Ireland

Some of our Irish friends stand to fight against the Irish government as it considers legalizing abortion for psychological reasons (when the woman threatens suicide).

Independed.ie reports that a pro-lifer recorded pro-abortion Irish legislators who secretly planned using suicide-excuse-abortion as a first step toward abortion-on-demand:

Dublin North Central TD Aodhan O Riordain said the X Case legislation was only "a starting point" but added that he said he would not state this publicly, while Wicklow TD Anne Ferris said that attempts to widen the legislation would commence in the next Government, should Labour remain in office.

Killing a baby cannot be justified on the mother’s psychological condition. So there is no need to discuss the slippery slope. “Unless you allow me to murder my baby, I’m going to kill both of us.” It’s absurd.

Yet, the slippery slope exists. The pro-abortion legislators are correct that once they get to kill babies for supposed suicidal ideation, why not because of other alleged psychological or emotional difficulties? If the Irish abandon the fact that human beings have a right to life based on their existence as human beings, they’ll start killing them for any reason whatsoever, as we do in the US.

Good news from Ireland. According RTE News Ireland:

The Irish Medical Organisation has rejected a motion supporting regulation of abortion in line with the X Case following a heated and emotive debate.

The "X Case" references a 1992 Ireland Supreme Court case where the pregnancy of a 14 year old statutory rape victim was supposedly causing her to be suicidal. “X” was an alias to protect the privacy of the minor girl. A Life Institute post describes the decision:

In a surprise verdict, the Supreme Court, by a split decision, delivered on March 5th [1992], held that the threat of suicide constituted a "real and substantial risk to the life of the mother"

The verdict was the equivalent of Roe v. Wade, opening the door for on-demand abortion. The Irish, showing themselves much wiser than Americans, ignored the ruling.

Back to the RTE report:

The AGM has also rejected abortion in the case of victims of rape or incest who become pregnant.

Doctors also rejected a call for legislation for abortion in the case of a woman with a non-viable foetal abnormality.

Wow, a medical organization that actually upholds the sanctity of human life. Dr. Booth, the President of the North Dakota Medical Association, should take note.

According to this article in The Economist, the Irish government is considering legalizing a “limited form of abortion”.

Here’s the opening statement from the article:

THE Irish Supreme Court ruled 21 years ago that abortion was legal if the risk that pregnancy might prompt suicide put the life of a woman in grave danger.... Yet successive governments ignored the court’s decision.

Like its US cousin, the Irish Supreme Court ignored its governing Constitution in an attempt to establish legalized abortion. But successive Irish governments have shown themselves far brighter than US state and federal governments. The Irish know that judicial activist rulings should be ignored.

In fact the government’s proposals will provide little more than a legal framework to underpin the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision. Yet the anti-abortion lobby resists even such a limited move, because it sees a new law as paving the way for a broader, more liberal regime. In the words of one Catholic bishop, the proposals mark the “first step on the road to a culture of death”.

The bishop is correct. Allowing baby-killing because of the mother’s mental state is nothing less than all out abortion-on-demand.

It’s a bit disturbing that the author attempts to undermine the legitimacy of Ireland’s abortion laws by referring to the European Court of Human Rights. That court isn’t about protecting human rights but trampling on them.  The court shares with most European countries complete support for killing unborn babies in the womb. Ireland should ignore such calls for a more “liberal” abortion regime.

The author also ignores inconvenient facts regarding the pregnant mother who died in Galway after a miscarriage. She may never have requested an abortion. Furthermore, in Ireland, treatment of pregnant mothers is legal, even when that treatment may involve removing the child or the death of the child. So, this case is simply a smoke screen under which pro-aborts move to advance their baby-killing agenda.