Saving innocent lives
God doesn’t care how we feel about abortion, He will want to know what we did to stop it.1
One of the last Pro-Life bastions in Western Europe is under severe attack and an intense battle is now raging in the Republic of Ireland to defend the lives of vulnerable, innocent, unborn babies. The outcome of this battle will determine whether in the coming years hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of babies in Ireland will be born and allowed to live or will be killed in their mother’s wombs.
For the children’s sake we cannot afford to ignore this battle or to lose it. In Britain the liberalisation of access to abortion with the 1967 Abortion Act has resulted in the industrial scale slaughter of unborn children. On average over 500 unborn children are killed by abortion every day in the UK .Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act, with over 8 million unborn children killed in the UK so far. With our population of 66M people, that means that fully one in eight citizens who should have been in this country are simply missing – more if you add-in the missing progeny of these slaughtered innocents.
Genocide against unborn children has become so readily accepted in Britain that now Pro-Abortionists are campaigning for all legal restrictions on Abortion in Britain to be removed. Decades of pro-abortion indoctrination and lies have led to a general and unthinking acceptance of abortion in Britain, even by many supposedly “BibleBelieving” Christians. It is never a good or Christian thing to get used to evil. In the face of evil, silence means consent. As the Christian pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi Dissident, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.”
Abortion had been prohibited in Ireland by the Offences against the Person Act 1861, a UK statute which stayed in effect after Irish independence in 1922. Currently abortion in the Republic of Ireland is illegal unless it occurs as the result of a medical intervention performed to save the life of the woman or to save the woman from committing suicide. The right to life of the unborn child is protected by Article 40.3.3° of Ireland’s Constitution (commonly known as the Eighth Amendment.) The Eighth Amendment was added to the Irish Constitution by referendum in 1983 after concerns that laws prohibiting abortion could be threatened and undermined by legal action. The Eighth Amendment recognises the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn child. Article 40.3.3° reads: The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.
For decades Ireland has been a shining bastion of Pro-Life values, a wonderful sign of contradiction to the Pro-Death Culture in Britain and most of the rest of Western Europe. Several years ago a Pro-Life British MP who had just visited the Irish Republic commented to me that with their strong emphasis on family values and protecting children from abortion, the Irish Republic was a very good example for Britain to follow.
Very well-funded Pro-Abortion (I never use the misleading term “Pro-Choice” because the unborn children have no choice whatsoever.) groups, including rich American Pro-Abortion organisations and the US Billionaire, George Soros, have been funding the relentless drive to impose extensive, legal access to abortion on the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Government and Media have supported the ProAbortionists’ efforts, but need the majority of Ireland’s people to vote in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment before it can be repealed.
A leading Irish Pro-Life organisation, Pro-Life Campaign (PLC),commissioned a study through actuaries to estimate the number of lives saved from abortion so far by the Eighth Amendment. After the study, PLC’s conservative estimate is that at least 100,000 lives have been saved by the Eighth Amendment.Other Irish Pro-Life groups have estimated a much higher figure, with at least 250,000 lives saved from abortion by the Eighth Amendment. These estimates are probably considerably lower than the actual number of lives saved because they do not include the future descendants that most of the aborted babies would have gone on to have, if only they had been allowed to continue living.
A personal plea:please help save the lives of Ireland’s children. On 16 March 2018I completed a 150 Mile Walk ( 241.402 Kilometres ) in and around the New Fores tin southern England within 168 hours. I had started the walk on 10 March and the deadline for completing it was on Saturday 17 March. The purpose of this 150 Mile Walk was (and remains) to raise very urgently needed funds for Pro-Life Campaign (PLC), a leading and excellent Irish Pro-Life organisation that is on the frontline of trying topersuade the general public to vote to keep the 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitutionin the coming Referendum on 25 May 2018. Please pray and encourage many others to pray that the vast majority of voters at the Referendum vote for the 8th Amendment to be kept.
Right now PLC has so much lifesaving work to do but so little money with which to get the job done.
Meanwhile the pro-abortion side is awash with funds.
To witness the graphic reality of what abortion does to preborn children, the Abort67 website may be visited, but note that the contents are deeply upsetting.2
The 8th Amendment also protects women. Many women suffer deeply if they have aborted their preborn children. The suffering includes grave mental trauma and damage to health. In England one such lady who deeply regretted aborting her twins committed suicide. Her suicide note stated that she wanted to go and be with her babies.
God considers the shedding of innocent blood to be detestable.(Proverbs 6:16 & 17). The humanity of the unborn child is emphasised in the Bible, for example in Luke 1:39 to 44 whereJohn the Baptist, while still in his mother’s womb, leaps for joy at the nearby presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb.The acknowledgement by one unborn child of another. God worked this miracle to clearly demonstrate that the unborn child is as much a living human being as a child outside the womb. He knew that one day such children would be subjected to mass slaughter by abortion.
The Bible says we are to “rescue those being led away to death”and “hold back those staggering towards slaughter”. (Proverbs 24:11 and 12) As part of His Great Commission Jesus said that we are
to teach all nations to “obey everything I have commanded”.(Matthew 28:18 to 20) Thus teaching and urging all people to obey God’s commands, including the command not to shed innocent blood, is part and parcel of that Great Commission.
Many UK Christians say they are opposed to abortion but refuse to actively oppose it. This is disobedience, it is sinful to simply look the other way like the Priest and the Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.The Bible clearly condemns such indifference. James 4:17 states: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”Nobody is more vulnerable than an unborn child and nobody is more innocent than an unborn child. You can help save hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of innocent children’s lives by giving to my 150 Mile walk for Pro-Life Campaign.Please help to finance PLC’s crucial lifesaving efforts.
Now is the time to give, before it’s too late for Ireland’s precious babies. The Republic of Ireland branch of the Christian women’s prayer network known as Lydia Fellowship, is kindly supporting my walk for PLC. They will pass on all donations to my walk to the Pro-Life Campaign. If you wish to help save Ireland’s babies by giving to my walk, you can give online by Credit Card. Please use the URL cited below and then go to the bottom of the web page. Please include the message, “This donation is for Wilfred’s walk for PLC.”with your online donation.
Other ways of giving:
By Bank Transfer to the Lydia Fellowship in the Republic of Ireland.
Their bank details are: Name of Account Holder: Lydia Fellowship International (Ireland) Address of Account Holder: ‘Bethel’, Ballynagran, Dunganstown A67 XD35, County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland. Account Number: 59879275. Sort Code: 90-11-16. Bank Address: Bank of Ireland, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland IBAN Number: IE98BOFI90111659879275. BIC Code: BOFIIE2D
If you do a Bank Transfer please be sure to include a message with it stating that it is For The Walk for PLC.
Or you can make a cheque out to: Lydia Fellowship International (Ireland) and post it to: Mary Kelly, ‘Bethel’, Ballynagran, Dunganstown A67 XD35, County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland, with a note stating that it is for Wilfred’s 150 Mile walk for PLC. All cheques, whether Pounds Sterling, Euros or others can be sent. If you have any questions you can Email Mary Kelly at: maryatkelly@gmail.com
Editor’s comment: Sword is happy to affirm Wilfred Wong’s request for support. This is a singularly important issue both for Eire and UK.
1 Andy Stephenson, Pentecostal Christian & Director of British Christian Pro-Life organisation, Abort67
2 http://abort67.co.uk/facts/ dare_to_see_the_truth