We are accustomed to being told that the pro-life movement is full of
extremists who are abusive towards their opponents and will not allow a ‘rational,
reasonable’ debate to take place on the issue of abortion.

In this blog we show that much of the extremism now resides on the other
side of this debate. The vitriol that has been poured out on the heads of
pro-life spokespeople, including representatives of The Iona Institute, has
been unprecedented.

We apologise in advance for the abusive and offensive language in what
follows. We have added asterisks to soften the language somewhat. Unless
otherwise indicated, no asterisks were in the original texts.

First all of, here is a sample of what has appeared in some of emails we have
received:

 “Your creepy religion, your love for
pervert priests just raised its ugly head on the TV3 debate…. you bunch of
losers, go back to that poisonous sh*thole you call a church and f**k off with
yourself.”

“Saw your representative on the news last
night. Have to say I love your particular brand of comedy. Crying in your beer
because you don’t feel you can contribute to the vigils organized for Mrs
Halappanavar. Well, sadly you’re right. You cannot contribute. Clearly as
religious fundamentalists you have contributed more than enough. I know I speak
for many people when I say that it is your organization’s ethos combined with
the application of your resources to an agenda designed by religious bigots
that has you where you are. “

Secondly, here is a small selection of the very many abusive tweets directed at
pro-life people who have appeared on the media in the period since the latest
abortion controversy broke. They speak for themselves.

‘@DavQuinn is some nasty
woman hating scumbag, his viewpoint is more important than a woman’s life’ (@davquinn
is the name of David Quinn’s twitter account)

‘God @DavQuinn is a poisonous
c**t. (In this case the asterisks were added by the tweeter. But
the tweeter is an RTE producer and presenter, namely Pat O’Mahony)

‘@MichaelKellyIC @DavQuinn hardly surprising
the anger normal people feel towards people like you acting as apologists for
evil’

‘Irrespective of his views, is @DavQuinn not the most
mendacious and unpleasant commentator/debater out there at present?’

‘Oh look, it’s Caroline Simons, shameless liar,
life endangering pseudo-feminist and anti-choice wretch’

‘I am sick and tired of anti-choice assholes
manipulating sh*t to me. F**k off and die, trolls’

‘A f**king female barrister of Iona Institute.
Where do they find these people?’

‘Ronan Mullen looks like he survived an
abortion. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with him’

‘Ronan Mullen is simply vile. Sorry excuse for
a human’

‘My mam just called Ronan Mullen an absolute
cabbage f**k’
 
There is far more of this on twitter and on the internet generally where they
can be accessed by anyone. The irony is that the people responsible for these
sentiments regard themselves as tolerant, rational and open-minded and their
opponents as bigoted and close-minded.