Ireland has remained one of the few highly developed countries to outlaw all abortion. Now the protection for the unborn – known as the 8th amendment – is up for a referendum on May 25th. In preparation, Bishop Fintan Monahan has issued a pastoral letter.

Basic Principles

He begins by noting the Christian understanding of life.

Christians believe that all life is sacred and is a gift from God. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says ‘The human body shares in the dignity of “the image of God”: it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit.’ To destroy the body is to deny the human soul its right to full development. Modern medicine and science has done so much to help us appreciate the wonder of human life from the moment of conception. Moments that remain forever embedded in the hearts of parents are when they first see a scan of their unborn child and marvel at the wonder of new life or when the tiny fingers of their new-born first cling onto their own fingers.

The Irish Reality

Having laid the groundwork, he notes the difference between what Ireland has and what abortion is.

The medical care offered to both mothers and babies in Ireland is among the best in the world in terms of safety and excellence. The Irish constitution as it stands offers protection and care in equal measure to both women and unborn babies. Why would we want to alter this carefully worked balance to the detriment of either mother or baby?

Then he goes on to describe the reality of abortion.

We must clearly state what abortion is – it is the direct killing of an innocent human being. This is simply not right. Children with disabilities or genetic disorders are disproportionately affected. In Britain 9 out 10 babies who have been diagnosed in the womb with Down Syndrome are aborted.

Read the rest on the Irish Bishops’ website.

We need to keep Ireland in our prayers at this crucial moment. And if you have some money to donate to a pro-life cause, helping Irish pro-life groups fight this referendum would be a worthy cause.

UPDATE: I posted this on Facebook and thus exposed Facebook’s bias. Facebook suggested 3 charities for it, and all of them directly fund abortions, and not one pro-life option. (You can find this image to share on Facebook and Twitter.)