Now more than ever is the time to stand for life

Now more than ever is the time to stand for life

On July 1, you, and as many other people as you can muster, are urgently required at the most important Rally for Life ever organised in Dublin.

This is the rally to Save the Eighth, and there has never been a more critical, more crucial, time for the pro-life majority to stand up and be counted.

The farcical and biased Citizens’ Assembly has pushed for abortion “without restriction” to be legalised. George Soros and other outside parties are pouring millions of dollars into abortion campaigns.

The media is insisting that a referendum to smash the Eighth Amendment must be held – even though an RTÉ exit poll at the last election showed the issue was a priority for only 2% of voters.
So this rally on July 1 will show the Government that saving lives, not ending them is the real priority for voters.

It will show the nation what a real Citizens’ Assembly looks like, and put the Save the Eighth message centre stage as the campaign to protect life intensifies.

The media frequently tries to downplay major pro-life events, but it has always found the sheer size of the Rally for Life difficult to ignore. This year, the Save the 8th message of the rally needs to resonate loud and clear, and the bigger the crowd, the more that’s likely to happen.

At the rally, you can join with tens of thousands of people to show our Government, and the nation, that we are the pro-life majority, and we are standing strong for life. In fact, the longer this debate goes on, the clearer it becomes that abortion kills a baby and hurts a woman, and that the truly compassionate and progressive answer to an unexpected pregnancy is to protect and love both mother and baby.

One thing is also increasingly clear from recent opinion polls: the Irish people are, by a very significant majority, opposed to abortion on demand, and they are increasingly concerned that Ireland would adopt the British model of abortion, where a shocking one in every five babies is killed before birth.  In contrast, it is estimated that some 5% of Irish babies lose their lives to abortion.

Moreover, if we had Britain’s abortion laws and Britain’s abortion rates, we would have four times as many Irish abortions – up to 10,000 additional abortions every year, or 30 additional abortions every single day. That’s a truly shocking scenario. Surely no reasonable, decent person should think that it would be a good thing to have more abortions?

In fact, much as abortion campaigners like to rail against the Eighth, they find it hard to deny that the pro-life amendment has been a life-saving measure. Keeping the Eighth in place then, could save the lives of up to 30 babies every single day. That’s a goal that every reasonable, decent person should be able to support – fewer abortions, and increased support and compassion for mother and baby.

The message of the Rally for Life has always been one of celebrating life and seeking a better answer than abortion. The last Dublin rally launched the ‘Every Life Matters’ theme, and saw people with disabilities take centre stage to explain why abortion discriminates.

Clearly the message, which continued after the rally in billboard, social media and media campaigns, resonated with the public: the most recent opinion poll for Ipsos/MRBI showed that support for abortion on disability grounds had significantly decreased from 50% to 36%.

The Rally for Life is always an amazing, colourful, celebration of life, but it won’t happen without you, so we need you to commit to making this the most powerful rally yet – because this is the rally to Save the Eighth.

So we’re asking you to come to the rally, and invite everyone you know along. You can also help with organising buses and local publicity efforts, and you can spread the word on social media using the #RallyforLife and #SaveThe8th hashtags.
Abortion campaigners pushing to repeal the right to life of preborn babies may have total media support and massive funds from abroad, but they don’t have you.

They don’t have thousands of people of goodwill who are committed to protecting the most vulnerable of us from the real horror of abortion.
The Rally for Life is a crucial part of the campaign to show the country why we must Save the Eighth. Be part of it on July 1. Join us to make this a gathering to remember at this crucial time for Ireland and for mothers and babies. See you there!

Niamh Uí Bhriain is a spokeswoman for the Life Institute. www.thelifeinstitute.net