In a move described by pro-life campaigners as “unbelievably hypocritical”, Irish politician Clare Daly expressed her support last week for an extension of legal protection for animals, while at the same time insisting that Ireland’s abortion laws must be further liberalised.
While speaking on a Bill that would outlaw stag hunting and hare coursing, Daly described these practices as “barbaric” and “shocking” before then going on to demand that it is time that Irish law allowed for abortion to take place in the case of an unborn baby who is seriously ill.
As LifeNews reported, Daly’s latest proposal would allow an amendment to the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act 2013 so that abortion can be made freely available where unborn babies are diagnosed with a life-limiting condition.
Her Bill will be voted on in the Irish Parliament this Tuesday, following last week’s speeches by Irish politicians which were truly shocking in their tone. Far from discussing whether ending the lives of terminally-ill unborn babies should be something that is allowed in Irish law, the debate centred instead around how best to achieve this aim.
As has been the case when this topic has arisen in the Parliament previously, there was little mention of the dire need for the State to put proper resources into establishing and promoting perinatal hospices. This is despite the fact that abortion recovery group Women Hurt say that they are contacted by many families who travelled to Britain for an abortion following a diagnosis of terminal illness, only to discover on their return that they would have been able to deliver their baby in an Irish hospital, so having the opportunity to spend whatever time they can as a family.
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The debates on this Bill have glossed over many other facts, not least the issue of misdiagnosis. While Daly and her colleagues who promote this Bill spoke only of the “absolute certainty” that babies diagnosed with life-limiting conditions in utero will die, no consideration was given to the fact that doctors really have no way of knowing how long the baby in question will live. They could live for months and even years after birth and there are many cases internationally and in Ireland to prove this point.
The families of the children in question have given moving testimonies about the precious time that they had with their child, how they were able to make memories that helped with the grieving process when their child eventually passed away. Their testimonies are simply being ignored in the Irish debate at present.
Pro-life campaigners in Ireland are under no illusions about the real purpose of Tuesday’s Bill. Clare Daly is honest enough to admit that she is in favour of abortion on demand with no restrictions. This Bill is about singling out the most vulnerable members of Irish society – critically ill unborn children – and identifying them as humans not worthy of the protection of Irish law. It is a shameful step in a strategy intended to gradually chip away at all remaining legal protection for the unborn in Ireland.
