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29th January 2021
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** In this issue:

ACTION ALERT - Irish Healthcare Professionals for Dignity in Living and Dying seek signatures for submission to Justice Committee on Euthanasia Bill. DEADLINE TODAY @10.30AM (#1)

READ - Pro Life Campaign Submission by William Binchy to the Committee on Justice on the ‘Dying with Dignity Bill 2020’ (#6)

READ - Newstalk sinks to new low in bigoted tirade against pro-life movement (#2)

READ - Polish government introduces law protecting unborn babies with a disability (#3)

READ - Motion submitted by Carla Lockhart MP demanding pain relief for unborn babies (#4)

READ - Disability is not a reason to sanction medically assisted suicide/euthanasia – UN experts (#5)

REGISTER NOW - Next Week's PLC Network Workshop Series on Letters to the Editor and How to Succeed (#8)

APPLY NOW - Virtual Internship with the PLC (#7)
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Irish Healthcare Professionals for Dignity in Living and Dying seek signatures for submission to Justice Committee on Euthanasia Bill. DEADLINE TODAY @10.30AM ()
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A letter has been written by the Irish Healthcare Professionals for Dignity in Living and Dying for submission to the Oireachtas Justice Committee to enable healthcare professionals working in Ireland to join a chorus of voices in expressing their opposition to the introduction of euthanasia and assisted suicide as proposed by the Dying with Dignity Bill 2020.

If you are a healthcare worker, please add your name as a signatory to this submission BEFORE 10.30AM TODAY, 29th January.

You can read more and sign instantly here ([link removed])

If you are not a healthcare professional, please take a few moments to send this link to friends and contacts who are healthcare professionals.

Thank you!
Pro Life Campaign Submission by William Binchy to the Committee on Justice on the ‘Dying with Dignity Bill 2020’ ()
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The Pro Life Campaign submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, on the ‘Dying with Dignity Bill 2020’, was written by our Legal Advisor Dr William Binchy.

In the submission, Dr Binchy states that the Oireachtas, together with the Government, can do a great deal to improve the position of people who are contemplating assisted suicide, and that any law permitting physician assisted suicide would contradict rather than advance the necessary reforms and supports needed in this area.

You can read the Pro Life Campaign’s submission
here ([link removed]) .
Newstalk sinks to new low in bigoted tirade against pro-life movement ()
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It’s a long time since Newstalk ditched the pretence of balance when it comes to discussing the abortion issue.

What do you resort to as a news station when you’ve abandoned fair and impartial reporting? The answer is you keep sinking lower and lower.

Just when it felt like media outlets had exhausted every insult against pro-life people, Newstalk’s Tom Dunne stepped forward this week to prove us wrong.

As the deputising host of the Moncrieff Show on Newstalk, Dunne interviewed Caroline Reilly from the US based Rewire News Group about her work as a “reproductive rights advocate” and her concerns about the “link between anti-abortion groups and white supremacists” in the US.

For the entire 11-minute segment, Dunne fed and facilitated a wholly bigoted and unjust attack on the entire pro-life movement. His guest made it clear to listeners: if you support the pro-life position in any shape or form, you’re a racist white supremacist. Full stop. End of story.

She was also given complete free rein by Dunne to paint a distorted picture of pro-life activism and the motivations of those who join the movement. She cited examples of violent attacks perpetrated by anti-abortion activists in the US and gave the impression to listeners that they are regular occurrences even though, thankfully, they are not. Whenever incidents like this have happened in the past, they have been immediately repudiated and condemned in the strongest terms by the entire movement. The people who tuned into this week’s broadside on Newstalk, however, were spun a very different story.

Ms Reilly was allowed continue her diatribe and claim that for people who oppose abortion “it really isn’t about abortion the procedure, it’s about the right to control who can and can’t become a parent, or how someone becomes a parent, and that has deeply rooted ties to early eugenics and that sort of philosophy.” Yes, you read that correctly, she actually had the audacity to accuse the pro-life movement of supporting eugenics!

When Dunne didn’t stop her there, she kept going: “So, you know, there really is no way to distinguish anti-abortion sentiment from White Nationalism because to be anti-abortion is to support the inability for someone to choose how and when they become a parent, which inevitably results in a eugenicist outcome.”

There really are no words for the absurdity and irony of what Dunne allowed his guest to say without challenge.

Read more of this story
here. ([link removed])
Polish government introduces law protecting unborn babies with a disability ()
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Yesterday, Poland's government implemented a constitutional court ruling that bans virtually all abortions in the country. The move was warmly welcomed by pro-life supporters in Poland and around the world, and fiercely criticised by international media outlets.

Last October, Poland’s constitutional tribunal struck down a discriminatory abortion law that allowed unborn babies with a disability to be aborted. Yesterday’s change to the law fully takes account of the tribunal’s ruling.

Before October’s ruling, abortions were already prohibited in Poland in most circumstances. However, until yesterday, there was an exception “when prenatal tests or other medical grounds indicate a high probability of severe and irreversible impairment of the foetus or an incurable life-threatening disease.”

In arriving at its decision, the constitutional tribunal accepted the pro-life arguments submitted that the exception in the law targeting babies with a disability violated constitutionally protected human rights.

In her ruling, Chief Justice Julia Przylebska said the law is “incompatible” with the Polish constitution.

Yesterday’s move by Poland’s government will likely save thousands of babies from being aborted and is a sign that it’s possible with dedication and commitment to overturn permissive abortion laws incrementally.

The move will also lead to the Polish government being attacked at home and abroad, and a slanted and untruthful account of what has happened will be promulgated by sections of the press to pile pressure on the government to relent.

Until 1990, abortion was available in Poland on wide-ranging grounds but since the end of Communist rule there, the law has steadily turned in a pro-life direction.

Yesterday’s change to the law is something pro-life supporters everywhere should celebrate and take heart from as we continue the fight for life and human dignity.

Read more of this story here. ([link removed])
Motion submitted by Carla Lockhart MP demanding pain relief for unborn babies ()
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Carla Lockhart MP, the Upper Bann representative from Northern Ireland, has submitted a motion calling on the Westminster Government to provide pain relief to unborn babies undergoing an abortion after 12 weeks gestation.

Efforts are underway at present to get as many MPs as possible to sign the motion.

The motion, called an Early Day Motion, draws attention to the fact that unborn babies undergoing surgery for spina bifida, for example, are routinely given pain relief, but babies who being aborted at the same gestational age receive no such relief from the potentially gruesome pain of the procedure.

The motion also mentions the latest peer reviewed evidence supporting the view that unborn babies feel pain, possibly from as early as 12 weeks gestation.

Right to Life UK has launched an online effort, calling on pro-life supporters to contact their local MPs to ask them to sign the parliamentary motion (EDM 1340) calling on the Government to introduce new guidance on foetal pain and to ensure pain relief is given to unborn babies for abortions taking place after 12 weeks gestation.

Right to Life UK’s online campaign ([link removed]) .
Disability is not a reason to sanction medically assisted suicide/euthanasia – UN experts ()
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Earlier this week, a group of UN human rights experts expressed concern at a growing trend to enact legislation enabling access to assisted suicide/euthanasia based largely on having a disability or disabling conditions, including in old age.

Commenting from Geneva, the UN experts said:

“We all accept that it could never be a well-reasoned decision for a person belonging to any other protected group – be it a racial minority, gender or sexual minorities – to end their lives because they experience suffering on account of their status”.

“Disability should never be a ground or justification to end someone’s life directly or indirectly”.

While the statement from these experts is a welcome development, it is silent on the human rights violation and disrespect for human life that happens when laws permitting assisted suicide/euthanasia on other, non-disability related, grounds are introduced.

Any law permitting assisted suicide/euthanasia can place just as much pressure on people in vulnerable situations to ends their lives, whether the law explicitly mentions their particular situation or not. Once laws permitting assisted suicide/euthanasia are introduced, even on supposedly restrictive grounds, it very quickly expands to cater for additional grounds.
Register NOW for NEXT WEEK'S PLC Network Workshop Series on Letters to the Editor and How to Succeed (http://)

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Register Now for PLC Network Workshop Series

The Topic is Letters to the Editor and How to Succeed - Wednedsday 3rd February, 7.30PM - 8.30PM.

Our workshop series invites volunteers to share their knowledge, develop skills and receive futher education and training on right to life issues.

The event is free but participation is limited to 20 people.

Register here ([link removed]) ([link removed])

APPLY NOW - Virtual Internship with the PLC ()

Would you like to experience working with a pro-active Human Rights organisation?

If you would like, APPLY HERE ([link removed]) to our exciting virtual intern programme for students!
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Participants on the programme will have an opportunity to network with other young people and develop skills in advocacy, campaign management and project planning.

Internships run for one-week periods and are suitable for second level (Transition year or older) and third level students.

Each intern will do 4 hours supervised work each day and will be working on areas such as social media, contact with members of the movement nationwide, project planning and contributing to support work for women and their babies.

Internships are not paid, however expenses will be covered.

If you or a family member is interested, please complete the below form and we will be in touch with you presently. Placements are subject to availability.

Thank you!

Apply Now by filling in the application form ([link removed]) ([link removed])
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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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