A Scottish mother who ignored medical pressure to abort her unborn baby has given birth to a healthy boy. In Ireland earlier this year a health baby was aborted after the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street told the parents that their baby had a so-called ‘fatal foetal abnormality’.
Lauren Webster, 21 from Cumbernauld near Glasgow, was asked repeatedly by medical staff if she wanted an abortion after a 13 week scan showed her unborn baby had a ‘bladder obstruction’, with a low chance of survival and could possibly be suffering from the genetic disorder, Edward’s Syndrome.
Ms Webster, however, had a ‘gut feeling’ her baby would survive and resisted the pressure to abort.
Doctors were left stunned when her son, Ollie, was born with no health problems at all, as his ‘bladder obstruction’ had managed to correct itself and the genetic disorder never materialised.
SPUC Scotland Director of Communications and Campaigns, Michael Robinson, said: “The scandalous reality behind the veneer of choice, is that pregnant women are increasingly exploited and pressured into abortion. Recent research by the UK charity, Abortion Recovery Care and Helpline (ARCH) has found that 75% of female clients state that they had an abortion because they had felt pressure from a loved one. Whilst pressure and coercion can come from a variety of sources, intimate partners are the main culprit.
He added: “The stories now surfacing of these young women who have been pressured to abort their children, show not only an entire lack of compassion and care from medical staff, but also just how seriously mistaken medical staff can be.”
Christian students are pressing ahead with a court case this week alleging religious discrimination by University College Galway.
Isaac, Kezia, Ammi and Enoch Burke had been active members of two college groups, the Christian Union, and the campus pro-Life group. However, after the students repeatedly complained of suffering intimidation and harassment, the college in November 2014 banned them for life from all student societies.
Last week, on the eve of a circuit court hearing, the university told the Burkes it was lifting the ban, and offered to not seek costs if they discontinued their action.
The students however rejected the offer.
“It has been over four years and six months since we were banned for life from societies at NUI Galway,” Enoch Burke said. “Now, on the eve of the court hearing, that ban has been lifted. The university should never have imposed this ban in the first place and we are pressing ahead for justice. The whole point of going to court is that the equal status Acts are there to offer redress for those who have been discriminated against, and that is our claim against the university”.
The case is being heard over three days in the Circuit Court in Galway this week.
The UK Government’s plans to introduce no fault divorce with a mere six month waiting period for England and Wales has been described as ‘euthanasia for marriage’ by a leading marriage and family campaigner.
The Christian Institute’s Director Colin Hart said that under Government plans an innocent spouse will “not be able to cite adultery or domestic violence in a divorce petition”. Moreover, he said couples struggling through a difficult time in their marriage need time and opportunity to reconcile, whereas this legislation seems to block off that possibility.
“The Government’s main argument is that fault-based divorces lead to acrimony. If that is so, why is the Government also abolishing separation grounds which never involve any allegation of fault?”
He continued: “Four out of ten divorces are on the basis of separation and take well over two years. Under the Government’s plan it will be six months. A massive speeding up of divorce. It’s also disturbing that the Government has been trialling an online scheme which claims to process divorces in twelve weeks.”
“This Bill is a euthanasia programme for marriage,” he said.
Ireland does not have the right to interfere with the values of African countries that oppose abortion.
That’s according to Franciscan Missionary sister, Miriam Duggan, who is also a medical doctor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology with over fifty years experience working in Uganda. During that time she pioneered the country’s successful response to the AIDS crisis that garnered her worldwide recognition and multiple awards including a Presidential Distinguished Service Award here in Ireland in 2015.
She pioneered a system based on abstinence or fidelity and the HIV/Aids rate among young people dropped from 28% to 6%.
In February, the Government announced a new initiative promoting ‘sexual and reproductive health and rights’ as part of Ireland’s foreign aid. The Irish Times reported that the new policy would ‘likely’ result in the lifting of a ban on funding abortions.
Sr Miriam told Spirit Radio she hoped this would never involve promoting abortion.
“Africa has its own values of life. They look upon children as their wealth, their treasures,“ she said, adding: “I don’t think we have the right to interfere in their values”.
A letter from 180 companies calling abortion restrictions “bad for business” has received significant push back from pro-life voices.
The letter published in a full page ad in the New York Times last week says: “Restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the health, independence and economic stability of our employees and customers. Simply put, it goes against our values and is bad for business.”
It adds, “The future of gender equality hangs in the balance, putting our families, communities, businesses and the economy at risk.”
But pro-lifers have criticised the businesses for coming down on the side of abortion. Pro-Life Action League tweeted: “You know what’s REALLY bad for business? Literally killing people. First comes moral suicide, followed by intellectual suicide, and then economic suicide.”
March for Life President Jeanne Mancini said: “How is protecting the inherent dignity of the human person from the moment of conception ‘bad for business’? Perhaps the better question is what is the ‘value’ of human life to these business leaders?”
Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, said it was not “healthcare” to end the lives of unborn babies. “So it’s ‘better for business’ to kill off future generations of customers? Murdering a child in the womb isn’t, has never been, and will never be, ‘healthcare,'” she said.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio accused the businesses of double standards. “170 CEOs sign letter calling abortion a ‘human right’ & condemning laws passed by democratically elected U.S. legislatures,” he tweeted. “Ironically they have no problem doing business with serial human rights violating authoritarians all over the world.”
Conscientious objection to abortion plus faith-based education will be raised by the Irish Catholic bishops at a Government meeting with religious and non-faith organisations that Leo Varadkar will chair at Dublin Castle on July 4.
In response to a request by Martin Fraser, the Taoiseach’s secretary general, that each delegation propose up to three topics for discussion, the bishops listed “conscience, care of the marginalised, and support for parents who wish for a faith-based education for their children”.
The hierarchy has nominated Diarmuid Martin, the archbishop of Dublin, and Ms Siobhan Hanley, Head of Region for Trócaire NI, to attend the meeting.
Mr Varadkar has said Government ministers are being told to keep their diaries clear for July 4th in order to attend the meeting and respond to issues relevant to their portfolios. The Tanaiste and the ministers for health, education and justice are expected to attend.
Ireland’s Catholic bishops have defended the kind of sex education taught in Catholic schools.
In a statement following their summer meeting at Maynooth, the bishops said: “Contrary to some recent negative commentary, in Catholic schools young people do [their emphasis] learn facts as part of their relationships and sexuality education.”
But they also “learn about values, about respect, about consent, about self-esteem” and other important issues on relationships and sexual health “in age appropriate ways, and in cooperation with parents”.
On schools the bishops said they “strongly support parents as the primary educators of their children, particularly in the area of relationships and sexuality education (RSE).” In a statement they stressed “the central role of parents as they nurture their children to grow in these challenging times.
“Parents must therefore be consulted in the development of RSE programmes. Teachers also face challenges in RSE, and they need support. Appropriate resources, including the provision of in-service training and continuing professional development, are required to address current deficits,” they said.
The bishops welcomed the document Male and Female He created Them, published last Monday by the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education, which reiterated church teaching in the areas of gender and sexuality.
Some 2,879 women gave addresses from within the State at abortion clinics in England and Wales in 2018, down from 3,019 women in 2017, according to the latest data released by the UK department of health and compiled by the HSE. Ireland’s new abortion law came into operation in January.
In contrast, the number of women availing of online abortion pills rose by more than 13 per cent in 2018, with 1,405 people buying the pill online, according to figures one abortion pill provider gave to the HSE.
Data from the UK also shows that 107 women from Ireland contacted one online abortion pill provider in the first three months of 2019.
All of these women were directed by the provider to contact the HSE’s My Options phone line which offers guidance and support on how to access a medically supervised abortion in Ireland. Some 43 of these women received “additional support” from the online pill provider, compared to 184 women during the same period in 2018.
The abortion of a child at the National Maternity Hospital after a wrongful diagnosis may have been carried out illegally.
That’s according to the parents of the child who had their case raised in the Dáil yesterday by Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín.
During Taoiseach’s questions, Deputy Tóibín said the couple have alleged that the medical practitioners who signed off on the abortion never examined or met the mother in advance of the abortion.
“If that is the case, it is contrary to the law brought in by the Government and it is illegal,” said Mr Toibin.
He also said the couple, “are shocked by allegations that the medical professionals signing off on the abortions have a commercial interest in the companies that produced the fatally insufficient test”. They were further “shocked to hear that the State Claims Agency will indemnify the private company that carried out the fatally insufficient tests.”
Mr Tóibín added that the family have said “their calls for an independent investigation have been ignored by the Government and that they have had no real input into the terms of reference of the internal review which the Government is planning.”
In addition, he said, “they are furious with the Taoiseach for stating in the Dáil that this is a confidential issue.”
“They believe he is seeking to sweep this illegal abortion under the carpet”.
He then pointedly asked the Taoiseach: “Will the Government change the law, institute guidelines and carry out a fully independent investigation?”
The Taoiseach refused to be drawn on the matter except to say that it was his understanding that Minister for Health Simon Harris “wants and expects an external inquiry into the facts of the case to be carried out”.
One of the biggest pro-life groups in the US have been banned from the popular social media platform Pinterest.
Live Action founder and president Lila Rose said the group’s posts have been deemed a threat to “health or public” safety. This is so even though users of the platform can still see the content of abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.
“@Pinterest has now permanently suspended @LiveAction’s account (my account remains suspended), claiming our pro-life content is ‘medically inaccurate information’ & ‘conspiracies’ that lead to ‘violence.’ #LifeCensored,” Ms. Rose said in a series of tweets.
“Pinterest Logic: You can freely pin if you’re Planned Parenthood, an abortion provider. But if you’re a pro-life group & pin about the beauty & humanity of a baby in the womb, you’re banned bc you’re a threat to ‘Pinner’s health or safety.’”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/11/lila-roses-pro-life-live-action-content-banned-fro/
