Amnesty Ireland are again misinterpreting human rights law by claiming that abortion is a human right recognised under international law. This time they’ve enlisted the help of two of Amnesty International’s leading legal advisors to help buttress their case, namely Jaime Todd-Gher and Christina Zampas. In the letter pages of The Irish Times the duo...
The nuns were dragged into a row this week over the future management of the National Maternity Hospital. In addition, there was much derogatory about Catholic healthcare in general. But as David Quinn writes in his Irish Independent column this week, soon it may be the cases in some countries that Catholic hospitals will be...
There has been a minor kerfuffle about the religion question in the Census everyone was supposed to do last night. The question is a simple one; ‘what is your religion?’ The kerfuffle has centred mainly on how people should answer the question, and specifically whether it would be more honest for someone who almost never...
Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy Love”), earlier this month. It is a profound and lengthy document which addresses a vast array of subjects: from family stability to child trafficking, from the beauty of marital love to marital breakdown, from children’s education to pornography, and much, much more in between. Reactions to Amoris...
On Monday, Maria Steen (pictured) of The Iona Institute discussed the issue of abortion on the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk. Among the specific issues discussed was the suspended sentence given to a woman in Belfast who terminated her pregnancy at her home using an abortion pill. She also accused Amnesty International Ireland of “scaremongering”...
By David Quinn When the first ‘test tube baby’ was born in 1978, the world ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’. That was understandable, but the widespread delight that an infertile couple had achieved their dream of having a baby tended to squash the very real ethical concerns that In Vitro Fertilisation ought to give rise to. One...
State discrimination against religious views and bodies is becoming an issue. Recent reports indicate that Tusla (the Child and Family Agency) is set to withdraw public funding from the Boyle Family Life Centre, an ethos-based service provider of the Diocese of Elphin, which serves the practical needs of both the parish community and the wider...
A previous post reported on the proceedings of a recent surrogacy conference in Dublin. It is fair to say that most people would find at least some of the information revealed at the conference quite shocking. This blog will examine a few of the ethical issues raised by surrogacy, including issues that were directly raised...
RTE’s exit poll conducted on the day of the General Election throws up some very interesting data concerning religion and political affiliation. More on that very shortly, but for me the most striking thing is that it was the first poll I’ve come across that distinguished between the non-religious who call themselves ‘atheists’ or ‘agnostics’,...
Ireland’s first ever commercial surrogacy conference took place last week in Dublin. (It also dealt with ‘altruistic’ surrogacy). The event was organised by a group called “Families through Surrogacy” which call itself a non-profit group. However, the conference sponsors, variously categorised as “platinum”, “gold” and “silver” sponsors, are composed of big surrogacy firms from the...
