I am a 44-year-old man and almost ten years ago my then-partner fell pregnant. She traveled from Ireland to England for an abortion. I was not aware she was traveling and the next five years of my life were devastating. I ended up seriously contemplating suicide twice and drinking heavily to cope. I was not able to have a relationship with any female and my appearance suffered as I gained weight and self-loathed. The lady who aborted our child did so out of fear.

She was afraid she would be left alone to raise the baby. Abortion was offered to her as a “solution.” I saw her retreat into herself, also drinking heavily, and both of us became very angry. Despite the abortion provider’s website offering counseling services, she got none.

She was only able to ask a couple of questions like, ”Will the baby feel pain?” Afterward, she was herded out like an animal who had a minor procedure performed. No empathy, no care, none of the things that those who hold up abortion as a solution claim exists. They took her fee and showed her the door. All these years on we are both somewhat healed. We are on friendly terms. We are both hurt. Our baby is dead.

May 26th, 2018. I was sitting at home watching the “celebrations” in Dublin Castle. Ireland had voted to allow unrestricted abortion up to twelve weeks into pregnancy.

As I sat somewhat dazed and feeling ill to my stomach at what was unfolding, I thought back to my own journey. After finding out what happened to our baby, I made it my business to work out what abortion meant. I spent three months looking at diagrams, procedures, and forums. I discovered what late-term abortion entails. I discovered the tools used in this “trade.” I sometimes sat crying at a screen thinking of a little child struggling to fend off the instruments of death. Videos I watched showed children being surgically torn apart and put into pans. I came to the conclusion I do not know how anyone could think abortion of pregnancy is a good idea.

Now, there were thousands of Irish people jumping up and down, faces painted, and our minister for health posing like a celebrity among the hordes. Our Taoiseach (Prime Minister) had photos taken of himself overlooking the crowd and put on social media. It was bizarre.

This had been the first campaign where I remember the government taking such a divisive stance. Those of us who were pro-life had kicked off our campaign earlier and by the time the government mobilized, the polls were showing even numbers.

I ran an anonymous pro-life account on Twitter. About a month after opening it, noticed strange things happening. The number of followers would decrease around 10 AM each morning. Another two weeks in and those who had been re-tweeting me were not able to see my tweets. There were rumors hose providing social media platforms were interfering with the debate.

As our government became entrenched in bringing abortion to Ireland they ramped up their Social Media Campaign. The majority party in power (Fine Gael) had in 2017 recruited a major media resource and it was apparent this person’s work was at play. Via his own Twitter account, he had joked about planting media stories. He had spoken many times in his previous role about being pro-abortion. Our Taoiseach produced some professional videos showing women leaving Ireland to travel to England for abortions. In every debate, those who wanted to allow abortion increasingly used the rape justification for abortion. While rape is a horrible, disgusting crime, I began to wonder: how many rapes go unreported? Ireland was portrayed as the rape capital of the world.

The polls began to show the pro-abortion side winning. As they did, the deaths of a number of women were attributed to Ireland not allowing abortion.

One lady Savita Halappanavar who died in the hospital from sepsis while pregnant in October 2012 was used as the poster woman of the “Yes” campaign despite her widower asking for her not to be used by any side.

On Twitter, the pro-abortion movement made no mistake. They recruited name after name in the media. I began to wonder where their funds were coming from. U2, Liam Neeson, former and current sports stars were all involved in the “Yes” campaign. I began to hear whispers in the workplace suggesting a “yes” vote to allow abortion in Ireland. One went, ”well you know my sister had a very hard pregnancy,” and another said, “I don’t agree with abortion but women are dying left, right, and center here.”

People were panicking. The number of women who have, factually, died as a result of Ireland’s abortion laws up to 2018? Zero.

The government had done their job. They persuaded public opinion to legalize abortion. In the final days of the debate, it was clear only a major slip-up would see abortion kept away from Ireland’s shores. The “yes” campaign kept repeating their keywords: “compassion,” “care,” “rape,” “yes.”

Personally, I have never seen anything like it.

Two ministers, who had assured their constituents in 2011 that they were pro-life, had delivered abortion to Ireland as our health system lay crumbling, as 200+ Irish women had died from incorrect cervical testing.

Care and compassion seem to be only available to those who want to end the life of another human being. In Irish hospitals, we have people in their nineties waiting 24 hours plus to get a bed in A&E (accident and emergency hospital). Yet we will now have taxpayer funded abortion available on demand.

May 26th, 2018, the day Irish citizens celebrated being allowed to kill the preborn. I spent the next two nights drinking heavily. I was unable to go to work on Monday, not because I was hungover, but because I had awful visions of what our country was about to face. Anyone who has seen an abortion video knows what it entails. What starts out as a beautiful preborn child developing in its mother’s womb ends up being removed in a barbaric fashion and disposed of without dignity, compassion, or care.

Why did Ireland’s leaders want this? Well, I have two main theories.

The first is that both our Health minister (Simon Harris) and our Taoiseach (Leo Varadkar) changed their pro-life stance to pro-abortion because they realized there were more votes to be won by being pro-abortion. Secondly, our Taoiseach is on very friendly terms with Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister. Canada allows abortion up to full term. Perhaps one leader saw the other as being modern and forward-thinking, so he copied his policies.

Think of your son or daughter. Think of your niece; think of any child you know. Can you remember the first time you saw them? Now imagine them 24 hours previously being removed from their Mother’s womb. Yes, it is easy to kill something when you cannot see its eyes, is it not? But when it is a little face you now recognize, a human being with his or her own unique characteristics, a little boy potty training or a little girl combing her hair--think of that child being destroyed because of someone else’s “choice.” It is pretty sickening.

Our world has become obsessed with a consumerist culture. The buyer is always right. We can purchase a service, a product; we want to use it, dispose of it, forget it. We all have the ultimate choice there is – a choice to partake in sex in a way which does not result in pregnancy. But once a life is created, “choice” should cease.

The pro-abortion movement offers up terms like “forced birth.” If no one forced you to get pregnant, how can it be a “forced birth”?’

As humans, we are choosing to exterminate fellow humans at a point in the life spectrum where we ourselves had no choice. We are here because someone else gave us the gift of life. We are here because one or more people offered us love, care, and compassion. You will notice at no point have I mentioned anything about religious beliefs. The pro-abortion movement loves the “keep your rosaries off my ovaries” line. I don’t care what your religion is. What I care about is what is right or wrong and to take away the choice to live from a defenseless human being who is growing and developing as I myself once did, is simply wrong.





The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Human Defense Initiative.