Those who favour allowing same-sex couples to marry argue, in public at least, that they seek only to extend marriage, and it is not their intention to destroy it. Some same-sex marriage advocates publicly disagree. One of them is Russian-American lesbian activist and author Masha Gessen. In a recent interview at a writers’ festival in...
During the course of the abortion debate there have been frequent calls on us to have a calm and rational debate and to keep it emotion-free. Despite this we have had leading commentators like Olivia O’Leary comparing Ireland with its pro-life laws to the Taliban’s Afghanistan and then in yesterday’s Irish Times we had an...
Today on Morning Ireland Cathal MacCoille interviewed Dr David Fergusson about a paper he has written regarding the mental health effects of abortion. In the course of that interview, and a subsequent interview with Professor Patricia Casey, MacCoille badly misinterpreted The Iona Institute’s take on the Fergusson paper and led listeners to believe that Dr...
THE Government’s proposed abortion bill is first and foremost an attack on the right to life of unborn children. But there is another aspect of it that also deserves attention, namely its frontal assault on freedom of conscience and religion. Head 12 of the proposed bill deals with conscientious objection. (See full text below). It...
Ireland has a much higher suicide rate than was once the case. It is something we worry about as a nation. And yet at the same time we are having two national conversations which could well have the effect of ‘normalising’ suicide. One is the conversation about assisted suicide and the other is the conversation...
The Iona Institute has long argued that the logic of the equality argument when applied to the family is that no particular kind of family should be granted any special standing whatever, including marriage whether same-sex or opposite-sex. It appears that one the great doyennes of family diversity ideology, Professor Judith Stacey, agrees. In a...
This week’s ruling in Scotland which found in favour of two midwives who insisted on their right to conscientiously object to taking any part in the abortion process is one that should be welcomed by all who think this freedom is important, whatever their views on abortion itself. The two women, Mary Doogan and Concepta...
Much has been written about the growing “marriage gap” in the US. Data increasingly shows that those in lower social groups are experiencing both higher levels of marital breakdown and lower rates of marriage overall. The same applies here Meanwhile, those who have third level education have seen marriage breakdown stabilise. Washington Post writer...
In a number of our publications, including our submission to the Constitutional Convention on the issue of marriage, we have used (among other quotes) a very serviceable one from Child Trends, a US-based NGO. The quote is taken from a document called ‘Marriage from a Child’s Perspective: How Does Family Structure Affect Children, and What...
David Quinn represented the Iona Institute at the Constitutional Convention last week. He took part in a panel discussion and explained why the distinctive nature of male/female sexual unions justifies a special and distinct social institution. A video of the panel discussion can be found here (or simply click on the image above). David’s contributions...
