Spiritual Crusade for the defence of unborn life

It is abundantly clear that the entire process leading up to the decision to hold a referendum was weighted in favour of a pro-abortion agenda. It was also abundantly clear, to anyone who was watching, that pro-life arguments have been ignored, rubbished or stifled however we are determined to oppose this one-sided process and to get the truth to every household in Ireland and to every citizen, prior to the May Referendum. Many groups and individuals are committed to door to door canvassing to spread the word.

For our part we believe that it is not appropriate in any civilised society to cast votes on who should live and who should die, accordingly we have launched various initiatives to oppose this appalling  culture of death and to uphold the right to life of unborn babies 

First we prepared an explanatory video in conjunction with the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC)  which can be found on this link

Apart from the necessity of door to door canvassing the task before us is in our opinion primarily a spiritual battle so we launched our first Spiritual Crusade last year. This consisted of a 54 day fast which commenced on November 1st and finished on Christmas Eve with six nominated people fasting for 9 days each on a water only fast Others were invited to join in prayer and fasting for the protection of unborn life and the retention of the 8th Amendment.

Hundreds of people from all over Ireland North and South, the UK, Canada and the US joined with to pray for the protection of the unborn. We Completed our first Spiritual Crusade with a pro-life Mass in the Church of St Kevin Harrington Street Dublin on the Feast of the Holy Innocents.

We are now commencing our second Spiritual Crusade our lenten campaign beginning on Ash Wednesday and finishing at Easter.
We hope to finish this second Spiritual Crusade with Mass in St Kevins In Harrington Street  on the Feast of the Annunciation which will be celebrated this year on Monday April 9th.

The right to life is non negotiable

Fundamental human rights such as the right-to-life are non-negotiable. The right to life can never be subject to a vote.  The very idea of casting votes on who should be allowed to live and who should die is anathema.

Based on sound science, human embryos, from the moment of fertilisation, are new living human beings.  To use the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 we are all members of the “human family”.

From the moment of fertilisation we all share a common humanity and 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 and and we call on all elected members of the Oireachtas to outrightly reject all demands for the holding of a referendum on the right to life of unborn babies

Holding such a referendum would open the way for the elimination of the legal protection of the right-to-life and, consequently, to the killing of many of Ireland’s unborn children by abortion.

Accordingly a petition is being circulated to the general public for signature and will ultimately be sent to all members of the Oireachtas appealing to them on behalf of the people of Ireland to reject all calls to hold a referendum on the repeal, or alteration, of the pro-life Eighth Amendment.

To access the appeal click on the following link

  http://www.nodeath.ie

ELN submission to Citizens' Assembly

European Life Network in a submission to the Citizens' Assembly has appealed for the retention of the 8th amendment and has included a link to the video prepared in conjunction with the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children as set out below

Appeal to uphold and cherish the 8^th Amendment: with video link

European Life Network calls on the Citizens’ Assembly to uphold the 8th Amendment and reject all attempts to legalise the killing of unborn children. In support of this appeal, we have prepared a video presentation (produced in partnership with the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children) featuring Irish people, and people of Irish descent, with specialised knowledge and personal experience of these issues. We ask the Assembly to view this video, available here: 

https://www.spuc.org.uk/news/videos/new/2016/november/act-now-protect-ireland-pro-life-8th-amendment

Despite false claims, the 8th Amendment simply recognises that unborn babies have a right to life equal to that of their mothers. Ireland’s maternal health record, among the best in the world, also reflects the fact that Irish doctors are trained to treat a mother and her unborn child as two equal patients. 

In this presentation, Raymond Cardinal Burke argues that a clause similar to the 8th Amendment should be in the constitution of every nation. He notes the dedication of Ireland’s Constitution to “the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom, is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred”. Through this dedication, Ireland provides a great example of a correctly ordered society.

Dr Patrick Fagan (Director of Marriage and Religion Research Institute) argues that when a nation starts to eliminate pain and suffering by eliminating people, there is no logical place to draw a line. Even limited relaxation of abortion law leads inevitably to widespread abortion. In the UK, the Abortion Act 1967, was not intended to introduce abortion on demand. Fifty years on, more than 8.4 million babies have been aborted. 

Evidence shows that abortion is physically and psychologically damaging, no matter where it takes place. Bernadette Goulding (Director of Rachel’s Vineyard, Ireland) who had an abortion herself, describes the trauma millions of women around the world have experienced following abortion. 

Former MEP’s Dana Rosemary Scallon and Kathy Sinnott highlight the huge international pressure on Ireland to introduce abortion.

Kathy Sinnott contrasts the terminal decline of European states as a result of low birthrates with the situation in Ireland. The repeal of the 8th Amendment would propel Ireland towards a similar demographic collapse. She also argues that seeking to dispose of children with life-limiting conditions or serious disabilities is modern day eugenics. 

Rebecca Kiessling, who was conceived in a violent rape, challenges the inherent injustice of punishing innocent babies for the crimes of their biological fathers.

Cliona Johnson tells the heart-rending story of her son John Paul who lived 17 minutes after birth. Their story offers a truthful and inspiring account of authentic compassion for the most vulnerable of all – unborn babies deemed “incompatible with life”.

Finally, the video calls on the Irish diaspora to speak out now and to encourage the nation to maintain its pro-life culture that is identified and admired worldwide.