Aborting sick and disabled children reflects a Nazi eugenics mentality, says Pope Francis. Speaking to members of the Forum of Family Associations on Saturday, Francis decried the “fashion” for prenatal testing of an unborn child’s health with a view to aborting those that are sick or disabled. He told the Forum this practice is “the Read more
New Zealand’s approach to the issue of how to allow for GPs who conscientiously object to providing abortion services may provide the basis for how such services are provided in Ireland. Ireland’s National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) and their health minister Simon Harris have appeared at loggerheads after the doctors’ group said that onward referral Read more
Irish hospitals that receive government money will be expected to carry out abortions when new abortion laws come into effect. This includes hospitals with a Catholic character, the Irish prime minister says. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says doctors, nurses and midwives could opt out of performing procedures on conscience grounds. If they want to keep Read more
The overwhelming vote in Ireland in favor of allowing access to abortion shows that the pro-life movement needs a new strategy. Trying to preserve anti-abortion laws or trying to reverse the legalization of abortion is simply not working. In almost every country where abortion has been on the ballot, abortion has won. Rarely have pro-choice Read more
Catholic “yes” voters in Ireland’s Eighth Amendment abortion referendum should not be allowed to marry in a Catholic Church, say two priests from Northern Ireland. In a letter to the Belfast Telegraph, Father Patrick McCafferty said yes voters should “get married in City Hall.” It is “dishonest to have a wedding in a church if Read more
Irish people voted on Friday to ditch the country’s strict abortion laws. The landslide result overwhelmingly supported repealing the 1983 constitutional ban on abortions. The referendum results showed that among 2.1 million votes cast, 1.4 million were in favour of repealing the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment. The Amendment says a mother and unborn child have an Read more
The New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Conference (NZCBC) and its centre of bioethics, The Nathaniel Centre say that abortion is both a health and a justice issue and it should continue to be treated by the law as such. Their concern is that that making abortion purely a health issue would limit or remove the rights of the unborn Read more
Technology giants Google and Facebook have suspended all advertising about Ireland’s abortion referendum. At present voters are being asked to decide whether to repeal Ireland’s constitutional ban on most abortions. Google says protecting “election integrity” is behind their decision. Advertisements on Google-owned companies AdWords and YouTube are included in the ban. Facebook says its decision Read more
When Pope Francis insisted that the lives of the unborn and of the poor are “equally sacred,” he was not trying to shift the focus of Catholics from fighting abortion to fighting poverty, he was trying to show they are part of the same battle, said Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Read more
The rights of medical professionals’ conscientious objection to participating in medical procedures to which their beliefs are opposed are being clarified in the British Parliament. The Conscientious Objection (Medical Activities) Act 2017 would defend healthcare workers in England and Wales from partaking in the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, IVF or similar fertility treatments, or abortion Read more