Dear Editor,
I am writing as an African woman recently settled in Ireland. I think the Irish media should have reflected a greater diversity of views on the Eighth Amendment. A priority seemed to have been given to white Irish women. There is a significant number of black, Asian and other ethnic minority communities who seemed silent. Other vulnerable people who were not fully engaged with were people with mental health issues and those with various genetic disabilities.
As the ‘Yes’ campaign for abortion on demand celebrated, some mentioned the words ‘choice’, ‘victory’ and ‘progress’. I have been left struggling to understand what kind of choice and justice encourages a woman to shout “victory” when given the ‘right’ to kill her unborn child up to 12 weeks for any reason. I use the word ‘kill’ because in my native language that is the word we use. We do not have words for termination or abortion.
Some ‘Yes’ campaigners argued about cases of rape and incest. I wonder if they could be compassionate to the unborn child, as two wrongs do not make it ri ght.
‘Yes’ voters, please learn to be humble because the occasion surrounding abortion is tragic to everyone. Take time to think about your brave grandmothers, mothers, daughters who made the decision to keep the child, and are reliving their past lives.
Most importantly to that child, let them know that that they are loved by their Creator, whose only love is what matters. The ‘No’ vote campaigners, your work has just begun because those unborn babies need your prayers. What could be more important than to save a soul? Continue to wear your ‘Love Both’ , ‘Pro-Life’ T-shirts etc. to remind, not just Ireland but the world to cherish life.
Yours etc.,
Dr Margareth Rungarara- Keenan
Abbeylara, Co. Longford
Time to get real and offer realistic supports
Dear Editor,
The pro-life movement now has two choices: to try and reverse a result that is in all likelihood irreversible, or it can seek to work to try and dissuade those who feel the need to procure an abortion from getting one. Arguably this is what we should have been doing in the first place. While we technically had little or no abortion in the country until last week, 3000 abortions were performed on Irish women each year, and God knows how many more were provided via illegal abortion pills.
The Eighth Amendment did not mean there was no abortion. While that does not mean it should have been removed, it is an issue the pro-life movement failed to really grapple with.
We need to support women who get pregnant and who feel unsupported. We need to work to alleviate poverty. We need to eradicate abusive relationships. We need to make Ireland a country where no women feels she cannot bring a child into the world.
I see this tragedy as an opportunity. Instead of pouring the funding we spent trying to keep a law that didn’t really work, we can spend it on schemes to try and drive down the desire for abortion. Abortion on demand may not have been in Ireland until recently, but 3,000 Irish babies were aborted each and every year.
Yours etc.,
Darragh McDonagh
Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo.
Let’s always remember that not everyone voted ‘Yes’
Dear Editor,
Following the repeal of the Eighth Amendment and as the Oireachtas prepares to enact a final solution for the unwanted unborn children of Ireland, it is some consolation to know that 723,632 voters did stand up for the right to life of the most innocent and defenceless.
Yours etc.,
David Ryan, FRCSI.,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.
Abstaining was a choice to facilitate a great crime
Dear Editor,
It is generally accepted that voluntarily ending a life, in any of its diverse forms, by any myriad of ways, is morally unacceptable. Equally, it is also generally accepted that members of a democracy are free to choose, consequently enjoying the numerous rewards or suffering the countless costs of our choices.
Now that we have chosen to repeal the Eighth, abortion will become a tolerable Irish norm. As a result, every Irish taxpayer will knowingly, perhaps unwillingly or unwittingly, fund, directly or indirectly, a form of contemporary genocide hitherto unseen, thereby ultimately, and morally, incriminating ourselves in perpetuity.
Collective crime and collective guilt are not new phenomena. This dreadful malady was attributed to the German public for their backing of Hitler, and their active participation and support for World War II. The Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt, issued in 1945, is evidence of this reality.
Catholic or not, the unnecessary killing of one baby, not to mention thousands, by the HSE, using our tax contributions as a weapon, enrols us as members of a lawless organisation, therefore confirming our guilt.
In common law states, if a person is a member of a lawless organisation, and other members of that same organisation commit an offence, each and every member of that organisation is culpable, though the offence committed was beyond the knowledge, without the consent, or active participation of each member; all members are guilty by association.
We should not have been apathetic about the recent referendum either. Abstaining was a choice to facilitate the initiation of the greatest crime of our times, a crime made possible with our money.
The real question was: are we members, who are pro-choice but anti-abortion, willing to conspire with others, who are pro-choice and pro-abortion, to complicity fund the unending killing of innocents in our name?
Yours etc.,
Richard Stanley,
Carrickmines, Dublin 18.
It’s time to teach the joy of Faith all over again
Dear Editor,
It hurts very much to say this, but watching the joy on the faces of the repeal campaigners on Saturday when the referendum result was announced, made me realise that Ireland is a (pagan) nation once again. Our political representatives, with a few brave exceptions, could not hide their glee with the result. The Oireachtas is no longer a parliament fit for purpose, but a pagan temple.
But we can take hope from this setback. We now have time, science and Our Lord on our side. Times are changing, and the pro-life cause is gaining strength around the world; science has progressed to the point where the horror of abortion is now visible to all; and God, in allowing this referendum to happen, has done so for his own plan, out of which only good can arise.
Do not be disheartened. We must be the new Patricks (and, in this politically correct world, Patricias) and begin to teach the joy of Faith in Our Lord to our pagan neighbours again. Through prayer and hard work, we will win this war, defeat the evil monsters now walking our land and be proud to be say Ireland is pro-life again.
Yours etc.,
John Austin
Limavady,
Co. Derry.
We don’t have to sit back and let things happen
Dear Editor,
My friends who voted “Yes” in the referendum, did so in response to the difficult cases which were highlighted throughout the campaign. They are opposed to liberal abortion. Indeed we were constantly reassured that the Irish abortion regime would be restrictive and would not open the “floodgates” which have been a feature of other countries.
Now that virtually unlimited power in regard to the unborn is being “conferred” on our public representatives, there are at least two things we can do:
- We can, if we have not already done so, join the pro-life movement at local or national level. In the US and elsewhere they have won many victories against liberal abortion laws.
- We can also make clear to our politicians that we want them to question and challenge every line of proposed abortion legislation.
In Ireland, animals are protected by law from cruelty and unnecessary suffering. Our unborn children are deserving of a least the same level of dignity and protection.
Yours etc.,
Eamon Fitzpatrick.
Sligo,
Co. Sligo.