The Joint Committee on Health discussed a Sinn Féin bill to remove the three-day waiting period for abortion, with Fianna Fáil TD and GP Martin Daly questioning the objectivity of pro-life GPs who supported keeping the wait. Daly contrasted their 'personal beliefs and philosophy' against the clinical evidence presented by other doctors who argued there is no clinical reason to keep the wait, effectively implying that the life of the unborn child is not valued in the clinical debate over abortion access.
The Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) supports removing the three-day waiting period for abortion but did not consult its over 5,100 GP members or women who continued pregnancies during this period before taking this position. During an Oireachtas Health Committee hearing, it was revealed that the ICGP representatives, including Dr Ciara McCarthy and Dr Diarmuid Quinlan, have pro-choice backgrounds and that the College had not considered cases of alleged coerced abortions or public opinion, which shows significant gaps in their consultation process.
The House of Commons voted 286 against and 270 in favour to reject a bill sponsored by Labour MP Lauren Edwards that would have legalised assisted suicide for terminally ill adults with approval from doctors and a review panel. Several Labour MPs, including terminally ill Ashley Dalton and former health minister Dr Zubir Ahmed, voted against the bill citing concerns about discrimination against vulnerable people and the need to improve palliative care, while prominent medical organisations also opposed the bill due to insufficient protections against abuse and lack of provisions for older people with complex health needs.
A senior German politician has been forced to resign after entering into a commercial surrogacy arrangement in the United States. In Ireland, he would probably be given a soft interview on The Late Late Show for doing the same thing, because our attitude to surrogacy is probably the most liberal in Europe. The politician, Jens […] The post German politician who quit in surrogacy row would get soft treatment here first appeared on The Iona Institute .
The latest Rotunda Hospital annual report contains a deeply troubling finding: three-quarters of babies found to have Down Syndrome via a prenatal test are aborted. This is obviously modern-day eugenics. The report shows that in 2024, the hospital’s Fetal Medicine Department diagnosed 45 unborn babies with Trisomy 21, better known as Down Syndrome, and 32 […] The post Simon Harris was dead wrong to say babies with Down Syndrome would not be aborted first appeared on The Iona Institute .
When issues like abortion or euthanasia are debated, opponents issue warnings about the ‘slippery slope’ and predict that the ‘floodgates will open’. By this they mean that after either one is introduced, the grounds for it will expand, and the numbers availing of it will increase. Proponents deny either of these things will happen. For […] The post They said there would be no slippery slope first appeared on The Iona Institute .
The Dáil last week rejected an attempt to make Ireland’s abortion legislation even more permissive than it already is. The failed Bill went far beyond simply removing the three-day waiting period before an abortion, which is the big ask of pro-choice organisations. It also sought to decriminalise doctors acting outside the law and substantially widen the […] The post More battles to come after latest bid to liberalise our abortion law fails first appeared on The Iona Institute .
There was good news from Scotland last week when the Scottish parliament voted by 69 votes to 57 to reject a Bill to legalise assisted suicide. This was not expected when the Bill first reared its head and especially as Scottish politics is dominated by the Scottish National Party, which is roughly equivalent to the […] The post Why the Scottish parliament voted against ‘assisting dying’ first appeared on The Iona Institute .
In Canada in 2024, an astonishing total of 16,499 people died by euthanasia, according to the latest official report. It means the number dying in this way has trebled in just five years. Under Canada’s very liberal ‘assisted dying’ law, a person does not have to be terminally ill to avail of euthanasia. Worryingly, half of […] The post Euthanasia numbers in Canada continue to soar first appeared on The Iona Institute .
New official figures show that abortions in England and Wales reached a record high in 2023, while the number of births continued to fall. As a result, about one in three pregnancies now ends in abortion. According to the latest statistics, 278,740 abortions were carried out in England and Wales in 2023, an enormous number. […] The post One in three pregnancies in England now end in abortion first appeared on The Iona Institute .
It has been revealed that more than one hundred babies have been born alive in Ireland following abortions since the procedure was legalised in 2019. A large majority of these babies suffered from a major congenital abnormality and were generally delivered between the 22nd and 27th week of pregnancy. The grim news came in reply […] The post Shocking revelation about babies born alive after abortion first appeared on The Iona Institute .
A new United Nations report is calling for the eradication of surrogacy in all its forms, arguing that the practice inherently harms both women and children. It also recommends punishing buyers, clinics and agencies. Ireland should pay attention. We have one of the most permissive surrogacy laws in Europe although it is awaiting commencement for […] The post A very strong critique of all forms of surrogacy from the UN first appeared on The Iona Institute .
Since the 2018 referendum repealing the Eighth Amendment, the number of abortions in Ireland has continued to rise. According to the annual report produced by the Department of Health recently the number rose to 10,852 in 2024 compared with 6,666 in 2019. This represents a 63pc increase. Additionally, 201 Irish residents had abortions in England, […] The post Ireland’s terrible combination: more abortions and fewer births first appeared on The Iona Institute .
News emerged this week of a woman, Maureen Slough, who recently travelled from Ireland to Switzerland to end her life through assisted suicide. Her family only learned of her death afterwards, leaving them devastated. The case further reveals the existence in Switzerland of what is sometimes called ‘suicide tourism’ whereby people travel there to avail […] The post Switzerland’s ‘assisted dying’ regime claims another Irish victim first appeared on The Iona Institute .
New figures quietly released by the Government show that last year almost 11,000 abortions took place in Ireland, a new record high. The actual figure might be higher than this, because hospitals have not reported their full data yet, according to the Pro-Life Campaign. In her column last Saturday in The Irish Times, Iona Institute […] The post Breda O’Brien discusses our new record high abortion figures first appeared on The Iona Institute .
The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have warned that the future of Catholic care homes and hospices is in doubt if the assisted suicide legislation currently before parliament is passed because they may be forced to comply with its provisions, thereby totally violating their own ethos. The warning came following the recent passage of […] The post English hospices may soon be forced to close before of euthanasia law first appeared on The Iona Institute .
The House of Commons has just voted to decriminalise self‑induced abortions up to birth. What this means is that a woman can abort her child at any stage up to birth and not face criminal penalties. This shocking decision is the biggest change in the English law pertaining to this issue since the Abortion Act […] The post England crosses another abortion red line first appeared on The Iona Institute .
A new “soft opt-out” organ donation law will take effect from June 17th. Under this legislation, the State will be allowed to remove your organs upon death without your explicit consent, unless you registered a request to opt out. When the law was still being debated, I argued that donation should arise only from an informed […] The post Introducing organ donation euthanasia first appeared on The Iona Institute .
“Evangelium Vitae” (the ‘Gospel of Life’), Pope John Paul II’s great encyclical on “the Culture of Life” and the “Culture of Death” was published 30 years ago this year and greatly galvanised the pro-life movement worldwide. In this talk, leading Catholic commentator, Maria Steen discusses the enduring themes of the encyclical and how it is […] The post Pope John Paul II’s Gospel of Life at 30 – A talk by Maria Steen first appeared on The Iona Institute .
Often overlooked in coverage of the pontificate of Pope Francis (RIP) were his strong comments on the family, the right to life, the dangers of gender ideology and the emerging demographic crisis. Here we have collated some of his thoughts on these important issues. The family The family – as God wants it, composed of […] The post Pope Francis on the right to life and the family first appeared on The Iona Institute .
A new paper from the Anscombe Bioethics Centre in Oxford warns against using Australia as a model for UK laws on assisted suicide and euthanasia. Both the UK Parliament at Westminster and the Scottish Parliament are currently considering bills that would legalise what is often called “assisted dying”. In his briefing paper Wrong Side of the […] The post Euthanasia; a warning from Australia first appeared on The Iona Institute .
The number of abortions being carried out in Northern Ireland has increased by a massive 29pc in a single year, according to official statistics published by the Department of Health. The figure of 2,792 is three times the number of Northern Ireland women who went to England for abortions before the law in the North […] The post Number of abortions in Northern Ireland continues to surge first appeared on The Iona Institute .
The number of couples requesting euthanasia together is on the rise in the Netherlands, according to official reports. In 2024, there were 54 such cases, compared to just nine in 2018. A notable case involving a former Dutch prime minister and his wife last year appears to have contributed to the growing demand. In the […] The post The coming trend: couples euthanasia first appeared on The Iona Institute .
The number of euthanasia cases continues to rise in Canada, according to the latest official report on the topic, raising further alarm, particularly among disability rights groups. Even some early supporters of ‘Medical Assistance in Dying’ (MAID) are now voicing concerns. Last year, 15,343 Canadians died by euthanasia or assisted suicide, according to the ‘Fifth […] The post Euthanasia continues to go out of control in Canada first appeared on The Iona Institute .
The assisted suicide bill regrettably passed its second reading in the UK House of Commons last week, with 330 MPs voting in favour and 275 against. Among Labour MPs, 58pc supported the bill, as did 60pc of Reform Party representatives, while only 19pc of Conservative MPs backed it. On the plus side, more Labour MPs […] The post Lessons so far from the British ‘assisted dying’ debate first appeared on The Iona Institute .
On Friday, the UK House of Commons will vote on a bill by a Labour MP to introduce assisted suicide in England and Wales. Some interesting opposition to it has emerged. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said a whip would not apply and Labour party members could “vote their conscience”, but some important members of […] The post Some surprising opposition to England’s ‘assisted dying’ bill first appeared on The Iona Institute .
In this week’s US election, citizens voted not only in the presidential and two congressional elections but also in numerous referendums, including several on pro-life issues. In three states, attempts to make abortion laws more liberal were rejected, while seven states passed pro-choice ballot measures. The most significant pro-life victory occurred in Florida, where an […] The post Some good and bad pro-life news from the US elections first appeared on The Iona Institute .
A recent study by two pro-choice academics provides interesting insights into the GPs who offer abortion services in Ireland. Those GPs, while fully in favour of abortion, nonetheless have reservations about some of what they are seeing, and in particular about women who have had multiple abortions in a relatively short time. Very revealingly, when […] The post “They can have an abortion every month if they want” first appeared on The Iona Institute .
Last week, End of Life Ireland hosted the 2024 international conference of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies, which pro-euthanasia campaigners from around the world attended. Several speakers at the conference made no secret of their wish to see euthanasia and assisted suicide permitted on very broad grounds indeed, far beyond the terminally […] The post Extreme euthanasia agenda revealed at Irish conference first appeared on The Iona Institute .
