The former president of the UCD Students Union, who was impeached for her pro-life views, has issued a clarion call to all those with pro-life convictions to be brave and speak out fearlessly. In an op-ed in the Irish Times, Katie Ascough said her experience of impeachment should not serve as a warning to other pro-life people to keep quiet. On the contrary, she wrote, “the fact that some people do not want our voices heard should make us even more determined to speak out and share our viewpoint”.

“To those who are pro-life, I urge you to be confident, brave and unafraid. It can be scary – trust me, I know. But please, for the sake of our country, do not tiptoe around this issue because you’re concerned about what other people might think.”

Ms Ascough warned the climate of fear fostered by some pro-choice activists against open debate amounts to a kind of “thought policing” that would work only if pro-life people give in to it.

“Thought policing smothers true debate and is one of the biggest threats to a free democracy. We give in to it when we allow ourselves to be silenced”.

She concluded: “Be it in the home, out at coffee, in the workplace, or on the streets, do yourself and your country a favour: don’t sit in a box that has been designed to make you feel comfortable with being silent and that is intended to deflect open debate”.