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“Erin Go Bragh,” the Gaelic for, “Ireland Forever.”
Actually, that’s the corruption of the Gaelic, “Éirinn go Brách.” The term, brách, literally translates as, “until eternity,” or “until the end of time.” This more accurate translation shows the richer Catholic soil from which the sentiment springs. It is less a temporal, here-and-now forever, as it is Ireland sharing in God’s eternity.
“Éirinn go Brách.”
The share in the divine eternal as a reward for the fidelity of a nation to her Sovereign Lord and Master. How quickly it can all change.
This week the Irish Parliament voted 127-31 to legalize some abortions, specifically for women who might otherwise commit suicide. What is stunning is the fact that 60% of the Irish people didn’t want this law, which is certain to become the first in a series leading to unrestricted abortion on demand. Equally certain will be the rise in reported cases of suicidal ideation among pregnant women on the Emerald Isle. Given the scarcity of such ideations prior to the legislation, a 5,000% increase in four years of such “ideations,” will undoubdtedly come to pass, as women will seek to save the money spent on passage to England for their abortions.
If there was always something particularly sinister about the density of English abortion clinics along the shores facing Ireland, it is even more tragic that the Irish Parliament voted so enthuisiastically in favor of beginning the process of taking over the slaughter of Irish babies from the same English who have slaughtered and oppressed them for centuries.
Central to this debate has been the assertion that abortion has become possible only because the Catholic Church has lost its hold on the people of Ireland. It is a point of agreement between both sides in this debate, albeit for different reasons.
The pro-aborts argue that the soul-shattering reports in 2009, regarding sexual abuse, have emptied the churches and cut the people off from the “control” of the clergy.
Not really.
Between 1974 and 2008, Mass attendance in Ireland decreased by 50%. A good amount of this is attributable to the slow secularization of Irish society that gained steam with the prosperity of the Irish economy for the past two decades. This secularization amidst plenty has been most pronounced in the twenty and thirty-somethings. It also mirrors a similar trend in Poland. Once materialism grabs hold, babies become the mortal enemy of the “good life.”
All of this is not to say that the Church has not played a role in the run-up to this week’s tragedy. In a sense, the vote is more symptomatic than causal in nature. Abortion grabs hold when people have a sense of helplessness and hopelessness surrounding their ability to make their way in the world with a baby. That’s where the pregnancy centers become so very effective. They give the vision and provide the resources that the churches used to provide and that a largely secularized clergy no longer do.
Helplessness and Hoplessness. They are also the cardinal signs of suicide. How prophetic and ironic that suicide should have been the very issue upon which this vote hinged. A Parliament that has no sense of its own ability to offer help or hope surrendered to despair and consigned its nation to the suicide we embraced four decades ago in the U.S. Suicidal women deserve better from people who know better.
“Éirinn go Brách.”
No more. Ireland’s future will become as empty as the ruins of those ancient churches that dot her landscape. They are a symbolic looking glass into a future without God, and the help and hope He freely offers us all.
Be not the first by whom the new is tried nor yet the last by whom the old is set aside. Ireland is fairly new to the secularisation of Western Society. This too shall pass. To quote Sam Clemens, the rumours of the death of the Catholic Church’s Faith here are greatly exaggerated. This decision was tragic but was based on a 21 year old decision made to allow a raped pregnant teen who was suicidal to travel to have an abortion in the UK. She had a miscarriage there. Our Supreme Court does not have the final infallibility the US has, when it so arbitrarily decides Roe v Wade and leaves a mess for 40 years and sort-of decides the equality of all humans in marriage and racial rights. An Poblacht na h’;Eireann is kicking up its adolescent heels against a once too controlling Church whose leaders sadly learned nothing from the USA or Vatican 11 about working the relationships between Gospel and the Public Square since the 1950s.
I just visited Ireland and attended Mass in a sparsely populated church in Dublin. It was sad to see. But I did notice how happy the Irish people are. I’ve been puzzled by this since their weather is often so dreary. Now I think I know. They haven’t been killing their babies…except the few who died in England. I’m glad I saw them before their spirits sag from the losses they face.
Although one of the main reasons put forth for the abortion legislation was to help women who are suicidal, there are no published studies demonstrating that abortion is an effective treatment for pregnant women with depression or suicidal thoughts. However, there is a large body of worldwide research showing that suicide risk is increased after abortion, and that suicide risk is decreased after childbirth. There are also some published reports of women who have had abortions who have committed suicides on the anniversary of the abortion, or on the baby’s expected due date, sometimes leaving a suicide note that makes the connection explicit.
Irish psychiatrists know this, and have testified that abortion is not a treatment for suicidal depression during pregnancy. Rather, help and support for the pregnant woman is needed. There are evidence based treatments for depression that can be used in depressed pregnant women, but abortion is not one of them–abortion is not an evidence based treatment for depression or suicidal thoughts.
When Irish people had the opportunity to vote on legalizing abortion in referendum, three times they rejected abortion. Fine Gael, the political party which bears responsibility for legalization, was elected because of its platform emphasizing improvement of the Irish economy, with a promise not to push forward abortion legalization. Ironically, although Fine Gael was voted in for the sake of the economy, what they have done will in the long term hurt the Irish economy greatly.
If you google Demographic Winter, you can find a 3 minute trailer which gives the main points in a nutshell, but the central point is that when there are fewer children, there is a downward spiral of the economy. The full video includes interviews with economists and various experts, and showing data and examples from all over the world to build their case. There is a graph tracking stock market ups and downs along with birth trends, and rising birth rates are associated with a rise in the stock market, while decreasing birth rates are associated with a decline in the market.
If you think about it, this seems to me to make sense. When babies are being born, parents buy baby clothes, furniture and toys and as the children grow, they purchase books, jeans, athletic clothes. As young adults, these grown children purchase cars and become first time home owners. These purchases help provide growth and jobs in manufacturing of goods, growth in the housing market. The people who work in factories and stores have jobs, and school teachers have jobs as well.
But in some European cities, there are few or even no children being born. There are many school closings because there are no children to fill the schools. Some environmentalists may feel that fewer people would be a good thing, since fewer people means less environmental impact. But fewer people also causes a great decline in the economy over time, and Demographic Winter makes the case that the greatest danger facing the world now is too few people, and it’s possible to reach a point of no return, where economies can not make a comeback.
In some European countries, including Russia, governments are paying incentives to women to have babies, because they can now see the downside to a population decline. But women who are accustomed to thinking of themselves primarily in roles other than motherhood, are not flocking to claiming these bonuses, and the financial incentives are not leading to needed gains in population.
So it is ironic that the Irish party that promised to improve the economy has instead taken a step that is likely to contribute to further economic downturn in Ireland, over time.
But coming back to the individual women who are to be “helped” by abortion, there is an interesting qualitative study of English women at the age of menopause who are now looking back at their abortion after many years.
These women reported experiencing long lasting unresolved grief, for example, Jenny said, “I’ve always thought of him … wondering how old he’d be, I do wonder about that child.” Elaine thought about the baby and remembered the expected due date each year, thinking of what age the child would be. Other women experienced similar wonderings and regrets.
Besides thinking about the baby, the women judged themselves harshly, and experienced shame about their abortions. Ann said, “It’s haunted me to be honest, I’m ashamed, I think it’s just something else I have to hate myself about.” Claire said, “I’ll probably have nightmares the rest of my life, I hate myself.”
These are not pro-life activists, they are simply ordinary women who made a choice that is still affecting them today.
Ireland voted on something that was theoretically purported to help women, but the voices of many real women who experienced abortions indicate that a high price was paid.
The reference for the qualitative study:
Long term follow-up of emotional experiences after termination of pregnancy: women’s views at menopause Kathryn Dykes
Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology 2010, 1–20, iFirst Article
ISSN 0264-6838 print/ISSN 1469-672X online © 2010 Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology DOI: 10.1080/02646838.2010.513046 http://www.informaworld.com
Martha Shuping MD
No mention in the Irish parliamentary debate of the already documented increase in suicide AFTER abortion that is so dramatic it was included in attempted legislation in one state to notify women of this medical risk if they went through with the abortion?
I hope they track the suicide rate now.
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