Greg DalyPro-life campaigners have described as “blatant hypocrisy” calls for an end to Ireland’s constitutional protection of unborn children with life-limiting conditions in the same weeks special Olympians returned home in triumph.
Cora Sherlock of the Pro-Life Campaign (PLC) told The Irish Catholic it was hard to fathom that on one hand there are “news reports that welcome home the Special Olympics teams for their great successes in Los Angeles and at the same time a couple of pieces in newspapers this week putting the case for the repeal of the eighth amendment in the case of babies diagnosed with disabilities”.
She insisted that “our tradition in Ireland is to welcome everybody regardless of their ability and to support them to achieve their full potential, and the eighth amendment supports that positive and life-affirming aim”.
Her comments came on the same day that Fine Gael councillor Kate O’Connell said on Newstalk’s Pat Kenny Show that she believed that abortion should be legal in Ireland during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
Eighty percent of Britain’s more than 180,000 annual abortions take place during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, and it is believed that at least 90% of British couples expecting babies with Down’s syndrome opt for abortions.
Irish special Olympians won a total of 82 medals in this year’s world games in the US.