There has been widespread condemnation of attempts to silence rape survivors airing pro-life views with two hotels cancelling their events last week and the destruction of posters by members of a prominent political party. A spokesperson for the Life Institute said it was a shameful week for abortion campaigners, “whose reprehensible actions have made it crystal clear to the public just how extreme, nasty, and intimidating many of them are”. Their actions however prompted a fierce backlash with widespread condemnation in the comments sections of the major newspapers.
A group of ten TDs and Senators issued a statement decrying the “forced cancellation” of the events. They said that “engaging in tactics purposively designed to shut down any side of this complex debate are unwarranted and deeply worrying”, adding, “we specifically refer to meetings organised to facilitate survivors of rape who sought to offer their own particular perspective on the stigma and taboos associated with continuing with a pregnancy following such a traumatic event,” the statement said.
Separately, Deputy Mattie McGrath TD called on the TDs of People Before Profit to condemn the actions of its Trinity College Branch who publicly destroyed 32 posters advertising a pro-life meeting and “rein in this kind of absurd and extremely insulting behaviour.” He added: “This attack on posters advertising a speaking tour of rape survivors is absolutely despicable. It speaks to a disturbing and deeply undemocratic tendency that is already very evident especially from those on the ‘Pro-Choice’ side of the debate. Clearly the people who did this are absolutely confident that their vandalism will go unchecked. What is also obvious is that by publicly posting the pictures they feel they have a free hand to attack anyone who does not subscribe to their own particular view.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Peader Tobin, TD, of Sinn Fein, has condemned the Irish Times for having “equated a campaign of vandalism, bulling and threats against a number of rape survivors with the cancellation of three PBP/Solidarity party meetings by hospitality venues with a ‘no politics policy’”. He criticised the paper for drawing a false equivalence in an article about venues cancelling meetings on “both sides” of the abortion debate. He specifically criticised the newspaper for having “equated meetings of a group of women who have suffered horrendous violence in their lives with a party who ripped down and shredded those same women’s posters and who bragged on Social Media that the images of these survivors of rape were offensive to them.”
