ECHR Case: Pro-Life Campaign accuses abortion advocates of creating unnecessary fears about women's health

3rd December 2009

The Pro-Life Campaign has accused the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) of creating unnecessary fears about women's health and of ignoring the fact that Ireland without abortion is the safest country in the world in which to be pregnant. 

Commenting on the A, B and C cases before the European Court of Human Rights challenging Ireland’s protection of unborn life, Pro-Life Campaign spokesperson Dr Berry Kiely said:

The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) sponsored cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ignore the fact that Ireland without abortion is the safest country in the world in which to be pregnant as shown by the latest international findings.*  Women are safer in Ireland when pregnant than countries like Britain and Holland, which allow abortion on demand. It is most unfortunate that those seeking to have abortion legalised here would have us believe that the opposite is true. 

The IFPA is also completely out of step with the most recent evidence showing the long-term negative effects of abortion for women, including last December's much publicised study in the British Journal of Psychiatry, showing that women who have abortions are up to 30% more likely to develop mental health problems.

Instead of seeking to have abortion imposed on this country, the IFPA should respect Ireland's pro-life ethos, particularly at a time when other countries are beginning to question their unrestricted abortion laws and the way such laws undermine basic respect for the dignity and preciousness of human life.

*Source: Report on Maternal Mortality by World Health Organisation, UNICEF, UNFPA, and the World Bank, (2007)