Thanks to a parliamentary question submitted by Galway East TD Seán Canney, it has been disclosed that €9,519,300 was paid to GPs as reimbursements for carrying out abortions in the first three years of Ireland’s new abortion law.

The vast sums being spent on ending the lives of unborn babies in Ireland is shocking beyond belief, while not a red cent is being spent on providing women with alternatives to abortions.

It is most helpful nonetheless to have the breakdown in how the money is being spent as it informs the public and strengthens the efforts for funding to be allocated to projects that save lives rather than end them. Were it not for people like Deputy Canney, we would be left in the dark regarding how taxpayers’ money is being spent.  

As the recent Amárach poll showed, 89% of the public support women being informed about alternatives prior to an abortion taking place. The refusal of members of the government to set aside funding to promote positive alternatives to abortion guarantees that it will become a major election issue next time round. Denying women access to information about alternatives to abortion is grotesque and indefensible. If it takes an election campaign to expose the truth and get a result, then so be it.

This Christmas, why not take the opportunity to check in with friends and family that you haven’t been able to spend time with during 2022?

We are selling Christmas cards, the sale proceeds of which will help us continue our work seeking human rights for unborn babies and supporting their mothers.

A pack of 10 cards costs €15.

Order your cards today, in time to send to friends and family this Christmas!
*Prices include cost of delivery to you (ROI residents).

An estimated 20,000 people took part in last Sunday’s pro-life march in Valletta, Malta, in opposition to proposed changes to the abortion law there that would in effect permit abortion on demand. 

For an island country with a population of in or around a half a million it was a spectacular turnout on Sunday and will undoubtedly add to the pressure on the Prime Minister there to row back on his plans. 

The former President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca led the march, and alongside other participants behind a banner reading, “The government amendment will introduce abortion.” 

The event’s main organiser and Life Network Foundation leader Miriam Sciberras told the crowd: “Nights away from Christmas, this amendment has come up, to kill a baby, without any form of discussion,” she said. “This is not a door or window to abortion, but a runway to abortion. We safeguard so many minorities, so many laws to protect animals, the environment, laws protect turtle eggs – but we don’t support the life in a womb?”

Maria Formosa of the I See Life Group said they were there to speak for the preborn. “With an abortion you always lose a life,” she said. “We know there are women who suffer from many problems, health and social problems, but abortion is not the answer. The answer is to provide the right support.”

A video message of support from Carol Nolan TD was screened during the event to the massive crowd in the centre of Valletta.

Elisabeth Finch, the former writer/producer for popular TV show Grey’s Anatomy has admitted that she lied about having cancer and needing an abortion. She made the false claim in a video she made with abortion supporters to attack U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings.

This week, it was reported that Ms Finch was placed on leave after her lies were exposed and it was later confirmed that she has formally resigned from working on the programme. 

It wasn’t just the abortion story that Ms Finch lied about. She admits to having told multiple lies to her colleagues about her medical health to gain attention and sympathy.

In her false story about abortion, she claimed that doctors found a rare cancerous tumour on her spine and had to abort her unborn baby to undergo chemotherapy. Neither the story about her having cancer or an abortion were true. She proceded however to script and produce an entire episode of Grey’s Anatomy based on the totally false story. 

But even more egregious than that, she weaponised the lie by recording a viral political campaign video during the confirmation hearings of Justice Kavanaugh. Looking earnestly into the camera for NowThis, she said: “It wasn’t a decision I took lightly, but it was the right choice for me. The only choice for me. If Kavanaugh were on the Supreme Court when I got pregnant, what choice would I have had?”

Ms Finch wrote 13 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and produced 172 before she was placed on leave and subsequently resigned from the programme.

Canada's Veterans Affairs office offered to assist Paralympian Christine Gauthier to commit suicide when she requested to have a wheelchair lift installed in her home.

Details of the shocking story emerged when Ms Gauthier testified recently before Canadian lawmakers that a state official offered - in writing - to provide her with an assisted suicide kit. The official in question has not been named but local media reports claim the same person has made similar offers to at least three other army veterans.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quick to distance himself from this latest incident. He has however an appalling record on the issue and has been one of the most vocal supporters of euthanasia/assisted suicide in his country. 

Canada opened the door to euthanasia/assisted suicide in 2016. There was a quadrupling in the numbers of people who ended their lives this way in the first three years of the law taking effect. The parameters around permitting euthanasia have been further loosened since 2016 and there’s a push on at present in Canada to extend the grounds even more. First, it was for adults with terminal conditions where death was expected within 6 months. Next, it was for severe chronic but not terminal physical ailments. And the latest, is to permit euthanasia from 2023 for people who have chronic mental conditions.

It is worth keeping in mind that the Canadian Supreme Court dismissed “slippery slope” concerns when it struck down Canada’s ban on euthanasia in 2015. 

There will be lots of talk at the soon to be convened Oireachtas committee on assisted suicide about “proper safeguards” and making sure that “no one ever feels pressured to opt for assisted dying.” These attempts to woo public support must be roundly denounced from the get-go and shown up for what it really is - presentation packaging for something that cannot be kept in check once it is unleashed. What is happening in Canada and other countries that introduced euthanasia is absolutely horrifying.