Dear Editor, Well done to the Pro-Life Campaign for organising the ‘Celebrate the 8th’ event to promote the positive stories of children born thanks to the protection of the constitutional amendment (IC 19/05/2016 Meet ‘Generation 8th’).
Unfortunately we have a very biased media in this country, so we only ever hear one side of this debate. I am so sick of hearing abortion advocates, politicians, celebrities etc. all coming up with the same clichéd line of how they support the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. It has become some kind of thoughtless mantra. Do they even know the wording of the amendment?
It says: “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right”. It equally protects the life of the mother and child. It does not suggest the life of the child in the womb is more important than the mother, but that it deserves an equal chance at life “as far as practicable” without endangering the mother.
I plan to attend the ‘Celebrate the 8th’ event in Dublin on June 4 and I hope other people make the effort to have their presence felt too. We need to demonstrate that the talking heads in the media do not represent the majority of opinion across the country. The Eighth Amendment was adopted after a 67% majority vote in the 1983 referendum, the same-sex marriage referendum last year was passed following a 62% majority. Does one percentage represent Ireland more than the other? I appreciate that many years have passed between the two referendums, but the idea being pushed from some quarters that the country has changed its mind on the issue of the right to life because it has approved same-sex marriage is just ludicrous! Please take this opportunity to make your opinion known.
Yours etc.,
Martina Flanagan,
Salthill,
Co. Galway.