GUEST OPINION: Joe Biden visits Ireland to celebrate ‘peace,’ yet defends abortion worldwide

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily of Live Action or Live Action News.

Joe Biden’s official visit to Ireland has received widespread acclaim in the media and politics. Its stated purpose is to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement on 10th April 1998. But the subtext of trying to shore up Irish-American votes in the United States should be obvious. With this in mind, it is worth offering American readers a perspective on Joe Biden’s presidency from an Irish pro-life perspective.

Joe Biden has been widely touted in Ireland as ‘one of our own’, a politician who regularly quotes Seamus Heaney and identifies as an Irish-American. With Brexit and its knock-on effect on the political institutions in Northern Ireland, it was hoped that as president, Joe Biden would be a close friend of Ireland’s in the White House. But there is nothing to be gained for pro-life Irish citizens to be misty-eyed about the reality of President Biden’s policies, most egregiously his promotion of abortion in the United States and internationally.

The reaction of the Biden administration to the overturning of Roe v. Wade has been extremely unhelpful. He has even faced calls from radicals in his own party to stack the supreme court. Although this course of action has not been taken, Biden has clearly pinned his colours to the mast and has attempted to clamp down on new pro-life laws introduced at state and local level.

The recent ruling in Texas which removed approval for the mifepristone pill, a decision acknowledged as a victory for the pro-life cause, has been slammed by the Biden administration as ‘dangerous’. The president has even signalled his intention to fight the ruling and to work to prevent similar rulings from occurring.

The Biden administration has treated criminal activities like arson against pro-life centres in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade with kid gloves. Such a soft touch would be unimaginable if the sides of the abortion debate were reversed and pro-life citizens were engaged in such behaviour.

President Biden has made the advancement of abortion globally a central component of U.S. foreign aid policy. It is deeply wrong to make liberalised abortion a precondition for the acceptance of aid for developing countries. Whilst the human rights travesty of abortion should not be promoted anywhere, the cynical attempts to foist it on developing nations as part of much-needed aid packages is a profoundly wrong and immoral trade-off.

Irish politicians have been keen to stress the ‘modernisation’ of Irish society since the time of Biden’s ancestors leaving for the United States. Some have inaccurately included Ireland’s recent social changes like the 2018 legalisation of abortion as part of this progressive modernisation. In fact, the impact of abortion legalisation in Ireland has been severe. In just four years, almost 30,000 Irish abortions have occurred. Last year, the highest number of abortions on record took place, the equivalent to one in eight pregnancies ending in abortion. This is not an example of progress, but a clear case of injustice.

President Biden undoubtedly hopes his visit to Ireland will appeal to Irish-American voters, with an eye towards the 2024 general election. In a “personal capacity”, Biden visited the holy site Knock in the west of Ireland, the scene of a Marian apparition. Although nobody would begrudge him for making a pilgrimage, video footage of the visit was circulated in a slickly edited video which foregrounded his Catholic religion. This indicated the visit had a purpose of appealing to Catholic voters in the U.S., and perhaps offsetting his image as a strongly pro-abortion president.

However, Irish pro-life citizens deeply regret his active role in promoting abortion in the U.S. and abroad. Whatever the achievements of the United States in peacebuilding in Northern Ireland may be, the current occupant of the American presidency has actively tried to subvert pro-life policies and entrench abortion worldwide.

Bio: Eilís Mulroy is CEO of VIE CLG in Ireland.

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