Blessington True compassion means care for mother and baby
“There is no other action with a human victim to which we would consider turning a blind eye”
On May 25 we will cast a vote that really is a matter of life or death. The Government wants to convince us that what they are proposing is the only way to care for women in crisis pregnancies. This is totally untrue. Offering abortion on demand is an easy way out for the Government. True compassion involves accompanying, supporting, and providing resources for women to protect them and their unborn child.
The Government is telling us that its proposals are to deal with hard cases. Again, this is totally untrue. They are proposing completely unrestricted abortion up to three months in pregnancy, and abortion up to six months on the broad, poorly defined ground of ‘mental health’. The mental health grounds accounts for 97% of the 185,000 abortions per year in Britain. The Government’s proposed abortion law even allows for abortion up to birth (i.e. without time limits) in certain cases, which again aren’t clearly defined.
Make no mistake about it, this referendum is an extreme proposal. The Government could have proposed something much more limited and restrictive, but it chose abortion on demand and abortion up to birth instead.
The Government wants us to ‘catch up’ with the rest of Europe, but when I look at what happens in other abortion regimes, I’m horrified. In 2016, in England and Wales, the life of one child was ended for every four born. Nine out of ten children diagnosed as having Down syndrome had their potential snuffed out. 177 children had their lives ended because they had spina bifida, nine because they had a cleft lip, and 48 because they were twins. That’s what a ‘yes’ vote in our referendum will lead to. The international evidence is there, we can’t bury our heads in the sand.
During conversations about the upcoming referendum, I’ve heard some friends say something like the following: ‘I could never have an abortion, but I don’t want to impose my personal views on other women.’
At first it seems like an understandable position. But I when I ask my friends why they’re against abortion, they reply along the lines of, ‘Because abortion takes the life of an innocent human being.’ They’re right of course. Most of them have seen ultrasound scans of babies in the womb. They understand human genetics so they know that the child in the womb is a human individual. They are aware that an unborn child has a beating heart at only three weeks after conception, has developed all her vital organs by the time she is 12 weeks old, and by this stage kicks and yawns in the womb.
But when we know all this we must realise that killing this little human being is not simply a matter of choice. There is no other action with a human victim to which we would consider turning a blind eye. If we knew a child was being trafficked, we would never leave the trafficker to it.
True compassion means showing care towards both mother and baby. Abortion on demand isn’t caring. Abortion on demand has nothing to do with healthcare. It is the opposite of healthcare in fact, because it ends life. If this referendum passes, our GPs’ clinics will become abortion clinics and our doctors will become abortionists. Hospital theatres will be used to carry out surgical abortions, where the child is vacuumed out into a bag or else dismembered and scraped out into a dish. That’s what a “yes” vote means in practice. There is nothing compassionate about abortion, and advocates for abortion have no right to claim to be compassionate.
“Yes” campaigners don’t like talking about the reality of legalised abortion. Instead they talk about other issues, like how abortion pills are being imported into Ireland. But abortion pills are constantly being imported into England too, and it already has abortion on demand. Making abortion on demand legal does not stop the use of imported abortion pills.
‘Yes’ campaigners also avoid legitimate questions by claiming that the referendum is necessary to save women’s lives. This is totally untrue, as five former chairpersons of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists confirmed in the past few days. Ireland without abortion is one of the very safest countries in the world for pregnant women.
On May 25, we have an opportunity to stand up for humanity and against an extreme, abortion on demand proposal. The truly humane vote is a ‘No’ vote.