David Quinn
Katherine Zappone
Photo: Niall Carson/PA Ireland now backs abortion in the developing world, writes David Quinn
Most readers of this paper will remember a time when we used to have collections for the ‘black babies’. As insensitive as that term is by today’s standards, the intention behind the collection was good. We wanted to help African children in war-torn and famine-stricken parts of that continent.
Well, now we are doing something very different. We look set to fund abortions in Africa. That is, in some cases our money will be used not to help African children, but to fund their destruction while they are still in the womb.
The change in policy was flagged last week by Children’s Minister, Katherine Zappone. (Let the irony sink in for a moment that someone with that title launched such an initiative.)
Minster Zappone was attending a UN-organised event ahead of a summit in Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in November, to mark the 25th anniversary of the first International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo.
She told delegates at the summit that Ireland would be providing €350,000 in funding aimed at “making sure women can choose freely whether, when and how often to become pregnant”.
‘Good news’
Prominent abortion-rights campaigner Ailbhe Smyth welcomed the move. She said on Twitter: “Good news! Women in so very many countries desperately need reproductive health support and services including contraception and access to abortion.”
This was all happening in the same week that teenage eco-activist Greta Thunberg addressed the UN General Assembly in New York and chastised adults for bringing the planet closer to environmental catastrophe.
Population control and abortion have long been linked with saving the environment, and this attitude is becoming more widespread.
An American TV show called The Affair recently portrayed one woman chastising a clearly pregnant woman over the “carbon bomb” she was carrying in her womb. In other words, a baby is to be viewed simply as a threat to the environment.
Life imitates art, they say. As if to prove the point, a woman who is already the mother of two children and pregnant with a third told the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung of her plan to abort her baby rather than do further harm to the environment.
Our planned funding of overseas abortions has received almost no publicity”
When the first conference on population and development took place in Cairo in 1994, St John Paul II sent out a strong delegation which included the current Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. Their main task was to try and ensure that attempts to limit population growth did not include abortion.
At the UN last week, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State, reiterated the Holy See’s opposition to including abortion as part of ‘reproductive rights’.
Even at that Cairo summit, the Vatican could not count on Ireland as an ally even though we had only passed the Eighth Amendment barely a decade before.
You might have thought that 25 years ago Ireland could have been relied as one of the staunchest supporters of the unborn on the international stage, especially given the level of public support that once existed for the pro-life amendment. Not so, alas.
Contrast that with today. Now that the Eighth Amendment has been repealed, we have become a vocal supporter and, before too long, a funder of abortions overseas.
It shows how ‘official Ireland’ works. There might have been strong public support in Ireland for the right-to-life until fairly recent times, but this was never reflected in the Department of Foreign Affairs, not for decades at any rate. Therefore, at international summits we did not support the pro-life cause. Now we openly do the opposite.
Needless to say, our planned funding of overseas abortions has received almost no publicity because such a thing is now considered uncontroversial.
Meanwhile we had another march in Dublin last weekend demanding even more abortion ‘rights’. How is this possible, you may ask? Haven’t they already got all they wanted in last year’s thumping referendum win?
The march was organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign. They want to remove the three-day wait that must occur between a woman asking for an abortion and receiving one. They want the conscience rights of pro-life doctors and nurses removed so that no medic can refuse to perform or take part in an abortion.
They also want exclusion zones imposed on pro-life activists so that they cannot hold vigils outside hospitals and clinics where abortions take place or the abortion pill is prescribed.
They want the conscience rights of pro-life doctors and nurses removed so that no medic can refuse to perform or take part in an abortion”
Ultimately, they want there to be no restrictions whatever on abortion. Notably the likes of Amnesty International (no amnesty for the unborn, alas), and the National Women’s Council of Ireland took part in the march, which included some extremely obscene posters, let it be noted.
The Abortions Rights Campaign is also looking forward to the introduction of abortion to Northern Ireland. As many readers will know, this is due to take place after the end of next month, unless Stormont has been reconvened in the meantime, which looks very unlikely.
The British Houses of Parliament have voted to impose abortion directly on the North and the law will be even more permissive than our own.
This vote has been almost completely overshadowed by Brexit even though it is an incredibly significant move. Those normally opposed to direct rule, Sinn Fein for instance, are not voicing opposition to the imposition of abortion.
And so we can see that on multiple fronts, the culture of death is advancing in Ireland, and we are also now moving to impose it on the developing world as well, using public funds. Never was the pro-life movement more badly needed.