Pro-life activists across Ireland say they are going door-to-door Saturday to save their country’s 8th Amendment and to protect mothers and babies from abortion.
The second National Life Canvass Day November 4 aims to save the 8th Amendment of Ireland’s constitution. Passed by voters in 1983, the amendment instituted a constitutional ban on abortion. It states:
The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.
The progressive push to abolish the amendment, however, has made itself real in the form of a referendum next spring.
Ireland’s Life Institute states:
The ridiculously biased media and Citizens’ Assembly are now joined by an equally-biased Government Committee on Abortion. This can give the illusion that the ‘repeal’ side is far bigger than they actually are.
But, as you also know, we have been canvassing door-to-door for over 22 months now, and the response from ordinary people on the doors is very positive.
On the canvass, as part of that powerful one-to-one conversation, we are able to explain to them why abortion is never a solution or an option. In fact, we have found that it’s the most effective way to cut-through the media bias; going straight to the people – it’s real, it’s effective and it is changing change hearts and minds.
The Irish Times, in fact, reported that, despite the Citizens’ Assembly vote to extend abortion access with “no restrictions as to reasons” (64 percent), a poll in May suggested that “Irish voters do not share the views of the assembly on the extent of liberalisation.”
The report observed:
They believe that Ireland’s abortion laws should be changed, for sure: there are solid majorities for legalising abortion in cases of a serious physical or mental risk to the women’s health, in cases of rape, or a foetal abnormality that makes death likely.
But voters are split in cases of a foetal abnormality where death is not likely (36 per cent favour liberalisation, 47 per cent oppose it) and categorically against abortion for socio-economic reasons.
Asked simply if abortion should be available on request, two-thirds (67 per cent) say no.
Niamh Uí Bhriain (pronounced Neeve O’Brien), of the Life Institute in Ireland, tells Breitbart News that – with just seven months left to a referendum on abortion, the campaign to save the 8th amendment has been focused on reaching as many doors as possible and had identified priority areas for the canvass.
Uí Bhriain explains:
We’ve heat-mapped constituencies and identified 700,000 houses which are a priority for us to reach on the door-to-door canvass. The good news is that we’ve already reached 200,000 of that target, and the challenge in the next seven months is to get to the 500,000 homes where voters are most open to having a meaningful discussion on the 8th amendment, and we can share personal stories and leave voters with key information.
Uí Bhriain says that while the Life Canvass continues each week across all the electoral constituencies, more canvassers join up on the National Life Canvass Day.
“The National Life Canvass Day sees a significant increase in new canvassers joining up, with huge numbers of doors being reached and conversations had in that one day,” she states. “We’re also seeing a rapid growth in the number of canvassers joining up now that an Taoiseach [prime minister], Leo Varadkar, has confirmed that an abortion referendum will take place next year.”
Pro-life advocates in Ireland have been battling against well-funded pro-abortion groups that are seeking to use the country as a prototype to upend anti-abortion laws in Catholic countries around the world.
DCLeaks.com revealed last year that progressive billionaire George Soros has been using his Open Society Foundation (OSF) to turn Ireland – what Planned Parenthood refers to as the “jewel in the crown of the pro-life movement” – into a pro-abortion country.
The leaked documents claim that OSF planned three years of strategies to “stem, mitigate and reverse the tide of fetal personhood laws and constitutional amendments” and to generate “a robust set of organizations advancing and defending sexual and reproductive rights and injecting new thinking/strategy into the field.”
“The Open Society Foundations work in many countries to promote full and equal rights for women, including sexual and reproductive autonomy,” an OSF spokesperson told Catholic News Agency, describing the leak as part of “an aggressive crackdown on civil society and human rights activists that is taking place globally.”
Soros recently transferred $18 billion to his Open Society Foundations, which serve as the primary vehicle for his left-wing political activism.
The Irish Times reported Wednesday that a survey of 1,000 adults commissioned by Soros OSF-funded Amnesty International found that 60 percent of those polled said they believe women should have access to abortion on demand.
“A majority also favour access to abortion where there is a diagnosis of a serious but non-fatal foetal abnormality (64 per cent) or based on a woman’s socio-economic circumstances (72 per cent),” the Times report said.
“Amnesty have published yet another expensive poll, with questions that are giving results that are totally at variance with other recent polls,” Uí Bhriain says. “They are making the ridiculous claim that 60% of people agree with abortion on demand when other recent polls by IPSOS MBRI for the Irish Times and Behaviour and Attitudes for the Sunday Times show that support to be between 23% and 29%.”
Uí Bhriain maintains the best chance to “save the 8th” is to go door-to-door talking to people about abortion and the need to protect mothers and babies.
“The Canvass is the single most important and effective way we have of bypassing the media bias and talking directly to the people, and it is key to preserving Ireland’s pro-life culture and protecting both mother and child from the abortion industry,” she asserts.
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