The Iona Blog

Maria Steen discusses the abortion referendum and its aftermath

In front of a packed house in Dublin last night, Maria Steen of The Iona Institute discussed the recent abortion referendum, how it was covered by the Irish media, the legislation that will replace the Eighth Amendment, and the way forward for the pro-life movement in Ireland. An edited version of Maria’s talk follows. The...

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Even a three-day waiting period is too much for pro-choice advocates

There is a push underway to remove the proposed 72-hour waiting period before a woman can obtain an abortion. The matter came up before the Oireachtas Health Committee today. Among those questions it was Dr Peter Boylan, one of the most active pro-choice advocates during the recent abortion referendum. He said: “The proposed 3-day interval...

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Marriage is the best friend of the unborn child

The single best protector against abortion appears to be marriage. A married woman is only a fifth as likely to have an abortion as a woman who is not married. This difference is stark and is worth examining. We know that in the UK, for example, about one every five pregnancies ends in abortion, but...

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‘Mother’, ‘father’ to be replaced by ‘parent 1’, ‘parent 2’

The forthcoming legislation on assisted human reproduction is set to build on the extremely radical approach to family relationships put in place by the Children and Family Relationships Act from 2015, a law that greatly demotes the importance of the biological ties between parents and children. In an article published in the current issue of the...

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Influential academics set out their ultra-permissive pro-choice vision

The General Scheme of the abortion Bill is one of the most permissive in the Western world but four pro-choice academics and activists have published a position paper asking to make it even more so. The proposed law will allow abortion up to 12 weeks for any reason and up to viability if there is a...

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Leo Varadkar must not use science to hide his pro-choice ideology

Leo Varadkar believes publicly-funded hospitals should be imbued with “a civic and scientific ethos.” So he said in his Dublin Castle address to Pope Francis. But that term, “scientific ethos”, needs a lot of explaining. Science deals with physical reality, while ethos deals with the moral character of an institution, its values and goals. One...

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Leo Varadkar’s vision of Church and State not fleshed out

By David Quinn

In his address to the Pope in Dublin Castle on Saturday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke of the need to “build a new relationship between Church and State in Ireland – a new covenant for the 21st century”. Reading his remarks, however, it was far from clear what exactly he has in mind, and unfortunately no...

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Shining a light on liberalism’s pathologies

By David Quinn

Dominant ideologies have powerful self-reinforcing mechanisms. One of them is that they get to ask most of the questions and to subject rival points of view to ferocious criticism and interrogation. The dominant ideology of our time is what is sometimes called ‘expressive individualism’. What this means is giving people the freedom to live the...

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The growing shortage of marriageable men

As women’s economic prospects have risen in recent decades, and that of many men, especially many working class men have declined, so have the odds of some people ever getting married. To put it bluntly; a man with good earning prospects has a better chance of getting married than a man with poor earning prospects....

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A closer look at a new survey on consent and sexual harassment

The Government is shaping up to radically overhaul the way Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) is taught in schools. To this end, it is placing considerable weight on a new survey conducted by the Smart Consent research team at NUI Galway on sexual harassment and consent. It was widely reported by the media, but does it...

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