Nuala O’Loan
The View
I always like to keep my Christmas decorations up until the feast of the Epiphany. The 12 days of Christmas are a very important time, and indeed in many countries gifts are not exchanged until January 6 – recognition of the fact that we commemorate on this day the arrival of the three kings bearing gifts.
Our little twin grandchildren, Cristian and Lua, who live in Spain, know Christmas day as the day when the birth of the baby Jesus is celebrated, and the morning of January 6, ‘el Día de Reyes’, as the day when the Three Kings, ‘los Reyes Magos’, bear presents for all the children, just as they brought presents to the baby Jesus. They wait in excited anticipation for los Reyes Magos.
How different it is here. Christmas has gone now. It has seemed sometimes to be a solely secular occasion – religious Christmas cards and artefacts are no longer generally available, decorations include Christmas trees, holly, penguins – and polar bears – but not the baby Jesus, and the sales start before Christmas and are well under way by Boxing Day!
At this time in January, having packed away our Christmas treasures, we are left with memories, hopefully of a good Christmas and must face into the gloom of January and February. I don’t like January, the darkest coldest month of the year.
Reality
Of course the reality is that in these long, cold, days when we are limited by the weather in what we can do, we have an opportunity to go on celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus, his childhood and his early days in ministry in our hearts.
We have a little more time to ponder on these things, and to try, through prayer, to deepen our relationship with Jesus, his mother Mary, his Father, and the Holy Spirit. This is a great opportunity to cherish the dark days for the time they ensure we have, whether we use it in prayer or not.
However, as I write this before Christmas, I am pondering the fact that abortion, the killing of a child in its mother’s womb, is to become lawful in Ireland on January 1. Mothers will be able to turn up at their GP’s surgery and demand an abortion without question if their pregnancy is of less than 12 weeks duration.
I still do not understand how Ireland had got to this place. I do not understand how people, most of whom grew up learning about Mary’s pregnancy and the delivery of the baby Jesus, came to regard unborn babies as an expendable inconvenience.
That is how it is though. I do not understand either how the members of the Dáil could refuse those amendments aimed at issues such as alleviating the pain of the unborn child as it is aborted, or giving medical practitioners of all kinds a right not to engage with abortion.
As Ireland refuses to recognise the right of freedom of conscience in such a profound matter as the killing of an unborn child in the womb, what hope is there that Ireland will ever again recognise a real and true exercise of the right of conscience in other matters?
As pharmacists are compelled to prescribe abortion pills, as doctors are forced by law to refer to others those who seek an abortion, they have no proper protection for their freedom of conscience. Does Ireland no longer value, through its laws, the ability to hold a view and provide public services based on ethics rather than expediency?
Ireland could have done this differently. It could have invited the abortion companies which operate in other countries, to come into Ireland. Of course in England and Wales Marie Stopes charge £560 for an abortion plus £42 if the abortion is carried out over the weekend. GPs in Ireland are to be paid €450.
So the Irish Government has clearly worked out that it will be cheaper to make GPs nurses, midwives and pharmacists play this role, despite the fact that so many of them have publicly articulated their unwillingness to be involved in a procedure which, in most cases, is not a medical matter nor a healthcare issue.
The question for Ireland, in the widespread absence of training, scanning machines, proper procedures, information, sufficient counselling and aftercare services, must be, why is Ireland rushing ahead despite the risk to mothers identified by the Irish Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on December 8?
Abortion leaves its mark on many of those who decide not to carry their child to birth. Some 10% of women taking abortion pills require medical help. Abortion is not risk free, especially in the later stages of pregnancy. In addition to this post-traumatic stress syndrome and post abortion distress have been identified as risks, even in ‘liberal’ societies such as the Netherlands and Sweden for years now.
What provision is being made for such women in a society in which all health services are under enormous pressure, which there is a significant shortage of medical practitioners, and in which mental health services seem to be viewed as less important than other services?
Ireland is in a very difficult place. We must pray that women will not make the choice for abortion, and do all we can to facilitate the mother in carrying her child.
We must support as best we can those of our medical practitioners who, in conscience, cannot engage in any way with the delivery of abortion. Ireland cannot afford to lose a single doctor, nurse, midwife or pharmacist.
Her people need them to care for them in all the medical crises and difficulties which they face.