Despite her friends and family’s pleadings, a Catholic Irish mother recently trekked to England to abort her unborn baby.
According to a Metro.co.uk report Tuesday, her baby was diagnosed with a fatal fetal disability after only a few weeks gestation. She chose to have an abortion in England, because abortion is illegal in Ireland. She made the journey with the help of Mara Clarke, the Abortion Support Network founder (pictured above).
The mother overcame several obstacles in her decision. Traveling to England from Ireland can cost more than 2,000 euros, according to the report. The mother already had children but had no access to child care. The most tragic obstacle was her husband, who wanted their unborn child, called her a “murderer” and left her over her decision to abort.
Metro.co.uk blames Ireland’s abortion laws for situations like this. Currently, the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution protects unborn babies’ right to life. On March 8, however, the Irish government published a referendum asking voters to repeal the 8th Amendment and replace it with a clause that could allow abortions for any reason up to birth in Ireland. Irish Health Minister Simon Harris also proposed legislation to allow elective abortion up to 12 weeks, and past 12 weeks for the health of the mother or ill health of the baby.
Clarke, whose Abortion Support Network has funded the deaths of 1,009 unborn babies in 2017, said she doesn’t believe that repealing the 8th Amendment is enough.
“Repealing the 8th Amendment is just one step. There’s still going to be a number of issues that will make it incredibly difficult for women to access abortions. They are talking about only allowing abortions up to 12 weeks and only if there is a risk to life.”
Clarke lamented that the “stigma attached to abortions” prevents “many people even asking for help.”
“Some of the women we talk to change their minds, some of them just aren’t able to make the trip in the end,” she added. “That truly haunts me.”
Is it haunting when mothers choose to save their babies’ lives instead of having an abortion?
Easy access to abortion is not what Irish women need. That easy access has resulted in women being pressured into having abortions by family, friends, partners and society.
That easy access has cost America 55 million lives.
What Irish mothers need is the support that empowers them to choose life for their babies.
The United Kingdom pro-life organization SPUC reports, “SPUC’s review of medical literature Abortion and Women’s Health identifies social and emotional support as being of ‘vital importance’ in the context of unexpected pregnancy, and lists numerous motives underlying an abortion decision which arise as a result of this support being absent.”
If family and society abandon these mothers in their time of need, organizations like the Abortion Support Network gladly fill in the void and encourage women to abort their unborn babies, causing even more trauma and pain for many already struggling women.
