fr

the newsletter
of the ProLifeCatrnpaign -)
I
Yrl \ nI WINTER 2044,'2005

Th eP roL i f eC a m p a igi sn
a non-d e n o m i n a t iloonbably
gro up,d r a w i nigt ss u p p o rt
froma widecross-section
::::
:::::
of lrishsociety. 1_l

S i n e a dG l e e s o na n d C o r aS h e r l o c k
1_ Cam p a i gpnr o m o te s a t t h e r e c e n tP L CA G M .

pro -lifeed u c a t i oann d

de f ends h u m a nl i f ea t al l Building
a culture
of lifeinvolves socialtrendsandthattakestime.
changing
sta g e fsro mc o n c e p ti o n Tostaythecourse. we must pace Thepro-life
ourselves. community is herefor
t o n a t u radle a t h . thelonghaul.We needcourage andstrength
to climbbackup afterthesetbacks
alongtheway.
I t a ls oc a m p a i g nf osr
r es ourcet oss u p p o r t Butwe alsoneedthe r-rnwarrering theincredible
us pergsilTp
hopeiha.ta.llou,s
positivedevelopments breakingoutworldwide. Thedenialof theunborn,thewhole
anda s s i spt r e g n a nwtome n
rationalefor legalisedabortion, likea punctured
is deflating balloon.
EvenDavid
an dt h o s ei n n e e do f
Steele, architect
of Britain's
AbortionAct,nowacknowledges thelawneeds
healing aft e ra b o r t i o n .
changing. it didn'tturnoutas he expected.ln theUS,too,theabortionlobby
-
is on thedefensiveCongress hasbanned partial
birthabortion.

As a recentarticlein theEconomist acknowledged, "thepro-life

movement has
repeatedly out-manoeuvred theotherside.,.A decade ago,pro-lifers
wereseen
as cranks...Todaythepicture is verydifferent."
lt citesrecentsurveysof college
freshmen in theUSshowing a marked decrease in supportforlegalisedabortion.
Thetideis turning
there.Andwhat'shappening theretodayhappens heretomorrow.

Notthatwe shouldunderestimate thechallengesahead. Thethreats arenumerous

andreal,ranging frompossible
legalchallenges protection
to theconstitutional of
theunborn childto thefunding
of destructive
research on livinghumanembryos.
Yet,thepositive international
developmentsstrengthen ourability
to meetthe
challenges hereat home.Theyshowthatprogress on theseissuescomesone
steoat a time.

In thecomingmonths theProLi{eCampaign willworktirelessly andimaginatively,

ffi
re-energising
andrestructuring
theorganisation root-and-branch. Therearemany
reasonsto be upbeataboutthefuturebutit willrequirea lotof committedpeople
stepping
up to themarkto makeit allhappen.
 Abortion is a reflection
that we have not met
the needsof women.
'Women
deservebetter
than abortion.
:,

Fewer women trhvelling for abortions

The latestabortionfigurespublished of Health.showa reduction
by the BritishDepartment in the
numberof lrishwomentravelling ln 2003some6,320womentravelled,
to Britain{orabortion. down
trom6,522in the previousyear.Thisis the secondconsecutiveyearlrishabortionsdeclinedafter
overa decadeof upwardtrends.

Hopefully,
the reduction Thefigures,however,
signalsthetideis turningin the rightdirection.
remainhigh,allowingno roomfor complacency.

Onepossibleexplanation for lhe reductionis the 2002abortionreferendum.

lrrespective of how
peopleactuallyvoted,the debateandthe publicityprovidedan oppodunity to reflecton the dignity
of humanlifeandthe humanily
of the unbornchiid.

Thefigureof 181,582 for thesameperiodon residents

abortions andWales
of England
represents
29.2%of live-births,
roughly3 timeshigherthanthe ratein lreland.
'StatisticalBulletin,SummaryAbortion Statistics,England
and Wales:20A3

Hopes of patients cruelly

exploited in stem cell debate
Embryonic stemcellresearchis increasingly
becorninga hotpolitical
issue.Muchof the rhetoric and
publicdiscourse
to datehasfocussed on the potential
of suchresearch in findingcuresfor chronic
diseases lt is misleading
anddisabilities. to the pointof crueltyto raisefalsehopesby claiming
that
therapies
stem-cell-based arejustaroundthecorner,provided fundingfor researchis madeavailable,
In fact,mostleadingscientisis
in thefieldhavemadeit clearthatit'slikelyto takedecades
beforeany
suchcuresarefound.In anyevent,embryonic
stemcellresearch
involves of human
thedestruction
lifeat itsfragilebeginnings,
makingit entirelyunacceptable
froman ethicalstandpoint.

Inihecontextof theCommission
onAssisted hasa constitutional
Repod,theGovernment
Reproduction's
to defendhumanembryos
obligation shouldonlybe givento
fromharmhereandin the EU.Funding
adultstem-cell
research, promising
whichis scienlifically non-controversial.
andethically TheGovernmenl
shouldcommititselfto makinglrelanda centreof excellence research
for adultstem-cell andin doing
so unapologetically
respectthedignityof everyhumanlife.
ts GPA produces' idbologically
ts motivated survey
TheCrisisPregnancyAgency published
recently a surveyonabortion.
lt is bestdescribed assloppy
F andmisleading.
Thefindings
runcontrary
to mostothersurveys
onattitudes to abortion
in lreland.
b
Thewidelypublicisedtelephone surveyclaimsmorethantwo-thirds
of 18-45yearoldsfavourabortion
t/
in somecircumstances. lt alsoalleges
51%support abortion
ondemand andanother39%support
abortion
in cedaincircumstances.

Wereit accurate,
it wouldmeanlrishattitudes aremuchmorepermissive
to abortion thancountries
likeBritain
andtheUSwhereabortion iswidelyavailable.
Thisis simply
notthecase.

Theunreliabr]itY-
gl ry.qllthe,surveystemsin partfromtheframing of somequestions. Thus,the
queitiononiOottion*he" th. prrgrrncyroiorrlyenOangered tf'ewornan's notqualify
health;'does
whether or notit refersto current
medicalpracticein lrelandinvolving in pregnancy
interventions to save
thelifeof themother, whereeveryattempt is alsomadeto preserve thelifeof theunborn. Thereis a
hugedistinctionbetween suchethicalprocedures andinduced abortion,whichdirectlytargets
thelife
of theunborn.Anysurveywhichignores willgivespurious
thisdistinction results.
TheCrisisPregnancyAgency'sremitis to,helpreduce
theincidence lt'shightimethey
of abortion.
started
doingthatinstead
of wasting
timeandmoneyonideologicallymotivatedsurveys.

EU undermines US embargo
by awarding UNFPA $75m
TheEUhasearmarked anadditional US$75 millionfortheUnitedNations population
Fund
(UNFPA) to override Washington's ongoing embargo oncontributions
to theUNagency. Since2000,
theUShasrefused the$34million normally givento UNFPA because of itssupport
forChina's
one-child/coercive abortion policies
whichviolateUSforeign aidrestrictions.
TheEU's$75million
allocation is in additionto theUS$233 millionit hasalready
contributed
to theUNFPA budget.
TheProLifeCampaign continuesto lobbythelrishGovernment demanding a cessation
of lrishfunding to theUNFPA.
 Honorary
Presidenl
DesHanafin
#r* t"if* Chairperson
e.++i:4:Gi! DrJoeMccarroll
Depury
ChairpeEm
Publishedbylhe ProLilecampaign, CoraSherlmk
34 GardinerStreelUpper,Dublin1.
LegalAdviser
Tel;01-8748090 Fil: 01-8748094
Profes$r WilliamElinchy
Email:prdile@indigo.ie
Website:M.prolif acampaign.ie MedimlAdviser
Dr BorryKiety
LegalConsuttanl
CarolimSimons
Secretary
JohnO'Reilly
Eduation Officers
Geraldine
l\,lartin
SRN& Dr RuthCullen

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