A National Tragedy: Ireland Passes 'Trojan Horse' Abortion Law

The Irish Parliament has passed a new law that would authorize abortions in cases where the life of the mother is in jeopardy.Of course, like many such exceptions, it goes much deeper than that. The new law has proved divisive in the overwhelmingly Catholic nation.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Members of the Irish Parliament overwhelmingly passed what is called the "Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill 2013" with 127 in favor and just 31 opposed.

Church leadership and Pro-Life lawmakers are rightly concerned that the law will be used to open the door to promote abortion on demand in Ireland. Such 'health exceptions' are usually intended to do just that. They have an international track record which proves that point. 

Caroline Simons, a Pro-Life Layer. told the Irish press, "The only procedures allowed in this bill are procedures which will result in the death of an unborn baby and with no indication that this is going to have any role to play in saving a woman's life".

The bill is alleged by supporters to be a legislative response to the death of a woman who died after suffering a miscarriage. Last October, Savita Halappanavar, 31, entered a Galway hospital complaining of severe back pain. Doctors found that her baby had died within the womb. However, her body did not expel the dead child. Doctors claim they waited for three days before removing the baby from her womb, during which time she developed a blood infection that claimed her life four days later.

Doctors say they were 'confused' as to whether or not they could perform the removal without violating that nation's strict antiabortion laws. In Ireland, anyone who obtains or performs an abortion can face up to 14 years in prison because the nation recognizes the truth that every procured abortion takes the life of an innocent child.

The real question is whether the failure to intervene to help Savita Halappanavar actually had more to do with poor medical care and negligence which is now being used to promote an Anti-Life agenda.  

The other alleged purpose given by some proponents of the bill was that it was an attempt to clarify an Irish Supreme Court ruling from 20 years prior, that said that abortion is acceptable in cases where the life of the mother is in jeopardy.However, the bill also contains what many are calling a "Trojan horse provision."

Specifically, if the mother claims she is a suicide risk, then she will qualify for an exemption under the law and may obtain an abortion for any reason and at any time. 'Depression' is a health of the mother 'exception'. Many people in ireland  worry that women who want to have an abortion, even as means of birth control, will simply proclaim they are severely depressed or suicidal in order to obtain abortions.

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Supporters of the bill counter that women who say they are suicidal must have the approval of two psychiatrists and an obstetrician stating that the risk of suicide is "real and substantial." Yet even this is a dangerous doorway to abortion on demand. Just as in the United States, where there are doctors who hand out prescriptions virtually on demand, it is likely that psychiatrists and obstetricians in Ireland will do the same for women seeking abortions.

It should be clear that the Catholic Church does not believe a woman should be compelled to carry her dead baby within the womb, especially after it has died as a result of natural causes. Thankfully, we have advanced medical procedures that can detect such a tragedy, remove the deceased baby's body and protect the life of the mother.

The bill passed by the Irish Parliament is a trojan horse which will allow women who conspire with carefully selected doctors and psychologists, to obtain abortions on demand. This goes far beyond protecting the life of the mother, and perverts the law into nothing less than the wholesale legalization of abortion in one of the few countries where the Right to Life of the child in the womb is still recognized - and where his or her life is actively protected by law from conception to death.

Hopefully, Irish lawmakers will take notice of this glaring loophole and do something about it before  children die at the hands of doctors and psychologists who place their ideology ahead of the Right to Life of children in the womb.

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