Your Rights Right Now submission to UN Human Rights Council “has lost all credibility” after falsely implying support of other groups for abortion

The recent submission to the UN Human Rights Council from the umbrella group Your Rights Right Now is now completely compromised according to the Pro Life Campaign following the revelation that many of the groups who signed up to the submission were not consulted about the section endorsing abortion. In recent days, several high profile organisations, including Trócaire and the Children’s Rights Alliance, have distanced themselves from the submission over its abortion stance.


Commenting on the latest revelations, Dr Ruth Cullen of the Pro Life Campaign said:

"The Your Rights Right Now submission has lost all credibility. Given the highly sensitive nature of the abortion issue, it is inexcusable that the authors of the report did not see fit to inform the various NGOs about the controversial section on abortion.

It is clear that the main organisers behind the Your Rights Right Now alliance exploited the goodwill of reputable organisations to further a pro-abortion agenda. This is shameful behaviour and thankfully it has now been exposed."

Regarding the specific call from Your Rights Right Now for abortion to be made available in Ireland, Dr Cullen said:

"It makes absolutely no sense for a self-professed human rights group to be advocating the denial of the most basic human right of all – the right to life.

It is also an affront to genuine human rights to ignore all the latest peer reviewed research highlighting the negative consequences of abortion for women and the fact that Ireland, without abortion, is a world leader in terms of safety for pregnant women."

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Abortion advocacy group falsely claims support of other groups in UN Submission

The newly formed Your Rights Right Now group has made a submission to the UN which calls for abortion to be made 

available in Ireland.

A significant number of Irish non-governmental organisations have put their name to this submission, many of which appear to be unaware that their name is being used to promote abortion. Since the Pro Life Campaign and others have raised this issue, the following organisations have withdrawn their endorsements of the Submission;

Trócaire, Crosscare Migrant Project, the Vincentian Refugee Centre, A.C.T.S Transport, EFL Ireland, A.P.S., The National Council for the Blind, Social Inclusion Ireland, and the Integration and Support Unit for New Communities.

Additionally, the Childrens Rights Alliance (an alliance of over 90 non-governmental organisations in Ireland)  has stated that they do not support the call for abortion which is contained in Section 12 of the Submission. 

However many other groups have yet to clarify their position.   

It appears clear that the main organisers behind the Your Rights Right Now report are exploiting the goodwill of reputable organisations to further a pro-abortion agenda.  However, given the fact that many of the organisations which are listed as endorsing the report are involved in separate areas of advocacy, we expect that there will be many more groups opting out of the report over the coming days.

We urge those who are interested in ensuring that a report prepared by an ideologically driven minority does not gain credibility to contact the endorsing organisations and request clarification on this matter.

The list of organisations which endorsed the report was removed from the Your Rights Right Now website on Wednesday 27th April after a number of groups contacted the authors seeking to withdraw their endorsements. However you can download the report here

Below are the email addresses of some of the main groups which have yet to withdraw their endorsements

Organisation Name                                        Email

Adoption Rights Alliance                                info@adoptionrightsalliance.com

A-Z Children's Charity                                     info@azkids.ie

Barnardos                                                         info@barnardos.ie

Comhlámh                                                        info@comhlamh.org

Disability Federation of Ireland               info@disability-federation.ie

Dóchas                                                              anna@dochas.ie

Educate Together                                            info@educatetogether.ie

Foroige                                                              info@foroige.ie

Friends of Londiani, Kenya                      info@friendsoflondiani.com

Galway Traveller Movement                    maria@gtmtrav.ie

Habitat for Humanity Ireland                    info@Habitatireland.Ie

Immigrant Council of Ireland                  admin@immigrantcouncil.ie

Irish Association of Social Workers       office@iasw.ie

Irish National Teachers' Organisation    feedback@into.ie

Irish Refugee Council                                    info@irishrefugeecouncil.ie

Irish Senior Citizen's Parliament              seniors@iol.ie

Irish Translators and Interpreters             itiasecretary@gmail.com

ISPCC                                                             ispcc@ispcc.ie

Mercy Justice Office                                      mercyjusticesc@eircom.net

Ruhama                                                         admin@ruhama.ie

Simon Community                                       info@simoncommunity.com

Somali Irish FA                                                somali-irishfriendship@hotmail.com

Teachers' Union of Ireland                         tui@tui.ie

Treoir                                                                 info@treoir.ie

YMCA Cork                                                        ymcaroi@indigo.ie

Pro Life Campaign makes submission to UN Human Rights Council and challenges Your Rights Right Now submission

The Pro Life Campaign has a made a submission to the UN Human Rights Council, which in October 2011 is due to examine Ireland’s record on human rights as part of its Universal Periodic Review.

Among other things, the PLC calls on the UN group to recognise abortion as a violation of human rights and “to acknowledge Ireland’s outstanding record of care in protecting the lives of women during pregnancy while at the same time affording legal protection to unborn babies.”

The submission takes issue with the claims of pro-choice groups and points out that the recent European Court of Human Rights’ decision in A, B and C v. Ireland “does not require Ireland to introduce legislation authorising abortion.”

The Pro Life Campaign cites the fact that “the judges in the X case heard no medical evidence” and that “any revisiting of the X decision would need to take on board the evidence from new studies that abortion involves significant risks for some women.” 

Responding to the recently published “Your Rights. Right Now” submission to the United Nations from a coalition of non-governmental organisations, calling for abortion to be made available in Ireland, Dr Ruth Cullen of the Pro Life campaign said:

"The Your Rights. Right Now report regards abortion as a human right. It’s an incredibly strange and narrow definition of human rights to deny the humanity of the unborn child throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy. How can genuine human rights be protected if we ignore the most basic right of all, namely the right to life?

The pro-choice movement is very vocal in pushing abortion legislation but shy away when confronted with the latest peer reviewed evidence showing the negative effects of abortion for women and the fact that Ireland, without abortion, is renowned for being a world leader in terms of safety for pregnant women. 

Pro-choice groups are doing their best to create the impression that Ireland is obliged to legislate for abortion following the recent European court ruling on abortion. This is simply not true. The court told Ireland to address the issue but it didn’t instruct the Government to legislate for abortion. The judgement fully respects the right of the Irish people to determine how the lives of unborn children should be protected."

Ends

William Reville, 'Euthanasia will always be cheaper than multidisciplinary care of the dying'

In an alarming article documenting the abandonment by contemporary medicine of the Hippocratic oath and the rise in its place of a cost-saving mentality, headed Worrying undercurrent of economics in debate on euthanasia, published in The Irish Times on 16th December 2010, ethical medical commentator, biochemist William Reville, observes 'we hear more and more arguments in favour of euthanasia. Whatever about other dimensions, there is a strong economic undercurrent to this debate. ... Euthanasia will always be cheaper than multidisciplinary care of the dying.' And it is not just the elderly who are vulnerable to the new economically driven pressure for euthanasia. 'today, medical technology is very effective. Not only can medicine heal, it can improve healthy but “sub-optimal” bodies using a wide range of technologies'. 

You can read the article here 

Programme For Government and the Pro-Life issue

The week before the General Election, Fine Gael gave a written commitment to the Pro-Life Campaign stating it is “opposed to the legalisation of abortion” and “Fine Gael is opposed to research conducted on human embryos, and favours alternative stem cell research that does not involve human embryos such as adult stem cell and umbilical cord research.”  The Fine Gael statement also gave a commitment that “women in pregnancy will receive whatever treatments are necessary to safeguard their lives, and that the duty of care to preserve the life of the baby will also be upheld.”

Now that they are in coalition with Labour, Fine Gael must be firmly encouraged to hold to their commitments. The Fine Gael commitment to pro-life values reflects the view of the majority as evidenced by the latest Red C poll showing 68% of the Irish public support constitutional protection for the unborn.

The Labour Party, on the other hand, is still relying uncritically on the increasingly outdated X case decision allowing abortion right up to birth, which heard no medical evidence and which has been over taken by the ever-growing balance of medical research showing negative consequences of abortion for women.

The Pro Life Campaign also acknowledges the significance of the written commitment it received from Fianna Fáil. 

Starting over a year ago, the Pro Life Campaign reached out to involve not only its supporters but the wider pro-life community by means of an intensive nationwide billboard, newspaper advertising, online and leafleting campaign urging voters to only vote for candidates and parties willing to give a public commitment to protect life. The campaign also included an email and physical postcard campaign to election candidates and party leaders. The valuable pro-life commitments received from both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are a tribute to the thousands of people whether involved in formal politics or as committed citizens who are prepared to work hard and speak out in defence of life.

The challenge now is to stay focussed to ensure that those in Government who favour legislation allowing abortion and embryo-destructive research don’t succeed. We have a positive message to bring to the decision-making process - our new Government has a golden opportunity now to make Ireland a centre of excellence for ethical stem cell research that does not involve the destruction of human embryos, and to consolidate Ireland's ranking as world-leader in safety for women in pregnancy, by taking on board the studies showing the negative effects of abortion for women, and breaking through the ‘pro-choice’ denial of the harm and heartbreak abortion involves for many women and the injustice of the unborn children's lives taken.

Sizeable majority supports legal protection of unborn child

Comments by Dr Berry Kiely at the Pro Life Campaign Press Conference, 

Buswells Hotel, Dublin, 12.00pm, 16th February 2011

The latest research on abortion shows a sizeable majority of the public supports legal protection for the unborn child, while at the same time ensuring that women receive all necessary medical interventions in pregnancy.

The Pro Life Campaign commissioned Red C to carry out the survey on a quota controlled sample of 1,025 people aged 18+ between 8^th – 10^th February 2011.

Question 1 reads as follows:

Are you in favour of, or opposed to, constitutional protection for the unborn that prohibits abortion but allows the continuation of the existing practice of intervention to save a mother’s life in accordance with Irish medical ethics?

The finding shows that 68% support constitutional protection for the unborn, 26% oppose it and 5% don’t know or have no opinion. When the don’t knows/no opinions are excluded, 73% of the public support legal protection and 27% are opposed to it.

The Pro Life Campaign believes that the new poll findings confirm the existence of widespread public support for an approach to protecting the unborn child based on the important distinction between ensuring women receive all necessary medical treatments in pregnancy and prohibiting abortion, where the life of the baby is deliberately targeted.

The success of the Irish medical profession in providing the treatments women need in pregnancy without recourse to an abortion regime is confirmed yet again in the latest Report on Maternal Mortality [1] by the World Health Organisation which shows that Ireland, without legalised abortion, is the safest country for pregnant women, out of 172 countries.

Today’s poll finding comes in the wake of the European Court of Human Rights judgment in A, B & C -v- Ireland which led to calls from some politicians and abortion advocacy groups for abortion to be made available in Ireland. The judgement, however, does not require us to legislate for abortion but leaves it up to Ireland to decide its own laws on abortion.

Question 2 reads as follows:

In a recent Supreme Court decision, judges said that human embryos are not protected by the Constitution but deserve respect and their protection is a matter for the Government. Do you think the Government should legislate, or not, to protect human embryos in the area of stem cell research and assisted human reproduction?

The poll findings show that 62% support legal protection of the human embryo, 27% oppose it and 11% don’t know or have no opinion. When the don’t knows/no opinions are excluded, 69% of the public support legal protection and 31% are opposed to it.

This finding is also very reassuring. The fact that it is adult stem cell research, involving no destruction of human embryos, that is yielding all the breakthroughs we read about on an almost daily basis proves it is possible to work towards a win-win solution for both ethics and science in the area of stem cell research.

Before Election Day, the Pro Life Campaign calls on candidates and parties to state where they stand on the right to life of the unborn child and on legal protection for the human embryo. Voters are entitled to know where candidates and parties stand on these vitally important issues. How we treat the most vulnerable defines how committed we are as a society to an authentic vision of human rights.

Ends

[1] Report on Maternal Mortality by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank (2007, 2010)

RTÉ doesn't report Philadelphia doctor, K Gosnell, charged for killing babies surviving his late term abortions

Dr. Joseph McCarroll PhD
Chairperson
Pro Life Campaign


In Philadelphia, Dr K Gosnell, a licensed family doctor and practising abortionist, has been charged with killing one women during an abortion, and seven babies who survived his late-term abortions.

Like the dog in the Sherlock Holmes story, the curious thing about RTÉ's coverage of this story is that RTÉ didn't cover this story.

It was covered in the Daily Mail, ABC, CBS and AOL. But not by RTÉ.

It was covered by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and Associated Press, but not by RTÉ.

Searches on RTÉ's website under world news yielded the following: 'Your search yielded no results.' Indeed.

This is an important story for several reasons. It shines a national and international searchlight into what is involved in later term abortions. It is an example of the way in which abortion targets poor and minority women.

But it also gives the lie to the abortion advocates false claim that it is they who care for women by ensuring the availability of safe and legal abortion for poor women who couldn't otherwise afford them.

The Grand Jury Report shows how pro-choice political pressure brought blocked the implementation of State rules requiring state inspection s oif abortion clinics on the grounds that such inspections would deter poor women from accessing abortion.

As Marian Wang reveals in her piece for ProPublica,

'In the mid-1990s, the administration of Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a pro-choice Republican, ended regular inspections of abortion clinics—a policy that continued until just last year. 

According to the Grand Jury Report released this week by Philadelphia prosecutors, Pennsylvania health officials deliberately chose not to enforce laws to ensure that abortion clinics provide the same level of care as other medical service providers.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health abruptly decided, for political reasons, to stop inspecting abortion clinics at all. The politics in question were not anti-abortion, but pro.

With the change of administration from Governor Casey to Governor Ridge, officials concluded that inspections would be “putting a barrier up to women” seeking abortions.

“Even nail salons in Pennsylvania are monitored more closely for client safety,” the report states. "Without regular inspections, providers like Gosnell continue to operate; unlawful and dangerous third-trimester abortions go undetected; and many women, especially poor women, suffer."

According to the report, the policy change occurred after 1993 when attorneys under the administration of then-governor Tom Ridge "interpreted the same regulations that had permitted annual inspections for years to no longer authorize those inspections." Thereafter, only inspections triggered by complaints were authorized.

You can read the Grand Jury's Report here

You can read the Associated Press article here

You can read the New York Times article here

You can read Marian Wang's ProPublica article here

A search in the World section on RTÉ's website, however, yielded the following:

'Your search for Dr K Gosnell, abortionist charged with 8 murders in Philadelphia did not return any results.'

They sure got that right.  For this ideological censorship we pay our TV licences.