Irish activists push to expand late-term abortion on babies with disabilities
In May of last year, previously pro-life Ireland voted to legalise abortion, sending shockwaves across the globe. Ireland's new cruel and extreme abortion regime now allows abortion to be committed throughout the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, and then at any point throughout the rest of the pregnancy, if the unborn baby is diagnosed prenatally with a disability or birth defect that is predicted to cause death within 28 days of birth. Yet for abortion activists, this isn't far enough.
Abortion activists in the Republic of Ireland are now urging that the law be amended to allow unborn babies with disabilities to be aborted, even if they will not die within 28 days of birth. The Irish group Termination for Medical Reasons (ITMR) is devoted to making abortion legal so that babies diagnosed with severe disabilities and birth defects will not be born but killed in the womb.
Siobhan Donohue is the chairperson of ITMR, and she spoke to RTE News about why they’re pushing for this to happen. “We are concerned as well that that is going to impact people, and that people who should be looked after, will not be looked after, because of such a tight… because of such a tight definition,” she said. “Also I think it probably provides a little bit of a chilling effect to doctors because they will tend to diagnose things maybe in a more conservative manner, and may not cover somebody if they fall outside that 28 day limit.”
Bernadette Smyth, Director of Precious Life, said that such a push was horrifying to see and Precious Life have worked with so many families with children born with life-limiting conditions through Campaigns such as Project Love and in our work with All-Ireland group Every Life Counts in order to offer families support, comfort and hope in these incredibly difficult and heartbreaking situations. It is very clear that the abortion lobby used these special babies, who often wouldn't live until birth or long after birth, to introduce a cruel and extreme abortion law. Parents were hurtfully and shamelessly told that their precious babies were 'fatal fetal abnormalities' who did not deserve care or compassion, but should have been aborted.
Bernadette Smyth, Director of Precious Life, said that such a push was truly horrifying to see. She commented, "This news is beyond shocking. Abortion activists in the Republic have truly shown us that they have an insatiable appetite for abortion that cannot be satisfied. We are already seeing the horror stories from Ireland's abortion referendum emerging and the surge in abortions, and yet, abortion activists want to bring about more cruelty and more abortion. It is very clear that babies with life-limiting conditions were used by the yes side and they are still being used. The pro-life movement wants to offer love and support to these families, however in Ireland's new abortion regime, it is obvious that abortion is increasingly the option pushed upon families for babies with all kinds of disabilities."
Every child deserves to have the right to his or her life, and no child, with or without a disability, deserves to be targeted in the womb for death. Every life, even short lives, have meaning, and babies who will die soon after birth still have inherent dignity, infinite worth, and a fundamental right to life. When Irish abortion activists say that people need to be "looked after," she appears to be deliberately ignoring and forgetting the unborn child. In keeping with the consistent life ethic, both the parents deserve to be looked after, but crucially, so does the vulnerable unborn child. And disability is not a condition which should sentence a child to a death sentence; the right to life is not conditional but is unalienable and universal.
A child who lives a short life, or one with a disability, does not deserve to be targeted in the womb for death. Even short lives have meaning, and even people who will die soon have inherent dignity and a right to life. When Donohue says that people need to be “looked after,” she callously appears to be forgetting someone in the equation: the child. The parents may be “looked after” by having the ability to choose abortion, but the vulnerable child is not. And disability is not a condition deserving of a death sentence.