Taking the Long View on the Right to Life in Ireland

What has changed, can change again

by David Quinn
MercatorNet


The pro-choice movement in Ireland won as emphatic a victory on Friday as the pro-life movement did in 1983. What was the response of the pro-choice side to their heavy defeat back then? Was it to go away? It was not. Instead they took the long view and immediately began the work of repealing the 8th amendment.

It has taken them 35 years to get to this point, and we have to be as patient and as diligent as they were. The unborn child still has a moral right to life and we must work to restore that in law.

As I said in my Sunday Times column:

"It remains as much the case today as it was on Friday that the unborn child has a moral right to life; that it is one of us. If the referendum vote had been 99-1 in favour of repeal, that would still be so. The law acknowledges the fundamental rights that are ours by virtue of being human, but it does not create them. The law may fail to acknowledge and protect your rights, but they still exist, morally speaking. The size of a vote has absolutely no effect on this. It then becomes a matter of fighting to have your rights acknowledged in law once more."

Continue reading this article here.

 

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