June 2018 – Article 2:

Pro-life advocates around the globe are mourning the results of the May 25, 2018 referendum in Ireland that repealed the Eighth Amendment to the country’s constitution that currently bans abortion under almost all circumstances.

Added to the constitution in 1983, the Eighth Amendment was originally passed by referendum with a sixty-seven-per-cent majority – the same percentage of voters that voted to repeal it on May 25.

The vote has had a profound and surprisingly unifying effect on the entire country of Ireland. A native of Northern Ireland and recently inducted minister to the Mebane, NC, Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) congregation, Rev. Gavin Beers comments:

“Ireland tragically agreed to legalize the murder of children in the womb and now I’m hearing people in Northern Ireland, formerly opposed to a united Ireland, are inclined toward it due to the ‘progressiveness’ of our southern neighbors. Think about that. Let it sink in. Terrorists murder for years and the thought of a United Ireland was resisted, but the opportunity for women to murder their children clinches unification.”

The Eighth Amendment

The Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution reads: “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn, and with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect and as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.” These words of protection for babes in the womb are rare in a day when 56 million pre-born babies are murdered in the womb across the globe.[1]

New Abortion Laws for Ireland

Ireland’s Health Minister and the Irish Cabinet met just days after the vote to make abortion on demand legal in Ireland for pregnancies up to 12 weeks gestation. The new abortion laws currently under discussion would legalize abortion in multiple categories, with different procedures and requirements for each:[2]

Abortion on demand for pregnancy up to 12 weeks with a 72 hour waiting period;
Abortion available up to 24 weeks of gestation in cases where a physician identifies a risk to the mother’s health or life;
Abortion during the entire length of the pregnancy in cases where a physician identifies that the pre-born baby has a condition that may result in the baby’s death before, during or soon after birth.

Anecdotal Evidence Supported the Vote

The popular vote to legalize was heavily swayed by emotional appeals focused on stories about women who were harmed or died as a result of traveling to other countries for their abortion. Citing the number of Irish women, who have sought and obtained abortions both inside and outside of Ireland as sufficient reason to legalize abortion, the pro-aborts conveniently ignored the fact that now hundreds of thousands more pre-born babies will die as a result of the legalization of abortion in Ireland.

Many would say the aftermath of the vote showed the darkest side of humanity as many people rejoiced with gladness upon hearing that the Eighth had been repealed. Commenting, Rev. Beers said, “Ireland voted by a two-thirds majority to kill unborn children. Then they danced in the street in celebration.”

Georgia Right to Life is saddened by this news. Just as we have witnessed the massive assault on Personhood in the United States beginning when abortion was legalized in 1973 so Ireland has tragically accepted their fate with “blood on their hands”.

Elizabeth Greenewald

Guest Writer

Georgia Right to Life

[1] https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-worldwide

[2] https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/what-would-replace-the-eighth-amendment-the-text-the-law-the-politics-1.3505902