Pro-lifers speak out; funding queries left unanswered

Pro-life supporters spoke up for life at last Thursday's conference in NUI Galway co-hosted by the Irish Centre for Human Rights (ICHR) and the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) which exclusively featured pro-abortion speakers. Youth Defence members present said that apart from pro-life attendees, only a handful had registered for the event which was used as a platform to attack Ireland’s protection of human life.

 During the Question and Answer session representatives from Youth Defence and the Life Society challenged the panel of speakers as to why the rights of the unborn child were completely ignored during this conference. Cormac Feeney said it was “troubling that the Irish Centre for Human Rights would choose to associate itself with organizations that are lobbying to legalize abortion here in Ireland and that fund coercive programs abroad.”

“In addition to minimizing the rights of unborn children, the speakers displayed an insulting attitude of condescension towards the Irish people. Eileen Fegan, while explaining why the 1967 British abortion act ‘still’ did not apply to the six counties, quoted a source claiming that Britain did not want to ‘stir up the tribal elders.’ Joanna Erdman, who comes from Canada where (as some of the speakers noted) there are absolutely no restrictions on abortion up through the nine months and even during delivery (partial birth abortion), had the audacity to declare Europe’s restrictions on abortion ‘burdensome’ and then to berate Ireland for not imitating Europe in legalizing abortion,” he said.

“With issues like these unresolved, these international organizations are in no position to be making “recommendations to Ireland”—a phrase many of the speakers introduced throughout the conference, as if Ireland were somehow bound by a whim from external influences to reverse its own existing laws. Ireland has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world and can be proud of its record on human rights. Ireland has taken its responsibilities seriously in regard to helping women in crisis pregnancies, giving due respect to both mother and child. It is Ireland, rather, who should be making recommendations to the rest of the world,” continued the YD activist.

Maria Mahoney of the Life Society added that “the attacks on children with disabilities were especially disturbing. (Speaker) Natalie McDonnell, for instance, spoke of anencephalic children as ‘incompatible with life’, an inaccurate phrase that seems reminiscent of World War II propaganda. Other speakers mentioned 'foetal abnormalities' as a legal ground for abortion. Rather than using disabled children to justify abortion, the conference should have denounced the recent news that 92% of children with Down’s syndrome are being destroyed before they are born. There is a hierarchy of rights, and without the right to life, no other right is possible."

Meanwhile the conference organisers have not yet answered queries raised by the Life Institute who asked:

• Does the Irish Centre for Human Rights receive any taxpayer funding from any State department, from NUI, or from any other source
• Who is funding this conference – Global and local perspectives on abortion – and who made the decision to exclude any pro-life speakers?

In an email response an organiser with the ICHR said she “ was not prepared to answer your question on funding” and denied the conference had excluded pro-life speakers.

The Life Institute responded: “If the ICHR is interested in academic perspectives rather than advocacy, then why is the conference co-hosted by the most outspoken campaigners for abortion on demand in this jurisdiction? And surely, if the aim of the conference is to hear local and international perspectives and developments, it makes no sense to hear exclusively from those who advocate abortion? It ill behoves the ICHR to establish such a narrow platform, and to exclude differing perspectives, when looking at such an important issue.

The fact remains that every one of your speakers shares the view that abortion should be legal. This is unlikely to be a coincidence, and most likely to reflect the agenda of the ICHR, which, given your title, is disappointing.”

The Life Institute has now taken up the matter with the Director of the ICHR – Professor William Schabas. You can email Prof Schabas with concerns about the conference at