> They had been pretty quiet lately. Until this week, the only time
> they'd surfaced recently was in their incarnation as the Mother and
> Child Campaign, to testify in front of the Oireachtas Committee on the
> Constitution against the introduction of civil partnerships. Their
> testimony was described by one Senator (a Fianna Fáiler I think) as
> being "tantamount to incitement to hatred".
Interesting name, considering they'd be exactly the same kind of people who opposed Noel Browne's Mother and Child Scheme back in the 1960s.
> They also put up a few
> anti-stem cell research posters with pictures of little children
> saying "don't use me for spare parts!" Nice people, these.
Yes, I remember those posters now.
> The idea that abortion causes psychological trauma for life is
> definitely not a well accepted view in secular circles
> internationally.
I don't know about that. I'm sure you're right in terms of left wing and activist circles but on the other hand the whole abortion issue seems to be framed in terms of how 'unfortunate' it is. The Clinton slogan seems to sum it up well: "safe, legal, and rare". This instead of arguing clearly and distinctly for a woman's right to choose. Plenty of pro-choice activists seem to be put on the back foot when people inevtiably raise the spectre of abortions as contraception.
Cowardly arguments are all too common, if you ask me. In my opinion the problem is that by going part way toward the anti position (presumably in the name of not wanting to look like an 'extremist' or whatever) one ends up doing their work for them by conceeding the territory of and framework for the debate.
Jason.