In the wake of the once-Catholic country of Ireland essentially signing its soul over to the secular forces of death and declaring abortion a constitutional right, the country’s pro-life forces have vowed to fight on.
Ireland’s referendum on May 25 divorced the nation from Catholicism for good, with 66% of the vote going in favor of repealing the Eighth Amendment protecting unborn children from an abortionist’s suction tube.
Part of the reason why the referendum passed so overwhelmingly is because Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, promised to allow abortion only in restrictive circumstances, such as in the first 12 weeks. Pro-life leaders have said they will hold him accountable if he violates that.
“We will hold the Taoiseach to his promise that repeal would only lead to abortion in very restrictive circumstances,” said Dr. Ruth Cullen, spokesperson of the LoveBoth campaign.
“He gave his word on this, now he must deliver on it. No doubt many people voted for repeal based on the Taoiseach’s promises in this regard,” Cullen told the Irish Catholic.
Pro-life activist Cora Sherlock, deputy chair of the Pro-life Campaign, does not think that PM Varadkar will hold to his promise and said prior to the vote last Friday that Ireland will eventually have unrestricted abortion.
“Tomorrow’s vote is about abortion on demand. It’s not restrictive, it’s not limited,” said Sherlock. “A vote for repeal would introduce abortion laws more extreme than the law in Britain where 1 in 5 babies are lost to abortion.”
“We now have to hold the government to what they have said, that they want to see a situation where abortion will be rare,” Sherlock told Reuters.
Sherlock told the Irish Independent that she was “very, very upset” by the vote, vowing to regroup for the pro-life movement’s next move.
“I will accept the will of the Irish people, at the same time I will make it very clear what I feel of the campaign that has taken place,” she said. “We will now regroup and find out what our next move is.”
Even though the proposed legislation will allegedly stop abortion at 12 weeks, pro-lifers said they will not stop until a day comes when the 8th returns.
“We will oppose that legislation,” John McGuirk of Save the 8th campaign noted in a statement Saturday. “If and when abortion clinics are opened in Ireland, because of the inability of the government to keep their promise about a GP-led service, we will oppose that as well.”
Irish-American founder Chris Slattery of the New York-based Expectant Mothers Care, urged his fellow countrymen to set up centers in Ireland that give women helpful alternatives to abortion.
Human Life International Ireland described the referendum as “a day when we, as a nation, have rejected God by rejecting the unborn children He will gift us with – little ones, made in His image and likeness,” in a Saturday statement from executive director Patrick McCrystal.
“There has been an unprecedented amount of prayer and fasting in the build-up to this moment from the remnant of the faithful in this country, and around the world. We have repented. We have wept for the sins of our people, and we are convinced that the Lord has heard our prayers,” McCrystal wrote.
“We must endure this pain as a purification for our collective sins and then we must step forward in total faith that the Lord will rescue His beloved people. Following the crucifixion is the resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” he added.
“With God’s help, as a nation, we will rise again.”