A time to uphold the right to life: Statement by the Catholic Bishops of
Ireland
On the second day of the June General Meeting of the Irish Catholic Bishops’
Conference in Maynooth, the following statement has been issued:
A time to reflect
On Saturday last, tens of thousands of women, men and children gathered in Dublin to
express their support for the equal right to life of mothers and their unborn children.
We are at a defining moment for our country.
The Gospel of life is at the heart of the message of Jesus. He came that we may have
life and have it to the full (Jn 10:10). The Gospel challenges us to work for a world in
which the dignity and beauty of every human life are respected.
A time to uphold the right to life
The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights; it is the foundation of all other
rights. No individual has the right to destroy life and no State has the right to
undermine the right to life.
Yet the Irish Government is proposing abortion legislation that will fundamentally
change the culture of medical practice in Ireland. For the first time legislation will be
enacted permitting the deliberate and intentional killing of an unborn child. This
represents a radical change. Every citizen, not just people of faith, should be deeply
concerned.
We value the skill and efforts of our doctors, nurses and other care professionals who
have helped to earn Ireland’s place as one of the safest countries in the world for
mothers and their babies during pregnancy.
Catholic Church teaching is clear: where a seriously ill pregnant woman needs medical
treatment which may put the life of her baby at risk, such treatments are ethically
permissible provided every effort is made to save both the mother and her baby.
This is different from abortion, which is the direct and intentional taking of the innocent
life of the unborn. No matter what legislation is passed in any country, abortion is, and
always will be, gravely wrong.
A time for clarity and truth
The Government is under no obligation to legislate for the X case. People are being misled. We challenge repeated statements that this legislation is about saving lives and
involves no change to the law or practice on abortion. Legalising the direct and
intentional destruction of the life of an unborn baby can never be described as ‘lifesaving’ or ‘pro-life’.
Contrary to clear psychiatric evidence, this legislation proposes abortion as an
appropriate response to women with suicidal feelings during pregnancy. It is even
possible to envisage as a result of this legislation the deliberate destruction of a child,
who could otherwise be saved, right up to and including the moment of birth.
Furthermore, we challenge assurances that the proposed legislation will provide limited
access to abortion. As published to date, the legislation will allow for a very wide
margin of subjective professional assessment by which the deliberate destruction of an
unborn baby can be legally justified. As we have learned from other countries, such
legislation opens the door to ever wider availability of abortion.
We remain convinced that enhanced medical guidelines, which do not envisage the
direct and intentional killing of the unborn, could provide the necessary clarity as well as
a morally, legally and medically acceptable way forward. While good health can
normally be restored, life, once taken, can never, never be restored.
A time for freedom of conscience
Freedom of conscience is a fundamental human right. A State that truly cherishes
freedom will respect the conscience of its citizens, including its public representatives,
on such an important human value as the right to life.
It is ethically unacceptable to expect doctors, nurses and others who have conscientious
objections to nominate others to take their place. Neither should any institution with a
pro-life ethos be forced to provide abortion services.
A time to decide: a time to act; a time to pray
We call on citizens to exercise their right to make their views known respectfully to our
public representatives and to leave them in no doubt about where they stand on this
issue.
We ask our public representatives to uphold the equal and inviolable right to life of all
human beings, even if this means standing above other pressures and party loyalties.
We also invite our priests and people to continue to pray the Choose Life prayer at Mass
and in the home that the dignity and value of all human life will continue to be upheld in
this country.
Some mothers today are facing difficult or crisis pregnancies. Other people who have
had, or who have assisted with abortions, may be re-living what happened in the past.
They deserve to receive all the love, support and professional care that they need.As Bishops we will join this weekend in prayerful solidarity with millions of Catholics all
over the world in the Year of Faith celebration of Blessed John Paul II’s
Encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life).
Every human life is precious, every human life is beautiful, every human life is sacred.
Choose life
