Pro Life Campaign (PLC) is an Irish pro-life advocacy organisation. Its primary spokesperson is Cora Sherlock. It is a non-denominational organisation which promotes anti-abortion views and defends human life at all stages from conception to natural death, and opposes abortion in all circumstances.
The Pro Life Campaign was established in 1992. Its office is located in Lower Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin.
Video Pro Life Campaign
Foundation
After the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was ratified in September 1983, a number of those involved in that campaign, including some lawyers, decided to initiate legal proceedings through SPUC (Ireland). The targets were two pregnancy advisory agencies in Dublin. The cases started in 1985, won at the Supreme Court of Ireland (1988) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (1992). That same year, the X case arose, and abortion in potentially wide circumstances was endorsed by the Irish Supreme Court.
The group that had planned the SPUC (Ireland) cases at once advised the setting up of the Pro Life Campaign (PLC). Within a week of the court judgement, it had set up an office in North Great Georges Street and held its first press conference on 10 March. The chairman, and later honorary president, was Des Hanafin, who had played a central role in the 1983 campaign.
Pro Life Campaign is a trading name of VIE Ltd, a private limited company incorporated in Ireland in June 1993. Its founding directors were Joe McCarroll, Owen Doyle, Mary Barrett, John O'Reilly, Barry Kiely, Des Hanafin, Marie Vernon, Catherine Bannon, Jerry Collins, Michael Lucey and Desmond McDoland.
Maps Pro Life Campaign
1992 Abortion Referendums
In 1992, in the wake of the X Case, there were three abortion referendums in Ireland (12th, 13th and 14th).
The government had proposed the 12th Amendment Bill as an attempt to rule out the risk of suicide as a ground for an abortion. It would have added the following clause to Article 40.3.3º:
The Pro Life Campaign rejected this wording as too broad, and proposed the following alternative wording:
The PLC also called for a No vote on the 14th Amendment which allowed for the provision of information on services outside the state. It was strongly opposed to the 13th, which allowed for travel outside the state, but did not call for a No vote.
Both the 13th and 14th amendments were passed. The 12th amendment bill was defeated, after a combination of liberal campaigners who did not support excluding a risk of suicide as a ground, and those in the PLC.
2002 Abortion Referendum
The Pro Life Campaign campaigned for a Yes vote on the Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2002. A statement on their website read:
We welcome the proposed 25th Amendment (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) Bill and are calling for a 'YES' vote.
The Amendment restores protection to unborn children. It protects women by ensuring the lawful availability of necessary medical treatment to save their lives.The reality of unexpected pregnancies also challenges us to put the resources in place to meet the real needs of women. A clear law on the right to life is an important first step to framing social policies to help reduce our abortion rate.
During the campaign, a member referenced the Finnish study published in the British Medical Journal which claimed women were six times more likely to commit suicide after abortion than if they went through with their pregnancies.
The Pro Life Campaign was the second largest spender during the referendum, spending EUR350,000. It received EUR200,000 of undisclosed donations during the campaign.
NGO status at UNESC
The Pro-Life Campaign has consultative NGO status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council, granted in 2011.
It has participated in regular sessions organised by the Council to oversee the various covenants affecting Ireland, and attended and made written submissions to Universal Periodic Reviews into Ireland.
In June 2015, the PLC participated in a General Discussion on Article 6 (Right to Life) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In February 2017, the PLC participated in the 66th Session of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), where it advocated against any change to Ireland's abortion law.
Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013
The PLC organised a protest in Merrion Square in June 2013, as the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 was being debated. Official figures put the crowd at 15,000 to 20,000 people, with the organisers claiming 50,000. Attendees included GAA Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte, Adele Best of Women Hurt, Jennifer Kehoe, Maria Steen and Íde Nic Mathúna, co-founder of Youth Defence. The Bill was approved in the Dáil by 127 votes to 31. It passed its final stage in the Seanad on 23 July 2013, by 39 votes to 14. It was signed into law on 30 July by Michael D. Higgins, the President of Ireland.
A 2014 "National Vigil" took place at Merrion Square on 3 May 2014, and was attended by about 4,500 people, with the organisers claiming 15,000. They criticised the newly passed Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. Speakers included Cora Sherlock, Caroline Simons, and Lynn Coles of Women Hurt.
Irish General Election 2016
The Pro Life Campaign spent EUR40,000 during the Irish general election, 2016. They produced recommendations for who to vote for based on which politicians voted for the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013
Citizens Assembly
In 2016 the Irish government established the Citizens' Assembly, a group of 99 citizens, to discuss the Eighth Amendment, and then make recommendation to the government. This is similar to the 2012 Constitutional Convention.
While the PLC criticised the Citizens' Assembly, claiming it has a pre-arranged outcome, it nonetheless participated, making a presentation to the Assembly in March 2017.
2018 referendum
In the referendum on the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018 to replace the provisions of Article 40.3.3º with a clause allowing for legislation on the termination of pregnancy, which passed by a two-thirds majority, the Pro Life Campaign organised the unsuccessful Love Both campaign.
LGBT issues
Joe McCarroll co-founded, and was Chairperson of the Pro Life campaign until December 2015. In 1993, as national secretary of Family Solidarity, he campaigned against the decriminalisation of homosexuality, calling it "unnatural", In 2015, in the lead up to the marriage equality referendum, he campaigned against it, and called for a no vote. Writing in The Brandsma Review after the referendum (where same-sex marriage was approved), he accused the media of lying, and complained about funding from outside the State.
Des Hanafin, co-founder, former leader and former honorary president, accused equality campaigners in the same-sex marriage referendum of spreading a "palpable climate of fear", and called for a No vote. His son, Senator John Hanafin resigned from Fianna Fáil rather than vote for civil partnerships for same sex couples in 2010.
In 2005 Pro Life Campaign members had written to a Dáil committee arguing against legal recognition of same-sex couples. The submission from the North Tipperary branch opposed any legal recognition of same sex couples, claiming same sex relationships were an "unnatural union" and "totally unacceptable, and an attack upon the family". The Cork North West branch submission asked "why can't they [same-sex couples] make their own legal arrangements distinct from marriage?" and claimed "a homosexual environment is incomplete" for raising children
See also
- Abortion in the Republic of Ireland
- Iona Institute
- Youth Defence
- Family Solidarity
- Des Hanafin
- Joe McCarroll
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments