After the referendum in May 2019, the aim of which was to remove the 8thamendment to the Constitution of Ireland which protected the right to life from conception, the next item on the liberal agenda of death was Northern Ireland. Though part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland is a distinct legal jurisdiction, which is why the British 1967 Abortion Act did not apply there.
Taking advantage of the political vacuum in Northern Ireland – the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed in 2017, and the deal on a new power sharing government was not reached – Westminster passed two acts (in 2018 and 2019) regulating certain ongoing issues in Northern Ireland. In addition to extending the deadline for the formation of the Executive, the 2019 Northern Ireland Act also imposed the legalization of same-sex “marriage” and further extreme liberalization of abortion.
Why is the new abortion regime in Northern Ireland labelled “extreme”?
Apart from legalizing abortion on-demand up to 12 weeks, the new regime means that abortion in Northern Ireland is now practically allowed through the whole 9 months of pregnancy, not only for reasons such as the pregnant woman’s physical or mental health, rape, incest, or fatal fetal deformity, but also in case of operable deformities (e.g., cleft lip and palate, club foot), and conditions compatible with life, such as Down syndrome.
This way, abortion on-demand has been de facto legalized through 24 weeks. Even sex-selective abortion is allowable up to 12 weeks without doubt, though in fact there are no provisions prohibiting fetal gendercide as far along as 24 weeks.
Here’s what this will look like in practice:
Pregnant woman: Hello, I’m 19 weeks along, but I’ve realized that I’m too stressed out over this baby, I think I’ll lose my job [OR husband/boyfriend is threatening to kick me out] [OR I don’t think I can finish college] [OR I already have two children at home] [OR (fill in at will)].
Doctor: Right, let’s make an appointment.
In other words, mental health grounds can be used as a cover for practically any reason one can come up with, and they’ll be allowed to kill their baby in any week of pregnancy. Northern Ireland, a country that once protected human life from conception to natural death, and had one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world, now stands shoulder to shoulder with “progressive” states where in one room medical professionals are aborting a baby at 25 weeks of gestation, while next door they are doing everything that modern medicine can do to save a preemie born in that same 25th week of pregnancy.
Not a single country in the world has solved the issues such as pregnant women losing their job, being kicked out by their husband, suffering psychological abuse (for what is the threat “Abort it, or don’t come home!” if not emotional abuse?), living in poverty, etc., by making abortion widely available. Abortion is not a solution to social problems.
Abortion for a cleft lip and/or palate, or a club foot, or Down’s syndrome is applied eugenics, pure and outright: the elimination of those who are different, undesirable or “less valuable” from society. Abortion proponents justify this by claiming that we’re actually doing these persons a favor, because it is better for them to be eliminated than to “suffer” or have a “lower quality of life.” Let’s take a look at this “lower quality of life” of some persons born with these conditions, who slipped through the claws of eugenicists and made it into this world.
Steven Gerrard, one of the finest midfielders of English football today, who captained both Liverpool and England, was born with a club foot. He appeared in 710 games and scored 186 goals.
Kristi Yamaguchi, US- and world-champion (as well as Olympic-winning) figure skater, was born with club feet and started ice skating at the age of 6 as part of the corrective treatment on her feet.
Peyton Manning, one of the finest quarterbacks of all time, was born with a cleft lip, but that didn’t prevent him from playing in the NFL for 18 seasons, winning the Superbowl twice, and the annual MVP award (Most Valuable Player) five times.
Also born with a cleft lip, later corrected, were British actor Tom Burke, and American actors Joaquin Phoenix (cleft lip and palate) and Cheech Marin, best known to the audience as the witty partner to detective Nash Bridges.
Heidi Crowter, a 24-year-old Coventry woman who was born with Down syndrome, has launched a campaign in the UK – Don’t Screen Us Out– in an attempt to show that screening tests target babies with a trisomy, such as Down’s syndrome, and that 90% of screening tests with a positive result lead to those babies being aborted. Today, when everyone is standing up for human rights and equality, Heidi is showing us that persons such as herself, who were born slightly different, are so unwanted and discriminated against that they are not even allowed to be born.
Back in 2018, I wrote for the Orthodox Christian Parent about how some persons with Down syndrome live, and what they can achieve. The piece is titled “Down’s syndrome – does an extra chromosome mean less right to life” (currently available in Serbian only).
In a society which eliminates persons who might be poor, who might grow up in foster care, who might have a so-called “lower quality of life,” who are in some way different than what we think a human being should look like and live, it is only a matter of time before eugenicists stretch their tentacles farther, and move from the unborn to those who have been born yet fail to meet the “golden standard.”
If this reminds you of the creation of a pure race and a pure nation, you’re not wrong. Eugenics was one of the fundamental tenets of the Nazi policy of racial hygiene.
And yes, abortion is the silent holocaust of the modern age.