Ireland’s Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy formally announced that Irish citizens will vote on a referendum to legalize abortion on May 25, 2018. The country’s Eighth Amendment currently recognizes the equal right to life of the preborn child and his or her mother. The referendum would repeal the Eighth Amendment and grant legislators the ability to legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy for any reason.
Media coverage continues to favor abortion activists, highlighting the international pressure from abortion lobbyists to legalize the killing of preborn children in one of the world’s most pro-life nations. For example, The Guardian wrote that the United Nation’s human rights committee has condemned Ireland’s pro-life protections of the preborn as “cruel, inhuman, and degrading.” Yet, the same United Nations has ranked Ireland as “one of the safest places in the world for a mother to have a baby.”
Likewise, CNN included the fact that Ireland “is among just 50 countries that allow terminations only when a woman’s life is at risk,” yet the report fails to mention that the United States is one of just seven nations that allows abortion for any reason up to birth.
If Irish voters approve the referendum, legislators have said they would legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Pro-life groups have pointed out that there would be no meaningful protection of the preborn at any stage of development, and the referendum sets no limits on lawmakers. Former abortionist Anthony Levatino describes the most common surgical abortion in the first trimester:
Pro-life Irish groups, such as Save the 8th and Pro-Life Campaign, continue to meet with voters across the country. Emphasizing the humanity of the preborn and the danger to disabled babies that abortion would pose, pro-life activists are changing hearts and minds in the referendum debate. On May 25th, the Irish people will decide if they will endanger the most vulnerable, the preborn, or continue to protect equally every mother and child.
