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6th October 2023
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In this Issue...

READ: Texas abortion ban saving 1,000 babies a month (#hhHH)

REGISTER: Two new speakers confirmed for (#PLCNC)
PLC National Conference next Saturday 14th. REGISTER today! (#PLCNC)

READ: (#hhh) Minister Donnelly ducking questions by Carol Nolan on Exclusion Zones and the sale of Human Embryos (#hhh)

READ: Opposing euthanasia is the only “credible safeguard against normalisation of consensual killing in healthcare”, Dr Finegan tells Oireachtas committee (#hh)

READ: Head of pro-abortion advocacy group appointed US Senator in California (#2)

REGISTER NOW: Communicating the Pro-Life Message with The Minimise Project, Wednesday, October 18th from 8PM

ACTION: Get involved in the Humanity Campaign – Communicate with your politicians (#Humanity) today (#Humanity)

ACTION (#history) : Do you have pro-life material which could be historically relevant? (#history)
Texas abortion ban saving 1,000 babies a month (http://)
Caption: Pro Life Campaigners outside the State Capitol in Austin, Texas
There’s really compelling evidence that the lives of approximately 1,000 babies are being saved from abortion each month in Texas as a direct result of the recent abortion ban there, combined with the impact of the Alternatives to Abortion programme being run in the state, which provides life-affirming alternatives to abortion and aims to improve maternal and child health.

The Alternatives to Abortion programme received state funding to the tune of $100 million for 2022-23, with $140 million already authorised for 2024-5.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has confirmed the collapse in the number of abortions taking place in the state and local pro-life counselling services are speaking about their first hand experience dealing with the huge increase in the number of women deciding to keep their babies who are availing of the support being offered to them.

LifeNews quotes from an article penned this week by the President of Human Coalition, one of the largest pro-life organisations in the U.S, and the Executive Director of the Texas Pregnancy Care Network, where they say: “By establishing both a law that protected precious lives and a strong material safety net for vulnerable women, Texas truly became a leader for how states should respond to the needs of women everywhere post-Dobbs. We are extraordinarily proud to have been part of this effort.”

The huge drop in the number of abortions in Texas is also backed by research published in June by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which concluded that “the Texas abortion ban resulted in nearly 9,800 extra live births” in the state in the year after the new law went into effect.

Michael J. New, an associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute also conducted research earlier this year that came to very similar findings to those in the Johns Hopkins study.

“In my Charlotte Lozier Institute analysis of Texas birth data, I found that the Heartbeat Act was preventing approximately 1,000 abortions from taking place in Texas every month,” New wrote earlier this week in a column published at LifeNews. “Also, new data from the CDC show that in 2022 the Texas birth rate increased by 4.7 percent — the largest percentage increase in the country.”

What has been achieved in Texas is a tremendous victory for life. The combination of an abortion ban and putting the supports in place to assist women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy has without any doubt saved tens of thousands of lives to date.

The way the Government here however is taking things in the complete opposite direction is a terrible tragedy - spending tens of millions of taxpayers’ money on ending the lives of unborn babies as they watch the abortion rate spiral. It’s why we have to do everything in our power as a movement to encourage more and more people to vote pro-life at election time.
Register Today for PLC National Conference 2023! Two new speakers confirmed! (http://)

Our annual National Conference this year will take place on Saturday, 14th October 2023 in the RDS Concert Hall, Dublin 4.

The main theme of the conference is 'Growing the Pro-Life vote, Bringing about change at election time' and underlines our focus on getting more public representatives elected who will speak up courageously for human rights, for the right to life of unborn children and for care and support for women in unplanned pregnancy.

The keynote speaker for the National Conference is Obianuju Ekeocha.

New Speakers include:

Cllr. Deirdre Donnelly is an Independent Councillor for the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area. As well as being a hard working councillor on local issues, she has a keen interest in culture and the arts and is well known for her promotion of the Irish language. As a councillor, among other things, she is a passionate advocate on disability issues and ensuring proper supports are in place. She is also a courageous defender of the right-to-life of unborn babies and strongly believes that more attention needs to be paid to meeting the needs of women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.

Jordan Brittain is Pacific Southwest Regional Coordinator for Students for Life of America, organising pro-life students across 13 US States. She has worked with various pregnancy centres in Arizona and California and her current role includes educating and training students about abortion on and off campuses, managing events and lobbying for the pro-life cause.

We will also have the following Workshops from 11am:
* Social Media
* Students for Life
* Medical
* Political Engagement
* Grassroots Action
* Support of Mothers and Babies

Plus, information Stands featuring different pro-life initiatives, organisations, resources, leaflets, pregnancy support and more!

FREE childminding facility available on the day! Simply indicate your interest when filling in the registration form. (Limited availability and subject to pre-booking),

Seating for the event is limited - so don’t delay, register TODAY below to attend the conference next Saturday!
See you there!
Register Now! ([link removed])
Minister Donnelly ducking questions by Carol Nolan on Exclusion Zones and the sale of Human Embryos (http://)

Carol Nolan TD

Deputy Carol Nolan TD, in separate parliamentary questions put to the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, has revealed several pertinent points of information.

When queried on the amount of proposed ‘safe access zones’ which the progressing legislation would create, the Minister ran away from answering the question. He stated, “I am not in a position to specify the number of zones.”

We know that the Department of Health commissioned Táilte Éireann (formerly the OSI) to try and get a handle on just how much territory the 100-metre zones would cover across Ireland. The Minister is either unable or unwilling to give a clear and adequate answer on this question.

Nonetheless, the Minister expects the Oireachtas and members of the public not to ask such questions, and instead to railroad through a piece of draconian legislation on the basis of a deceptive campaign mounted by seasons pro-abortion activists.

Separately, Deputy Carol asked the Minister for Health whether the government supports the EU parliament’s decision of 12 September 2023 to adopt a common EU framework to allow the sale of human embryos and other bioproducts.

In reply, Minister Donnelly shockingly expressed no concern whatsoever about the sale of human embryos. Deputy Nolan asked “Where have we arrived at when a question on the sale of human embryos elicits so indifferent a response?”
Opposing euthanasia is the only “credible safeguard against normalisation of consensual killing in healthcare”, Dr Finegan tells Oireachtas committee (http://)

Dr. Thomas Finegan

On Tuesday, Dr Thomas Finegan told members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying that maintaining the current law is the only “credible safeguard on offer against the normalisation of consensual killing in healthcare”.

Dr Finegan, who is an assistant professor at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Mary Immaculate College, said : “Currently, as a matter of clear, coherent basic principle, our healthcare excludes choices to self-kill.”

He told the assembled TDs and Senators: “Within the euthanasia framework a consensual choice in favour of death becomes a principled part of good healthcare. There is no stable middle ground. Any line drawn between a legitimate and illegitimate euthanasia ground, or between an acceptable and unacceptable annual number of euthanasia cases, will appear as unfair discrimination against patients excluded from the right to access euthanasia.”

He said: “Consistency demands that should euthanasia be legalised it would be available on virtually all medical grounds, for example chronic illness, conditions closely associated with disability, experience of suffering (which is inherently subjective and not limited to physical suffering), and mental disorders (once capacity remains).

“Tellingly, pro-euthanasia contributions at the Committee have generally avoided affirming euthanasia restrictions,” Dr Finegan said.

Professor Kevin Yuill, Emeritus professor of history at the University of Sunderland and chief executive of the Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia also addressed the committee on Tuesday and warned how in Canada where euthanasia was legalised in 2016 “many seek euthanasia for problems of homelessness, poverty, and inadequate medical resources. This is before mental illness becomes an eligibility criterion in March 2024.”

He pointed out that “the Netherlands expanded the range of conditions considered eligible in 2007, after making euthanasia legal in 2002, while the definition of ‘unbearable suffering’ central to the law has also loosened. Belgium, which legalised euthanasia in 2003, ended all age restrictions in 2014, making the practice possible for children.”

Professor Kevin Yuill added: “We believe that it is wrong for the state to kill citizens, whether as punishment for a crime or simply because peoples’ lives are wretched. The problem is not the fate of the individual concerned but the fate of a society that agrees to kill them”.

Those who pushed hardest for the new Oireachtas committee to be established are determined to see euthanasia legalised in this country. Talk in the media in recent weeks about securing “proper safeguards” and making sure no one ever feels “pressured” to opt for euthanasia is ridiculous when you look at the evidence emerging from countries like Canada and the Netherlands where most safeguards have been swept away after a very short period of time and where more and more people are made feel like a “burden” on family and friends and decide to be euthanized.

Kerry Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae is Chair of the special Oireachtas Committee looking at the issue. He’s doing a good job keeping some semblance of balance with regard to the people chosen to present before the committee.
Head of pro-abortion advocacy group appointed US Senator in California (http://)
Following the death of 90-year-old US Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the state’s governor Gavin Newsom has named Laphonza Butler to finish the late Ms Feinstein’s term.

Ms Butler was president of EMILY’s List from 2021 until she was designated as Ms Feinstein’s successor on 1st October. EMILY’s List is an American political action committee (PAC) which aims to elect pro-abortion Democratic female candidates to public office. They’ve raised $240 million for political initiatives.

Ms Butler has come under fire for not residing in the state of California which she is now expected to represent in the US Senate. EMILY’s List scrubbed its website of references to Ms Butler’s Maryland residence in the hours following the announcement.

The pro-life equivalent to EMILY’s List is the Susan B. Anthony List. Its president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, slammed Governor Newsom for being “beholden to the abortion lobby” and facilitating a “pay-to-play system”. She continued, “Voters need to realize the days of ‘safe, legal and rare’ are gone – today’s Democratic Party stands for abortion any time, for any reason with no limits up to birth.”

It's also the case in Ireland that pro-abortion activists are feted with plaudits and awards. The Taoiseach’s Seanad nominees have in recent years been the most pro-abortion politicians from the mainstream parties, who have been appointed over the heads of the electorate.
REGISTER NOW: Communicating the Pro-Life Message with The Minimise Project, Wednesday, October 18th from 8PM (http://)
Register Now! ([link removed])
Humanity Campaign - Action alert! (http://)
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With the Oireachtas returning, it presents a perfect opportunity to approach your local TDs and Senators and urge them to reintroduce some humanity into the debate on abortion. The Three-Year Review, a seriously flawed process which produced a one-sided and extreme report, will be considered by politicians in the autumn. It’s important that we take action now.

We have produced a quick and easy Virtual Postcard for you to sign, which will automatically send an email to your local TDs. Use the button below to navigate into your county on our website and find your constituency.

It’s also important to have meetings with your TDs. These can be as simple as dropping into your local TD’s advice clinic to outline your concerns. Click below to register to lobby your local TDs. Don’t worry – we’ll help you every step of the way with advice on making the appointment to points you might consider raising.

We are heartened by the number of people actively involved and interested in meeting their politicians to express their views. The People Before Profit Bill which regrettably passed at 2nd stage of the Dáil on 31st May must also be countered. Even the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, has said this Bill goes far beyond the recommendations of the Three-Year Review – which are already extreme in their own right.

It is crucial to engage with our politicians and remind them not to overlook the referendum promises. We need to fight to ensure our abortion policy is aimed at reducing the abortion rate.

Please take a moment to get involved in the
Humanity Campaign ([link removed]) . Remember even the smallest effort will make a big difference.

Thank you!
Send an instant email to your politicians here ([link removed])
Read more about the Humanity Campaign here ([link removed])
Do you have pro-life material which could be historically relevant? (http://)
We are putting out a call for anyone in possession of any documents, photographs, correspondence, etc. relevant to the Irish pro-life movement throughout the decades. We are particularly keen to receive anything in your possession related to periods such as the 1983 referendum. A comprehensive history of the pro-life movement is yet to be written, but the historians of the future will need primary sources. We are asking for people to get in touch with the Pro Life Campaign (mailto:[email protected]) if they possess such material (no matter how old or dusty!) to ensure it is preserved now and not lost to the ages.
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Vital Signs is the e-newsletter of the Pro Life Campaign. We hope you and your families are keeping well in these unusual times. This email is to update you on what we have been working on recently, including news stories, project updates, and details of upcoming events. If you want to get in touch with us please do so by emailing [email protected]

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