(Vatican Radio) The Irish Catholic Bishops who are currently meeting in summer
session issued the following statement on Tuesday in reference to the government’s
intention to legislate for abortion and the recent pro-life demonstration that drew
an estimated 40 thousand people to the capital to demand the government protect the
life of the mother and unborn:
A time to reflect
On
Saturday last, tens of thousands of women, men and children gathered in Dublin to
express their support for the equal right to life of mothers and their unborn children.
We are at a defining moment for our country.
The Gospel of life is
at the heart of the message of Jesus. He came that we may have life and have it to
the full (Jn 10:10). The Gospel challenges us to work for a world in which the dignity
and beauty of every human life are respected.
A time to uphold the right
to life
The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights; it
is the foundation of all other rights. No individual has the right to destroy life
and no State has the right to undermine the right to life.
Yet the Irish Government
is proposing abortion legislation that will fundamentally change the culture of medical
practice in Ireland. For the first time legislation will be enacted permitting the
deliberate and intentional killing of an unborn child. This represents a radical change.
Every citizen, not just people of faith, should be deeply concerned.
We value
the skill and efforts of our doctors, nurses and other care professionals who have
helped to earn Ireland’s place as one of the safest countries in the world for mothers
and their babies during pregnancy.
Catholic Church teaching is clear: where
a seriously ill pregnant woman needs medical treatment which may put the life of her
baby at risk, such treatments are ethically permissible provided every effort is made
to save both the mother and her baby.
This is different from abortion, which
is the direct and intentional taking of the innocent life of the unborn. No matter
what legislation is passed in any country, abortion is, and always will be, gravely
wrong.
A time for clarity and truth
The Government is
under no obligation to legislate for the X case. People are being misled. We challenge
repeated statements that this legislation is about saving lives and involves no change
to the law or practice on abortion. Legalising the direct and intentional destruction
of the life of an unborn baby can never be described as ‘life-saving’ or ‘pro-life’.
Contrary to clear psychiatric evidence, this legislation proposes abortion
as an appropriate response to women with suicidal feelings during pregnancy. It is
even possible to envisage as a result of this legislation the deliberate destruction
of a child, who could otherwise be saved, right up to and including the moment of
birth.
Furthermore, we challenge assurances that the proposed legislation
will provide limited access to abortion. As published to date, the legislation will
allow for a very wide margin of subjective professional assessment by which the deliberate
destruction of an unborn baby can be legally justified. As we have learned from other
countries, such legislation opens the door to ever wider availability of abortion.
We
remain convinced that enhanced medical guidelines, which do not envisage the direct
and intentional killing of the unborn, could provide the necessary clarity as well
as a morally, legally and medically acceptable way forward. While good health can
normally be restored, life, once taken, can never, never be restored.
A
time for freedom of conscience
Freedom of conscience is a fundamental
human right. A State that truly cherishes freedom will respect the conscience of
its citizens, including its public representatives, on such an important human value
as the right to life.
It is ethically unacceptable to expect doctors, nurses
and others who have conscientious objections to nominate others to take their place.
Neither should any institution with a pro-life ethos be forced to provide abortion
services.
A time to decide: a time to act; a time to pray
We
call on citizens to exercise their right to make their views known respectfully to
our public representatives and to leave them in no doubt about where they stand on
this issue.
We ask our public representatives to uphold the equal and inviolable
right to life of all human beings, even if this means standing above other pressures
and party loyalties.
We also invite our priests and people to continue to pray
the Choose Life prayer at Mass and in the home that the dignity and value of
all human life will continue to be upheld in this country.
Some mothers today
are facing difficult or crisis pregnancies. Other people who have had, or who have
assisted with abortions, may be re-living what happened in the past. They deserve
to receive all the love, support and professional care that they need.
As
Bishops we will join this weekend in prayerful solidarity with millions of Catholics
all over the world in the Year of Faithcelebration of Blessed John Paul II’s
Encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life).
Every human life
is precious, every human life is beautiful, every human life is sacred. Choose life!