An all-Ireland pro-life rally in Dublin. (William Murphy/infomatique via Flickr)
On Friday, May 25, voters in the Republic of Ireland approved repealing the pro-life Eighth Amendment of the country’s constitution by a 66 to 34 percent margin. The country once thought to be the most pro-life in Europe is now solidly in favor of legal abortion.
Here are some suggestions for people in Ireland who want to save unborn children.
1. Don’t give in to discouragement.
It’s tough to work hard on a campaign for months and even years and then get shellacked.
The size and distribution of the beating – you won in Donegal and nowhere else, and even there only by less than four points – shows you have a lot of work to do.
But this is not the time to throw in the towel. Remember the line from the old rebel song? Night is darkest just before the dawn …
An example from your own history should be helpful. As you know, the Easter Rising of 1916 seemed a colossal failure after the rebels surrendered. Not only had they lost, but the vast majority of the population condemned what they had done. Within a half-dozen years, though, most of Ireland was mostly free.
This may take longer … but it’s doable.
2. Have a pro-life march every year.
The March for Life in Washington D.C. has grown to the point where it takes hours to go a couple miles. The crowds are enormous, and they go home not only energized but more committed than ever.
In America the march is on January 23, the date the federal Supreme Court legalized abortion everywhere in a decision called Roe v. Wade. May 25 seems like a good candidate in Ireland.
3. Demand clear and accurate language in every public discussion about abortion.
Gone are the days in the United States when a politician could claim to be “personally pro-life.” Nobody hears the word “choice” anymore and thinks it means “freedom” – we all know it means “abortion.”
To read the quotes in Irish newspapers from voters, you have a lot of confused people in Ireland. One way to un-confuse them over time is to use clear language. Such as: Abortion is killing a baby before the baby is born.
4. Pray outside the places where abortions are performed.
Praying outside abortion clinics has been effective in the United States.
Some of the results come from human effort. In some instances, pro-life sidewalk counselors have been able to talk women and girls out of having an abortion just moments before it was going to occur. And just the appearance of a group of people outside – and in all kinds of weather – emphasizes to passersby that something momentous (and, in this case, monstrous) is going on inside.
As for the effect of prayer, that’s something mysterious. But it’s powerful.
In recent years abortion clinics all over the country have been going out of business. There are now large areas of the United States where there’s nowhere to get an abortion.
5. Create your own media.
One of the complaints I heard from Irish pro-lifers last year is that all the major media outlets in Ireland are wildly pro-abortion. After reading them online, I can see the pro-lifers are right. The newspapers don’t pretend to be evenhanded even in their news coverage.
So: Go around them. In the digital age, you ought to be able to create a media entity that is read, relied upon, and pro-life.
6. Take over a political party. Or create your own.
When the Democratic Party in the United States turned hard left in the 1970s, evangelical Protestants gravitated to the Republican Party, and within a few years the GOP – which was practically synonymous with Planned Parenthood in earlier decades – became a pro-life party. It’s now clear to all that in order to win the Republican nomination for president, you have to at least appear to be pro-life. Indeed, every presidential race since 1980 has pitted a publicly pro-life Republican against a publicly pro-abortion Democrat.
The nominally pro-life party in the United States isn’t reliable, and yours in Ireland won’t be, either. But the presence of pro-life grassroots in a major political party in America ensures that abortion remains front-and-center in every major political contest.
That’s not to say abortion is the major issue in every election. But it’s always an issue, and it always matters. Serene pundits in the 1980s and 1990s used to predict that abortion would disappear as a topic of political discussion in America. No one says that now.
A pro-life party in Ireland would give you a seat at the table you don’t currently have.
7. Tout technology.
The more theoretical abortion appears, the easier it is to accept it. The more specific and detailed and documented it is, the harder it is to stomach.
Ultrasound images of fetuses in the womb in the 1970s turned abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson around. For former Planned Parenthood clinic employee of the year Abby Johnson, it was seeing images on a screen of a tiny baby in the womb trying in vain to avoid a suction machine. For Norma McCorvey (the “Roe” of Roe v. Wade), it was seeing a picture of a fetus at 10 weeks.
Don’t just tell people the truth; show it to them.
8. Once you regain momentum, never stop.
Momentum in the United States is clearly on the pro-life side. Planned Parenthood, the major abortion provider in the country, is reeling from undercover videos that showed executives negotiating to sell fetal body parts. America has its most pro-life president ever, and he’s acting on what he says he believes.
When the next pro-abortion federal Supreme Court justice leaves, a massive battle will ensue over the replacement nominee, because that one may make the difference in finally overturning Roe v. Wade.
But pro-lifers won’t just leave things to the wind. They will be insisting that an anti-Roe nominee be picked and will put pressure on U.S. senators to confirm the nominee. They will then bring cases designed to get a favorable court decision. Once they get it, they’ll turn to the states, and demand that legislators do what they should to protect unborn children.
In private action, pro-lifers will continue doing as much as they can to help women with problem pregnancies, both because it’s the right thing to do in and of itself, and to encourage them to choose life.
In short: Pro-lifers in America are ready to win, no matter how long it takes. You should be, too.
An all-Ireland pro-life rally in Dublin. (William Murphy/infomatique via Flickr) 
