A pro-life campaigner in the Republic of Ireland has launched a staunch defence of the country’s abortion law following criticism from the United Nations.
Over the last month, two separate UN committees called for liberalisation of the law in the country, where abortion is currently illegal unless the life of the mother is in danger.
Both the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the UN Committee Against Torture criticised Ireland’s pro-life laws.
Right to life
Niamh Uí Bhriain from the Life Institute slammed the committees for “putting their own personal and political interpretations” on human rights treaties in an attempt to force the Republic of Ireland to legalise abortion.
Writing on Irish news website TheJournal.ie, Uí Bhriain said Ireland was being attacked “for protecting the right to life”.
“Ireland’s laws are progressive, modern and compassionate precisely because they recognise the scientific certainty that the preborn baby is a human being, and acknowledge the mounting evidence that abortion hurts women.”
UN failing
Uí Bhriain believes that in pushing for abortion “the UN is seriously undermining its human rights mission” and “failing women who deserve support and compassion, not the medieval answer of abortion”.
She said the UN cannot “be a genuine human rights defender while calling for some human beings to be stripped of the most fundamental right of all, the right to life”.
“Instead of criticising Ireland, the UN should follow our lead in protecting the human rights of both mother and child and seeking a better answer than abortion”, Uí Bhriain concluded.
Ireland’s Eighth Amendment pledges to “defend and vindicate” the equal right to life of the unborn and the mother, “as far as practicable”.
Pro-life march
Last month, tens of thousands of pro-life people took to the streets of Dublin to call on the Republic of Ireland Government to preserve the country’s abortion law.
The Rally for Life was led by the Life Institute, and attracted a reported 70,000 supporters.
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has already promised to hold a referendum on the issue – expected to take place next year.