Irish Catholic Bishop William Crean warned voters that Ireland quickly could lose concern for the unborn if they vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment.
Crean, who serves the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, sent a letter to the parishes recently urging them to consider the consequences of repealing the pro-life amendment, according to the Evening Echo.
In other countries where abortion is legal, Crean said the killing of unborn babies has become “routine.”
“The destruction of unborn lives has not just become legal but also taken for granted and routine,” he wrote. “Do we wish to create a society whereby we are desensitized to the destruction of the unborn?
“When something is legalised, in the eyes of many, it is morally acceptable. When we lose sensitivity to care for the unborn we risk becoming equally insensitive to the frail and elderly,” he continued.
On May 25, Ireland is scheduled to vote on whether to retain its Eighth Amendment, which protects unborn babies’ right to life. Abortion activists, backed by some of the world’s richest men, are pushing the pro-life country to legalize abortion on demand.
Pro-lifers estimate that the Eighth Amendment has saved approximately 100,000 unborn babies’ lives from abortion.
Crean pleaded with voters to educate themselves about abortion and ponder the matter carefully before voting.
“This entails taking time and effort to ensure that our conscience is properly informed. In the absence of this process, we risk arriving at a decision that is superficial and poorly grounded,” he wrote.
“For example, there are many people of faith and practice who feel that while they personally are pro-life they do not wish to stand in the way of those who believe that abortion is morally acceptable. On what grounds can one justify collusion with actions that you find morally repugnant? On what basis can you justify facilitating actions that in conscience you believe to be wrong?” Crean continued.
Here’s more from the report:
Bishop Crean said that there are “wolves masquerading as sheep” in the debate, accusing some yes campaigners of sowing “seeds of confusion by way of inviting the confused to trust them because ‘they know best’.”
He said that “difficult and tragic pregnancies” are dealt with under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, which currently governs access to abortion in Ireland and that people started the debate talking about those cases, but have now moved beyond them.
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“What is now proposed is light years away from very rare and restricted circumstances to a proposal that provides for termination of perfectly viable pregnancies. I detect sinister intentions at work here,” he said.
If the amendment is repealed, government leaders plan to push a proposal to legalize abortion for any reason up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and later in a broad range of circumstances.
Pro-life advocates have been working hard against a biased media, celebrities like Liam Neeson and U2 and huge, illegal donations from rich American businessmen who are intent on pushing Ireland to adopt abortion on demand. Pro-life volunteers have been knocking on doors across Ireland to save the Eighth Amendment and thousands of unborn babies’ lives.
Many of their efforts at outreach have been met with hostility and vandalism by abortion activists. Last week, an abortion activist allegedly assaulted a pro-lifer in Galway as he was attempting to hang up a poster.
Two polls this spring show the pro-abortion campaigners are losing ground. Still, support for abortion is higher than opposition. In April, the Business Insider reported 47 percent of Irish voters now say they will vote to repeal the pro-life Eighth Amendment – down 9 points from an earlier poll. According to the poll, 28 percent will vote to retain the pro-life amendment, and 20 percent are undecided.
