By Cian Molloy - 30 October, 2017
The tragedy of Britain’s abortion regime was commemorated when the Pro-Life Campaign held a brief vigil outside the British Embassy on Friday to mark the 50th anniversary of the legalised killing of unborn children.
At the awareness raising event, Dr Ruth Cullen said that when the Westminster Parliament made abortion legal half a century ago, it was thought that the legislation was sufficiently restrictive to prevent abortion on demand. “Nobody envisaged that it would lead to a situation where one in every five pregnancies is now aborted and 200,000 abortions take place every year,” she said. “What it proves is there no such thing as ‘restrictive’ abortion law.”
Noting the strong campaign to repeal Ireland’s constitutional protection of unborn life, as contained in the Eighth Amendment, Dr Cullen said this campaign gave little consideration or acknowledgement to what an abortion regime would look like in practice.
“The Oireachtas Committee discussing the issue are totally ignoring this reality, despite the fact that they have a responsibility to scrutinise the impact the repeal would have on our society,” she said. “This very week, abortion provider Marie Stopes was exposed by the Care Quality Commission in England for giving bonuses to staff members who persuaded women to go through with abortions. One clinic was described by staff as a ‘cattle market’ with a ‘very target driven culture’.
“There has been evidence for years that abortion clinics operate like conveyor belts, trying to hit daily targets for the number of abortions performed. In the debate on abortion in Ireland at present, a noticeable effort is being made to suppress stories about the dark side of abortion in order to smoothly pave the way for repeal of the Eighth Amendment.”
Dr Cullen continued: “Regrettably, the Oireachtas Committee is leading the way in keeping this information under wraps. In turn, this is doing a huge disservice to women and their unborn babies. Today’s anniversary is a time for everyone to reflect on the enormity of what legalised abortion involves and the devastating impact it has on society and for the right to life.”
