PR: Abortion Figures Released to Manipulate Public Opinion
28.07.2000
Youth Defence regards the release of figures, alleging yet another increase in the number of Irish women seeking abortions in England, as a clumsy attempt to manipulate public opinion and the workings of the Constitutional Review Group. It is striking that the figures always show an increase and never, as one would expect, if they were accurate, any degree of fluctuation.
In spite of the fact that the source of the alleged abortion figures are the abortion clinics themselves, they are given the pseudo-credibility of official figures, when any responsible journalist should be aware that they have such a grossly unreliable origin. The media prominence given to the annual and sometimes semi-annual announcement is therefore quite out of proportion with the real informative value. It can only be part of an agenda to convince Irish people that the prohibition of abortion is a pointless endeavour and to put pressure on the Constitutional Review Group to decide in favour of legalising abortion in some form.
It is noteworthy that even on their own claims, the Irish abortion rate would be considerably lower than that of England and Wales and that the figures prove the opposite of what they purport. No doubt the pro-abortionists will rectify this anomaly over the coming years as they increase their claim ever more rapidly.
Every single abortion is a tragedy of immeasurable dimension and Youth Defence has never taken an apathetic view with regard to those that do take place. Nonetheless, the ghoulish gloating of abortion agencies, such as the Irish Family Planning Association, when higher figures are claimed by their allies in England remains quite shocking. Tony O'Brien should be thoroughly ashamed of his willingness in the first instance to fabricate figures, and in the second for his obvious glee in seeing the media support him in his dishonest campaign.
Youth Defence believes that an honest independent study of the real Irish abortion rate and its causes would serve the purposes of the Constitutional Review Group far more effectively than the naive acceptance of invented statistics.
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