The Family Planning Association (FPA) have a plan to introduce abortion into Ireland North and South, whether we like it or not.
In The North of Ireland the FPA calls itself the fpa(NI) in the Republic there is a sister group called the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) which along with the fpa(NI) is a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the largest abortion promoter in the world.
The problem that the FPA has always faced in Ireland is its complete failure to convince people that abortion is not murder of a child. Time and time again the popular voice in Ireland, North and South, Catholic and Protestant, has been NO to abortion.
Strategic Litigation
The FPA, determined not to let democracy stand in the way of their vision, has employed various strategic means of accomplishing their aim. In the North of Ireland in 2001 the fpa(NI) took a Judicial Review against the Department of Health (NI) to force them to produce "Guidelines on Abortion". This was to be seen as "morally neutral" but in reality was part of ongoing strategic court litigation employed by the FPA to secure abortion rights.
At a conference held at Queens in 2001 on Abortion Law in Ireland feminist lawyers Dr Eileen Fegan and Rachel Rebouche stated;
"The decision to challenge Northern Ireland abortion law through the courts, beginning earlier this year, mirrors the successful use of legal strategies (litigation) in other jurisdictions. In USA and Canada prohibitive abortion laws were struck down through contesting their application in specific cases."Four Pro Life charities, including Precious Life, and the Northern Catholic Bishops, intervened in the case to object to the introduction of the Abortion Guidelines. Initially the fpa(NI) failed in their action, but on appeal the Judges decided that the Department of Health should investigate guidelines.
Earlier this year the Department of Health produced its draft guidelines. To the horror of the pro life movement, they were tantamount to an interpretation of the law which would result in abortion on demand. The guidelines support the view that if a woman claims she is suicidal she may legally abort her baby, to full term, under the defence "to protect the life of the mother". The phrase has been interpreted to include "health and mental state". There is no Criminal legal precedent to support this and this writer is of the opinion that the guidelines contain illegalities and grossly misrepresent the law.
The introduction of these guidelines in the North is being strongly resisted.
Strategies in The Republic
Before 2001 the Irish Medical Council (IMC) exercised a complete ban on abortion. In 2001 the IMC changed its ethical stance. This was called a "subtle shift" in an article in The Lancet.
The ethical guidelines used to state,
"The deliberate and intentional destruction of the unborn child is professional misconduct. Should a child in utero lose its life as a side-effect of standard medical treatment of the mother, then this is not unethical. Refusal by a doctor to treat a woman with a serious illness because she is pregnant would be grounds for complaint and could be considered to be professional misconductThe new wording completely replaces this and uses the phrase that termination of pregnancy can occur where there is a "real and substantive risk to the life of the mother." (s.24.6 IMC Guide to Ethical Conduct and Behaviour) This is the same kind of phrase that the Abortion Guidelines in the North are based around.
Seven doctors staged a protest by walking out of the meeting of the Medical Council when these changes were made, they foresaw the potential abuses. The difference, which might be subtle, but is deadly, is that previously a doctor could never directly abort a child, that is directly and intentionally kill the child, he was only allowed to treat the mother. Now the direct abortion of the child is countenanced.
Behind the moves within the IMC lurked the IFPA and their friends now called Doctors for Choice. The IFPA supported the phrase "real and substantive risk". At the time when the IMC guidelines were being changed those promoting liberal abortion wanted to include suicide as a ground for abortion and also abortion of an unviable foetus. Both of these were rejected, however the change means the guidelines are now open to a liberal interpretation and the same danger may face the Irish Republic as faces the North in the form of abortion on demand in the shape of a suicide ground being introduced.
The IMC has recently announced it will be reviewing its guidelines again. There is a real danger that where the pro abortion lobby failed to insert the suicide ground it may succeed this time. The previous amendment was a massive leap from an outright ban to an unknown quantity. Anything is possible.
The public has until the 7th September to voice its opinion to the IMC. It is suggested that those who are concerned should write to the IMC, by registered post, requesting the following:
"That section 24.6 of the guidelines should be amended to read:
"The deliberate and intentional destruction of the unborn child is professional misconduct. Should a child in utero lose its life as a side-effect of standard medical treatment of the mother, then this is not unethical. Refusal by a doctor to treat a woman with a serious illness because she is pregnant would be grounds for complaint and could be considered to be professional misconduct"
Margaret Pyke was one of he founding members of the FPA. In July 1963 she wrote an article in The Eugenics Review regarding the work of the FPA. She asks "How should we tackle the problem of the Roman Catholic Church?".
Our Faith was always their folly. Let us pray now that it remains so for Ireland.
Ellen O'Donnell (the writer is a Barrister)
for more information please go to: TruthTV
(please note that this article has already been published by the Irish weekly "Irish Family Press" and acknowledgment would be appreciated. We are trying to get as much publicity for what the FPA are attempting to do in Ireland as possible and God willing, stop them.)
