Colm Fitzpatrick
Pro-life student Gavin Boyne Colm Fitzpatrick speaks with pro-life voice Gavin Boyne
Discussions concerning abortion can often lead to empty rhetoric rife with misleading information, but a new media initiative is providing a platform where Irish voters can learn the real facts about this issue, and hopefully share them with others.
Our Future is an online resource for younger voters that tackles the key talking points of the upcoming May referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment. It provides a young, secular, and powerful voice for keeping the constitutional provision, and attempts to present its arguments in a plain-fact based way.
Commenting on the origins of the media campaign, Our Future spokesperson Gavin Boyne (20) said: “It was set up because we are pro-life and what we’ve seen is an attack on the most fundamental human right – the right to life – and that is an attack on the unborn child as well.
“It was set up also because there’s a lot of misinformation out there and it’s very hard for the undecided voter – the middle ground – to really come down on a side because you have one side saying one thing and you have another side saying another thing. So that was really the motivation behind Our Future, to get the facts out and get the young people involved in the vote.”
Clear message
The campaign begins with a clear message – “Don’t Vote Blind” – a call to action for younger voters to learn more about the issues they’re being asked to vote on this May. The website outlines what the Eighth Amendment is, arguments for repealing it, as well as comprehensive objections to these arguments.
According to Gavin, who is a Trinity College philosophy student and atheist, people are more likely to engage with this topic when the facts are clear cut and even though it is aimed at reluctant pro-choice voters and those on the fence, people who are pro-life can also learn how to better vocalise their own arguments and share them with friends and family. The ultimate goal of the campaign is for a majority ‘No’ vote in the May referendum.
“We want to get the undecided – the middle ground –we want to get them to vote no. We want to present them with the actuality of what a repeal might entail. As I said again, there’s a lot of misinformation and we want to clarify the misinformation. We want to give people the actual facts, for example, what the Eighth Amendment actually does,” Gavin told The Irish Catholic.
“The Eighth Amendment has created a society in Ireland where everybody is protected equally, but what happens if that is removed, what we’re going to see in Ireland is a country where some lives matter more than others, and we see Ireland as a country and place for everyone. We see Ireland as a place where there is a future for everyone hence the name Our Future.”
A central focus of the campaign, which also extends to media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, is to dispel misinformation that impinges upon how the electorate will vote. For example, the common misbelief that the Eighth Amendment prohibits doctors from providing necessary healthcare to pregnant women, or that women can’t seek medical assistance in Ireland after having procured an abortion elsewhere.
“You’ve had a lot of people saying a lot of things from the pro-choice side that actually endanger people, such as, a woman if she’s had an abortion in the UK cannot seek out help here in Ireland. Imagine after an abortion, the woman had a complication, and she was under the illusion that she couldn’t seek help here in Ireland. That’s extremely dangerous to women and this is coming from the side proclaiming this is for women, this is helping women. What we really want to do is spell the kind of mistruths the pro-choice side have been pushing to win the referendum,” Gavin said.
He added that the Our Future campaign is not focused on pushing a particular side, but simply wants to address the “main issues” surrounding the referendum and give clear-cut information that will accurately inform the public.
“The results of this vote could potentially stretch extremely far into Irish culture. We really want people to be informed as it could greatly affect Irish culture and introduce an abortion culture into Ireland, which is devastating when you look at what abortion actually is. We don’t want that here.”
For Gavin, the topic of abortion is an “emotional and evocative” issue, especially for young people as can be evinced from the notable input of student politics on the referendum in Irish universities.
“It really has hit home with a lot of young people. And we want young people to be truly informed as to what young people are voting for. Most college campuses are fervently pro-choice and what comes along with that is a whole line of rhetoric and blatant lies to try and push their agenda,” Gavin said.
“So, what we’re trying to do here is engage with young people, show them black and white, this is what the Eighth Amendment is, this is what a repeal might entail.”
When asked whether there were any pro-choice arguments that he found convincing, Gavin replied that he initially found the issue of a woman bearing a child conceived through rape to be particularly striking but as he researched more into this issue, he realised the answer to this problem is not abortion but better support for women.
“I look at this issue from two perspectives. The first perspective is you have the rape – you have the crime –and then you have the result which is an unborn child. By all means punish the rapist to the fullest extent of the law and if the law needs extending, so be it extended.
“But at the end of the day, there is an unborn child here, and the unborn child does have a right to life. In fact, it’s the only right that the unborn child has currently as per the Supreme Court ruling,” Gavin said, adding that abortion isn’t the only solution to an unwanted pregnancy.
As the debate on removing the Eighth Amendment from the Constitution becomes more heated, the Our Future campaign hopes that by presenting the realities of repeal, rather than soundbites, people will become more concerned about the introduction of abortion to Ireland. This concern will hopefully manifest itself in debates and conversations, ultimately ensuring that the “most vulnerable in our society, their voices, are protected”.
For more information about Our Future, see: https://www.ourfuture.ie/the-case-for-repeal/