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Column These billboards simply bring the reality of abortion into focus

The message may not be easy to take – but censorship is not the answer, writes Niamh Ui Bhriain of the Life Institute.

ABORTION CAMPAIGNERS ARE currently in a tizzy about a new pro-life awareness campaign produced by Youth Defence and the Life Institute. They’re orchestrating complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority and issuing press statements describing pro-life billboards as “offensive”.

So far, so predictable; though it’s always ironic to see just how intolerant of free speech these self-styled liberals and left-wing activists are.

Abortion advocates don’t like the campaign because it does something that is usually avoided in most public discussions on this issue: it brings the reality of abortion into focus.

The campaign simply says that abortion tears lives apart, and uses torn photographs for emphasis. The adverts were inspired by a woman who said that after her abortion, she felt as if her life, as well as that of her unborn child, was torn apart.

There are many other women who feel the same. One woman wrote on our website this week that she had an abortion last year, and that she has deeply regretted it ever since. She said: “I made a mistake of turning to the wrong people for advice in a time of need. Although it pains me to see these posters (I passed by nearly 4 on Saturday) I am glad they are there and hope they may help even one person to re-consider and not go through with it.”

We’ve had scores of similar emails and messages since the Better Answer campaign began. The trauma they detail is usually dismissed by abortion campaigners. Instead, they claim that our awareness campaign is offensive, and wish to have it censored.

But while a message may offend abortion supporters, that is not to say that the message is, in itself, offensive. Crucially, our experience during the campaign this far is that the public is supportive of the campaign, which was designed, produced and organised by volunteers.

‘Medieval solution’

We contend that there is always a better answer than abortion – and we should work to terminate the crisis and not the child.

In fact, Ireland’s experience has shown that our pro-life ethos has best served both our mothers and babies. The United Nations rates us as the safest place in the world for a mother to have a baby, and our top experts say that they can care for mother and baby without recourse to abortion.

As Professor John Bonner, the Chairman of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, told a Dáil committee: “It would never cross an obstetrician’s mind that intervening in a case of pre-eclampsia, cancer of the cervix or ectopic pregnancy is abortion. They are not abortion as far as the professional is concerned, these are medical treatments that are essential to save the life of the mother.”

Recently, a collection of research studies published in a special edition of The Lancet medical journal found that women who developed cancer when pregnant did not need to abort their baby, delay their own treatment, or give birth prematurely.
 Commenting on the findings, researcher at the French Institute Gustave Roussy wrote that recommendations to abort would be an “unacceptable error”.

So we know that abortion is not medically necessary: and we also know that Irish abortion rates have now fallen by more than 30 per cent because of increased information and better support for women in crisis.

It would be entirely contraindicative then for Ireland to resort to the medieval solution of abortion. The government is currently awaiting the recommendations of an ‘expert committee’ which will look at the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the ABC case. This campaign reminds Fine Gael of the public committment they made during Election 2011 to uphold Ireland’s ban on abortion.

It’s worth noting that the Labour Party’s preferred alternative is to introduce the British model of abortion provision: which has led to abortion on demand, provided through all nine months of pregnancy if the baby has a disability, and leading to the abortion of more than 90 per cent of unborn children with Down Syndrome. This is not a humane response to crisis pregnancy.

There’s always a better answer than abortion. That’s the message of this campaign. It’s a message that will not be censored.

Niamh Ui Bhriain is a spokesperson for the Life Institute.

Column: This campaign is offensive – and flies in the face of the facts>

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218 Comments
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    Mute Ziggy722
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    Apr 3rd 2016, 1:48 PM

    Whats with all the GIFs?
    They completely distract from the story.

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    Mute John Moylan
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    Apr 3rd 2016, 1:50 PM

    Organ donation should be mandatory with only exceptional opt out. The idea that people die whilst perfectly good organs go un – donated (for whatever reason) is beyond silly, and a wasted opportunity.

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    Mute Richard F
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    Apr 3rd 2016, 1:58 PM

    That’s a ridiculous statement of course people should have a choice whether they donate there organs even though I think everybody should do it as the woman said u only need to tick a box

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    Mute dstaffx
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    Apr 3rd 2016, 3:02 PM

    The problem is a relative can over rule your decision when your dead. So I believe. That’s why it’s important to speak about it before hand with next of kin. So your wishes are granted.

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    Mute Alfie Bonney
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    Apr 3rd 2016, 3:05 PM

    So you think the state should have total control of your body when you die, would this mean they would be responsible for funeral expenses

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    Mute John Moylan
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    Apr 3rd 2016, 3:40 PM

    It’s not the State – where are getting that idea ??

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    Mute Alfie Bonney
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    Apr 3rd 2016, 3:47 PM

    Then who would implement the order to make it mandatory

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    Mute Keith D'Arcy
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    Apr 3rd 2016, 4:18 PM

    I agree organ donation should be opt out rather than opt in.

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    Mute Cally
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    Apr 3rd 2016, 4:04 PM

    Missed this…but fair play to you brian…RIP ger…

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    Mute Derek Hackett
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    Apr 4th 2016, 3:14 AM

    Simple fix instead of signing up to be an organ donor why not change it to sign up not to be

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