History: 2016
Munster Rally for Life is massive success
Cork City was the venue for the Munster Rally for Life on Saturday, 27th February. Thousands filled Patrick Street to show opposition to abortion.
The first ever Munster Rally for Life drew a crowd of more than 5,000 as pro-life activists from across the province rallied to tell newly-elected TDs to ‘Protect the 8th amendment’. Large numbers of young people waved placards saying they were ‘pro-life and proud’ at the Munster Rally which filled the length of Patrick Street before hearing speeches at Grand Parade. The crowd also held signs aloft calling on politicians to “Protect the 8th” amendment, and chanted “2,4,6,8 …… we appreciate the 8th”.
Organisers said they were ‘delighted and encouraged’ by the huge turnout, and urged those attending to get involved in a major canvass of Munster which aimed to have a one-to-one conversation about abortion. Becky Kealy of the Munster Rally for Life organising committee told the crowd that abortion was “a medieval answer to a crisis pregnancy, and that mothers and babies deserved better from society.” She said the Rally sent a powerful message to newly-elected TDs: listen to the people, or you will go the same way as the Labour party, who prioritised the repeal the 8th amendment in their campaign and were eviscerated by the electorate.”
Life Canvass
The Life Canvass has had a busy, productive, and positive few months and already so any people have been reached for face-to-face conversations as we continue to work to reach out to every home in Ireland.
The Canvass has really taken shape and canvassing had gone full speed ahead as canvassing teams went out to talk to people door to door in every major centre and every corner of the country. All over Ireland, canvassers report that people they encountered at the doors were very positive and many were delighted that pro-lifers were reaching out to them.
If you are interested in becoming part of this fantastic project or in starting a Life Canvass group in your area, call the office and get involved as we work to bring this positive, life-affirming message to every home in the country and bring Ireland back to life.
Abandon Amnesty video released
In June, we launched a brilliant video to encourage people to #AbandonAmnesty because of the organisation’s cruel abortion campaign.
The video, which was quickly viewed thousands and thousands of times, makes a powerful point: that abortion is used to cover up rape and incest, but that Amnesty ignores that reality. By becoming such vigorous advocates of abortion, Amnesty have lost the right to be considered a human rights organisation. Targeting the right to life of vulnerable and helpless babies is appalling in itself; trying to dress abortion up as a 'right' is simply disgusting.
Abortion discriminates campaign seen all across the country
In the summer and autumn of 2016, we brought our #AbortionDiscriminates campaign all across the country with the help of our mobile billboards which crisscrossed the country for months.
Our pro-life mobile billboards spread the message- everywhere from Cork to Donegal- that every human being is precious and worthy of protection. The billboards accompanied our young volunteers throughout the pro-life summer roadshow, stopped in front of the Dail during the important vote to stop Mick Wallace’s pro-abortion bill, and have crossed that country several times.
The billboards currently carried the image of a handsome young man, Joseph, who has Down Syndrome. In the UK, 90% of children like Joseph are abortion due to their condition. Abortion is truly the ultimate form of discrimination. This mobile billboard campaign was so important for reaching as many people as we possibly can with the message that women and babies in Ireland deserve better than abortion. These billboards allowed us to reach an audience that we may never had been able to reach otherwise and making people think about the reality of abortion.
Repeal kills video
Our campaign to show the reality of repeal gained tremendous momentum with the release of our viral Repeal Kills video in September.
With the non-stop media push to repeal the right to life of helpless babies, it was time for an initiative to strip away the slogan and show that #RepealKills. Repeal the 8th is just an empty slogan being used to mask the fact that abortion campaigners want to legalise the killing of preborn babies.
In just the first three days following the release of the video, it was viewed 180,000 times and it has now been seen by a countless number of people in Ireland and continues to expose the reality of the repeal movement.
Save the 8th apparel in huge demand
In October, we released our new line of “Save Lives, Save the 8th” apparel and were delighted by the massive demand of our jumpers, hoodies, t-shirts, stickers and badges.
For months, we recieved calls and emails from people of all ages asking for t-shirts or stickers they could wear (or put on their cars) that would make clear that they are pro-life and proud and want the government to continue to protect and value the lives of women and babies. In response to this, we designed and ordered a full range of products so that you can show your support for protecting innocent lives wherever you go.
Due to the media’s blatant and persistent support of efforts to repeal the 8th amendment, which recognizes the right to life of both mother and unborn baby, it is easy to forget that the majority of Irish citizens are like us and support protecting the lives of the most innocent and vulnerable in our society. In fact a recent Irish Times poll found that ONLY 19% of those surveyed supported opening Ireland up to a British model of abortion. It is time to let abortion activists in Ireland know that the silent majority is not going to be silent anymore. We will stand up against abortion and fight to preserve the right to life for everyone- born and unborn!
Carphone warehouse backs down
In November, Carphone Warehouse was forced to back down from their “Pro-Choice” advertising campaign that had raised the ire of so many across Ireland following our call to pro-lifers to demand that the company pull the offensive advertisements.
The massive advertising campaign led to sharp criticism from pro-life advocates, and to pro-life protests outside Carphone Warehouse retail units. Large numbers of pro-life consumers also contacted the company to say they would be bringing their custom elsewhere.
In a letter to one of our pro-life advocates who had written to complain about the adverts Sir Charles Dunstone, chairman of Carphone Warehouse, said: “I am very sorry that our clumsy advertising caused you such offence. I has been stopped and lessons learned. Please accept my sincere apologies”. The Carphone Warehouse’s ‘pro-choice’ website for the campaign has also been scrapped. “After much controversy, including pro-life protests outside its shops and pro-life consumers making their voices heard, we are glad to see that Carphone Warehouse has had the sense to listen to consumers,” said Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute.
