40 Days of Choice's disturbing #prochoicefriend campaign

40 Days of Choice are running an online campaign at the moment, asking their supporters to tweet about what makes a good pro-choice friend. 

You can see the tweets from 40 Days of Choice and their supporters by following the #prochoicefriend hashtag 

What strikes me immediately is seeing the range of choices on offer from these pro-choice friends. Or rather, the lack of choice. Out of all the tweets with the #prochoicefriend hashtag - I can find only one tweet that offers to help someone who wants to have the baby. All of the others offer money or support in obtaining abortion procedures, or parties/alcohol following the abortion. 

Some tweeters offer to throw a party after the abortion. One offers a "sweet not=pregnant" party. None of these tweets belie the gravity of abortion. No tweeter cautions that there is a growing number of women expressing regret following their abortions. Nor does any tweeter point to the suffering of women involved in groups like Women Hurt. Flippant suggestions of 'partying' after abortion must be so hurtful to women who have suffered years of distress following their abortions. 

Some tweets are disrespectful - such as 40 Days of Choice telling pro-life people to "eff off". Some are non-sensical such as a tweet from Education for Choice (delivered with zero irony) on the annual death toll of 47,000 women who die from abortions. Yet Education for Choice advocates access to abortion, the very thing that killed these women. 

None of the tweeters address the discrimination and societal failure that drives women to abortion in the first instance - many women feel that abortion is their only option, which isn't a choice at all. Ben's tweet says it all on abortion being 'liberating' for women. Abortion doesn't change the social circumstances that push women towards abortion --- but abortion is a get-out clause for unwilling fathers. 


I'll end this post with a picture from 40 Days for Choice's facebook page. 

  
Sometimes you just know you're on the right side. Seeing this poster was one of those times. 

Micheál Martin of FF voices his concerns with abortion legislation based on suicidality

In an interview with TheJournal.ie yesterday, the leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, said that he and his party "have an issue with suicidal risk in abortion legislation" and that he opposes other ways of eroding the law on abortion.

Yesterday's comments highlight the fact that evidence supporting legislation for suicide doesn't stack up. They follow the strong support Martin gave for the pro-life position and said that legislation to allow abortion along the lines of the X case would effectively lead to abortion on demand. You can read Mr. Martin's previous comments from July here. 

Yesterday, Mr. Martin said that his party fears that X case legislation would "open the door" to abortion on demand. Mr. Martin also highlighted the important issue that Ireland needs more perinatal psychiatrists to care for mothers who are mentally ill. Currently there are only 3 perinatal psychiatrists in the country. 

Mr. Martin's comments are especially timely, given the evidence presented by consultant psychiatrists to the recent Oireachtas Health Committee hearings. At those hearings, all the psychiatrists agreed that abortion is not a treatment for suicidality. 

Martin said that he did not support allowing abortions in "hard cases" such as rape or a poor pre-natal diagnosis. He said that while rape is "particularly difficult", he did not support legalising abortion in cases where a baby is conceived in rape.

Martin also made the point that legalising abortion for babies who may not live long after birth raises the question "where you draw the line".  These abortions are increasingly being referred to as "terminations for medical reasons". Since the IFPA and other groups started campaigning for widening of abortion on these grounds, many parents have come forward to voice their concern that the lives of babies with disabilities could be deliberately targeted under such legislation. You can read the stories of families involved in a group called One Day More by clicking here. This week, we saw the death of Jennifer Morbelli and her unborn daughter during an abortion procedure, performed because the baby had been diagnosed with disabilities. Her story highlights how abortions "for medical reasons" can also be very dangerous to the mother's health, as well as robbing the parents of the chance to get to meet their baby. 

You can watch Micheál Martin's comments in his video interview with TheJournal.ie below.