The architect of Britain’s abortion law, Lord David Steel, is horrified by the fact that sex selective abortions take place on the strength of it. It was widely assumed that sex-selective abortions were illegal under Lord Steel’s 1967 Abortion Act. However, the British DPP has deemed otherwise. The sex of a child is not a ground for...
Some years back, with the support of Ireland, the European Union agreed to fund embryonic stem cell research. Now a petition is about to the sent to the European Commission that will oblige it to reconsider this funding. The petition is called One of Us. Signatures are being gathered by hand and electronically. Already more...
On Wednesday, Iona Institute director David Quinn went on Newstalk to discuss the work of the Institute and some of its key concerns, including the health of marriage with presenter Sean Moncrieff. You can listen to the discussion in full here. (The discussion begins after 5 min 30 sec.)
There is a huge double think going on in the media about the importance of the natural ties. When it comes to adoption, they seem to think they are very important, but when it comes to assisted human reproduction they seem to have a completely different view. This double think became apparent again back...
When abortion and euthanasia are first introduced in a given country, we are usually told that the grounds on which they can take place are very limited. But over time those grounds become ever more elastic. For example, earlier this year the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute doctors who performed sex...
This week the CSO issued a report on marriage in Ireland. One fact it revealed is that the rate of marriage in Ireland wasa very low 4.3 people per thousand in 2011. In his column in The Irish Independent this week, David Quinn says this is just one more piece of evidence showing how marriage...
Reacting to the decision by the Mater to comply with our new abortion law, a nurse tutor at the hospital, Sr Eugene Nolan, made a very interesting comment that reveals the contrast between a pro-life hospital and one that is not. Referring to the fact that five seriously ill pregnant women were transferred for treatment...
It’s interesting that in most jurisdictions that have introduced same-sex civil partnerships/marriage it is most men who avail of them at first. I wonder why that is. More interesting, however, is the average age of those entering civil partnerships. New CSO data tell us it is in the mid-forties. For opposite-sex couples the average age...
Officially at least, the Mater hospital has decided to comply with the new abortion law. This means we now have two Catholic hospitals in Ireland – the other one being St Vincent’s – that have raised no ethical objection to carrying out abortions on certain grounds. In his Irish Independent column this week, David Quinn...
One would think from much of the media coverage of the Pope’s big interview that he was telling Catholics to take a step back from politics and pro-life and family issues most of all. What received far less coverage were remarks he made a few days earlier that Catholics ought to “meddle” in politics. At...
