By Hilary White
DUBLIN, May 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) ”“ A recent poll showing that 70 per cent of the people of the Republic of Ireland support keeping the country’s constitutional protections for the unborn, has bolstered the work of pro-life lobbyists in Northern Ireland in the build-up to the UK general election on May 6.
The poll by PLC/Millward Brown found that 70 per cent of Irish people favor retaining a prohibition on abortion, while allowing the existing practice of intervening to save a mother’s life in accordance with medical ethics.
The poll was published as abortion activists, including the Irish Family Planning Association, affiliated with Planned Parenthood International, are taking the country’s pro-life laws before the European Court of Human Rights in the “ABC case,” in which three anonymous women are petitioning to have them overturned.
Pro-life advocate Dr. Seán Ó Domhnaill, who works with the group Youth Defence, called the result the fruit of “persistent, committed pro-life educational work.”
“Pro-life volunteers in Youth Defence have been holding public street information stalls every week, rain, hail or snow, for almost 20 years, throughout the country,” he said. “It’s a marvelous achievement, and the commitment and the educational effect achieved, is paying rich dividends.”
Youth Defence’s Rebecca Roughneen said that the pro-life views of the Irish is the result of a “huge number” of voluntary hours in creating advertising, education projects in colleges and on the internet that are “showing great results amongst young people.”
“But at the end of the day, the commitment to the daily and weekly work at abortion and referral agencies and on the street is so important.”
The poll has encouraged pro-life lobbyists who are urging Northern Irish voters to consider candidates’ positions on abortion and related life issues. The group Precious Life says its campaign, urging the public to vote only for candidates who will oppose abortion, is gathering speed.
The group has distributed thousands of its Vote For Life leaflets across the north. The group is encouraging the millions of pro-life voters in Northern Ireland and Britain to bombard the political parties and their candidates with telephone calls, emails and letters, asking them to oppose abortion.