March for Life addresses ‘soul of medicine’ being lost in Ireland amid ‘soaring’ abortion rates

The Catholic Herald

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Energetic crowds turned out in the Irish capital Dublin on 6 May for the annual March for Life in defence of the unborn, along with powerful messages from those speaking at the event. Eilís Mulroy of Pro-Life Campaign, a non-denominational organisation that seeks to protect and defend the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death in Ireland, addressed the <a href="https://x.com/prolifecampaign/status/1787539222406087119">galvanised turnout</a>. She said the country’s 2018 legalisation of abortion has <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/6666-abortions-performed-in-ireland-last-year-after-repeal-of-law/">sent the numbers</a> of unborn babies being killed in Ireland “soaring”, <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-uk-and-ireland/2024/05/march-for-life-takes-place-in-ireland-amid-soaring-abortion-rates">reports</a> Crux. In 2018, Ireland held a referendum on whether to remove the 8th amendment – which protected the rights of the unborn and in effect banned abortion – from the Irish Constitution, with the resulting majority Yes vote resulting in the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/has-irelands-abortion-clamour-contributed-to-another-mismanaged-sepsis-death/">introduction of one of the most liberal abortion regimes</a> in the world. British pro-life doctor Calum Miller also spoke at the March for Life event. “If you lose the soul of medicine and make it a profession of killing, if you rob medicine of conscience by expelling those who listen to their conscience, everyone is in danger,” he said. “Is that the sort of healthcare system you want looking after you when you are weak and vulnerable?” Miller added. Earlier this year, the Irish Church <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/irish-church-criticises-radical-ethical-risks-of-new-medical-guide/">criticised</a> what it called "radical" ethical changes to, and the resulting risks of, a new ethics guide for the Irish Medical Council. Anna Buday, a mother of a child who has Down Syndrome told the March for Life she had a message for any new or expecting parents who got a diagnosis of Down Syndrome. “Don’t be afraid. There is hope. There is plenty of laughter and joy. There is learning. There is opportunity. There is kindness and capability. There is so much love!” Buday said. Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin and chairman of the Council for Life of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference spoke at Mass before the March for Life. He noted that the biology of cells was discovered less than four hundred years ago, and it is only a little more than 150 years since the discovery of DNA. “Everything we have discovered since then has confirmed that, while pregnancy is a time of rapid growth and development, there is a radical continuity between the fertilsed ovum and the child who is born at the end of nine months,” he said. “That is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of scientific fact. Philosophers can interpret it, but they can’t change it.  A human embryo is an individual member of the human species; otherwise known as a person,” Doran continued. He noted that Pope John Paul II, writing in Fides et Ratio, said there is no fundamental conflict between faith and science. “We who seek to promote a renewed respect for the inherent dignity of every human person, certainly need to distinguish between science and fake news. We have no need to be afraid of science, but we do need to remember that science only goes part of the journey in understanding the human person,” he said. Ireland passed the Safe Access Zones Bill earlier In May, legislation Mulroy called “draconian”. The legislation criminalises any perceived attempt to influence one’s decision to have an abortion within a 100-metre zone of a premises where abortion could be provided, which includes areas where some churches are located. Repeating a message that he said when the legislation was passed, in his homily on Monday, Doran said no law, no public policy and no peer pressure from neighbours or colleagues “can remove our right and indeed our responsibility to advocate publicly for those who are most vulnerable, especially at the beginning and at the end of life”. “While the Medical Council has no policy one way or the other on assisted suicide and has entirely removed the section on abortion from its code of conduct, we still stand with our doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who refuse to be bullied into participating in ending the lives of their patients,” the bishop said. “We do this, not just because of what science tells us, but also because we believe in the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/i-have-called-you-by-name-the-importance-of-christian-names-in-a-world-of-gender-ideology/?swcfpc=1">inherent God-given dignity of every human life</a>. This is a dignity that does not depend on society or law, on wealth or nationality, on physical or mental health or ability, because before ever we are formed in the womb, God knows us intimately and loves us for all eternity,” Doran said. The Dublin-based Pro-Life Campaign organisation that was heavily involved in the March for Life notes that while the number of abortions in Ireland is "shockingly high", media reports that the Irish abortion rate is one of the highest in Europe "are simply inaccurate". The official figures indicate that Ireland’s abortion rate is in fact probably the lowest in Europe, the organisation notes: "In England, 1 in 4 pregnancies end in abortion; in Ireland, it is less than 1 in 14 – still shockingly high, but nowhere near as high as countries with abortion clinics." The March for Life event also sought to highlight pro-life candidates running in the upcoming local and <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/european-bishops-warn-against-ideological-expansion-as-eu-grows/?swcfpc=1">European elections</a> this year, and called on Amid what many fear is a crackdown on the pro-lfe movement, so-called buffer zone legislation has also become <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/majority-of-scots-oppose-abortion-buffer-zones-parliament-consultation-reveals/?swcfpc=1">increasingly prominent</a> in neighbouring UK, especially in England and Scotland. It was recently announced by the UK Parliament that <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/mps-to-vote-on-abortion-amendments-on-may-15-parliament-told/">MPs will have the opportunity to change the UK’s abortion law</a> on May 15. Amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill include both two to tighten up the law around abortion and two to decriminalise abortion and thereby, in effect, permit abortion up to birth. Photo: Screenshot showing the March for Life on 6 May from the <a href="https://prolifecampaign.ie/">website</a> of Pro Life Campaign.

The Catholic Herald

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