Leading UK pro-life charity, LIFE, has criticised the IFPA’s sponsorship of the three women seeking to overturn Ireland’s current status on abortion. ‘There is growing evidence that abortion has negative psychological and sometimes physical consequences for women and does not constitute “medical care”,’ says Mark Bhagwandin, LIFE spokesperson.
‘We cannot forget either, that should the IFPA win this case, the right to life of the unborn child will have been overlooked in favour of the reproductive “rights” of the adults supposed to care for them.
‘LIFE also condemns the fact that the IFPA is using the medical status of the women involved, to muddy the waters. If a woman develops a condition during pregnancy which requires medical intervention and without which both she and her baby will die, she is entitled to such intervention in Ireland. This is not abortion.
‘It’s time the IFPA and similar organisations stopped this dishonest campaign and came clean. They assume that most people in Ireland are in favour of abortion when this is not true. Women are not, as is claimed, taking on the Irish abortion law – the IFPA are.
‘This is yet another case of “rights” presiding over “responsibilities”. We should all have the right to life whether born or unborn (the most fundamental of all human rights) and it’s our responsibility to ensure this.
‘Finally, we are completely sympathetic to these women’s cases – all of them difficult. But it’s our belief that abortion would only have made things worse for these women and compounded their difficulties. They should have had access to every support available – medical, emotional, practical and financial – to help them keep their babies. This is what LIFE does.
‘We await tomorrow’s decision from the European Court of Human Rights with great interest.’