uneasy around babies, children, pregnant women and people in general because I thought I was such a terrible person. They never told me I'd hate myself, that I'd have suicidal thoughts. But the saddest thing for anyone affected by abortion - the saddest thing is that it's irreversible."

"The worst mistake of my life. I have always loved children, and to go to that sterile place just to come out barren…it feels awful. I cry every time I see someone close to where I would have been. It was my mistake, and I will have to live with it for the rest of my life. My baby, my angel I used to dream about…its gone now."

What is so painful about reading these accounts is that you are made constantly aware of the human consequences of the abortion industry's lies. It is so easy as a pro-life campaigner to see pro-abortion misinformation almost in academic terms, but these lies are costing thousands and thousands of innocent lives and damaging so many others. These young women are having their lives devastated before they have even left school. This is child abuse pure and simple. I applaud websites like this for reaching out to teenagers with the facts that might spare them the horror of abortion. They have a right to the truth. We should not just call ourselves the Pro-Life Movement. We are the Pro-Truth Movement.