500, no, 5,000, no, 2,500, no 2,000 ...

I was going to blog about the March for abortion choice which goes under the rather disingenuous title March for Choice (variously #march4choice and #marchforchoice on Twitter), I mean what choice are they talking about? Boxers or briefs, paper or plastic? No they want the choice to kill human persons. Anyway I could go on about that but as I said I was going to blog about the march but the story of the day wasn't the march itself or the rather predictable speeches (the capitalist bishops want to control your fertility and ignore the bank bailout - Clare Wallace neé Daly, late of the Socialist Party) but the numbers fiasco.
I'd link to the story in the Irish Times, posted almost two hours after the conclusion of the march, that mentioned how the turnout was dismal, around 500 only it changed later that night. Between 6PM and about 11 Twitter was alive with people encouraging pro abortion choice advocates to contact the Irish Times, eventually the paper of Ricard relented and changed to a rather vague report of thousands turning up.
Anyway, the fiasco is captured pretty comprehensibly here in this new blog.   The Quicker goes the journalist the slower go his thoughts.

The unborn is a human being and worthy of protection

Fintan O'Toole is fairly typical of a class of person that exists in Ireland today. Opinionated, vocal, bitter against the Church, contrarian and most of all pseudo intellectual. He had an article, an opinion piece in last Tuesday's Irish Times. The actual article was laced with inaccuracies and fallacies. William Binchy, legal adviser to the Pro Life Campaign wrote an excellent rebuttal piece for the Irish Times. Among other points he says:

Using emotive language, he identifies the implications of recognising the equal worth and dignity of every human being: “Over the last decade, the equivalent of the entire population of Limerick city has been murdered. ... Of course, the premise which he is inviting the reader to accept is that the termination of the lives of unborn children should not be the source of serious concern because unborn children, on account of their immaturity, are less worthy of respect and protection. ... Yet the central human rights value – the equal worth and dignity of every human being – is rejected by Fintan’s analysis. Human beings in the early stages of their life, when they are at risk of abortion on a “right to choose” test, are in his eyes not human beings “in exactly the same sense” as Mandela.

I would like to reproduce the entire article here but newspapers are funny about that kind of thing so the original article can be accessed via this link.  I think Professor Binchy does a very good job at demolishing not just O'Toole's article but the entire pro abortion argument. He attacks it from first principle, that is to say, he makes us ask what is a human being and is it ever acceptable to kill one just because they are at an early stage of development. If we believe the unborn is a human person then they deserve to be protected as much as Mandela or Lady Gaga. If they are not a human person then Fintan needs to be honest and tell us when, in his opinion does human personhood start. I'd like to see him answer that, he may go gaga pretty quickly himself.
It's also worth noting that on the same night as that article appeared Vincent chaired a debate on the Vincent Brown Tonight show on TV3 about the topic of abortion. His partisan article was not mentioned but it was pretty evident from his grandstanding and hostile tone towards Rónán Mullen and Caroline Simons what side he was on. Despite this Senator mullen and Caroline Simons did very very well. The TV debate can be accessed here.

Kulturkampf.

Kulturkampf
Late 19th century Europe was not a very pleasant place for Catholics. Political activism by Catholics was discouraged, clergy were persecuted and very often exiled. The Minister for mis-Communications Pat Rabbitte said that it would be a regressive step if the Church dictated policy to the government. Pat Rabitte would much prefer that Unions would dictate policy. Pat was a union official back in the day and was well able to do that himself. He was president of the Union of Students in Ireland and later became an official and eventually National Secretary in the Irish transport and General Workers Union. Presumably he didn't dictate to Labour Party or other Ministers during his tenure, maybe they discussed the progress of the Mayo football team? The very language he uses is inaccurate and inflammatory. He seeks to poison the well as it were. 
Whatever your opinion on the Church it is still the moral guide for the vast majority of Irish people. Religious practice in Ireland is still high compared to many countries, more people go to Mass on a regular basis than participate in the political process. Far more people are Catholic and look to the Church for moral guidance than have ever voted for the Labour Party. The fact that someone would seek to silence such a large organization, one that plays such a large part in civic society is profoundly undemocratic. 
The Pro-Life Campaign weighed in fairly early, it's statement is below. 

Pro Life Campaign criticises Minister Rabbitte for attempting to suppress voices in abortion debate

27th  August 2012

The Pro Life Campaign has criticised the Minister for Communications, Pat Rabbitte over his remarks on RTÉ radio yesterday when he said he didn't welcome plans by the Catholic Church to play an active role in the abortion debate.
Cardinal Brady, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland said at the weekend that the Catholic Church would get involved in the abortion debate should the Government attempt to introduce abortion in the coming months.  In response Minister Rabbitte said ‘I would hope we’re not going to see a situation where one church decides to weigh into the campaign in the political sense.’
Commenting on Minister Rabbitte's remarks, Pro Life Campaign spokesperson Cora Sherlock said:
“No church, faith-based group or any group should be intimidated out of the public arena when it comes to commenting on public policy, particularly on an issue as fundamental as the right to life. I would have thought it was partly the role of any Minister for Communications to encourage public discourse on important issues not try to suppress it.”
Ms Sherlock continued: “In the same interview, Minister Rabbitte also misleadingly implied that women were currently being denied necessary medical treatments because of the absence of abortion here.  This is a total misrepresentation of the facts. Ireland, without abortion, is a recognised world leader in safeguarding the lives of women in pregnancy.”

Well said Ms Sherlock. This was covered in today's Irish Times with some reactions from less hostile politicians.