Educate
Educated, articulate people, the vibrant voice of Ireland's future
The Evening Herald, 1994
Victor Hugo once said that it was useless to resist an idea whose time had come. Given the scientific evidence which prove the humanity of the unborn child, and the masses of published studies showing the harm abortion causes mothers, you would think only the more unbalanced amongst us would favour abortion.
But some people don't know what to think. That's usually because they're just not informed.
There exists in Ireland a strong instinctive opposition to abortion but instinct does not provide the conviction of hard facts and sound reason. Lack of information generally leads to poor, or at least, incomplete judgements. When you are dealing with a matter of life and death this is not a good situation. We think it's unacceptable.
Showing a young woman photos of the child in the womb.
YD educational strategy aims to supply the Irish people with the facts, nothing more. Since 1992 we have become the leading providers of real and factual information about every aspect of the abortion debate.
In that process we have familiarised many Irish people with the amazing facts of the development of the baby in utero and simultaneously with the truth about abortion. We have produced a fairly spectacular array of leaflets, booklets, interactive CD's, brochures and videos and more recently have designed many acclaimed, (or half decent anyway), informative websites.
Getting the message out! The last day of our 10 day nationwide pro-life information roadshow which educates the public on the right to life and abortion.
Education is the most important aspect of pro-life campaigning.
YD's Pro-Life Street Information Sessions are our own innovation and have been praised by all sorts of head-the-balls worldwide as a deadly way of bypassing the media to educate people about all aspects of abortion.
Most importantly, we meet and talk to people on a one-to-one basis. This gives them the opportunity to ask questions which have previously gone unanswered. As mentioned earlier we welcome people who want to argue the point. We know the pro-life argument is strong enough to hold up to close examination so we are happy to engage anyone who genuinely wants to debate the issue. Sometimes those who stopped to argue will leave with a changed view on the issue, and even on the media's favourite bogeypeople - the pro-lifers.
A lot of conversation happenings during our roadshows.
And sometimes they will just disagree, but you've got to try.
Street sessions have been the single most important factor in maintaining Ireland's pro-life majority. Discussion of abortion in the Irish media is most frequently centred on sensationalist ‘special cases'. Everyone comes out of the woodwork for these with the media inevitably focusing on the most sensational angle. Let's face it; the result is at best disingenuous and at times downright dishonest. It is quite incredible that a national discussion of abortion would deliberately never refer to the ultimate victim - the unborn child - and that the methods which are employed to destroy those children remain unknown.
Answering questions during our roadshows
We have this sneaking suspicion, borne out by years of experience, that if the Irish people were fully aware of the development of the child in the womb, of the reality of abortion, and of the very real physical and psychological scars inflicted on mothers who undergo abortion, the world, or Ireland anyway, would be a better place. Some American bloke put it nicely once when he was talking about his home scene on the abortion-debate front. He was waffling on about censorship and stuff and came out with "It has been said that the reality of abortion should not be a matter for public discussion, but if something is so dreadful that we cannot bear to look at it, then why are we tolerating it." Which, you'll agree, is fairly spot on.
Signing petitions to save lives.