Voters in Ireland urged to think ‘pro-life’

The Pro Life Campaign in Ireland has appealed to voters ahead of this week’s European Parliament and local elections to “think pro-life”.

According to the campaign’s chief executive, Eilís Mulroy, the “massive” increase in abortions since the law changed in 2019 underlines the need for more pro-life representatives at every level if the focus is to be shifted from promoting abortion to working to reduce the abortion rate.

More than 2,200 candidates are contesting the 2024 elections. Around 2,100 candidates have declared for the local elections of which 949 seats are to be filled in county and city councils in 166 local electoral areas in Ireland. Fourteen 14 MEPs will be chosen to represent Ireland at the European Parliament.

“A very sizeable chunk of the electorate are pro-life but their views and concerns are not adequately represented by those in public office at present,” Eilís Mulroy said.

“This needs to change and the way to change it is for people to make a conscious decision to vote pro-life at election time.”

Ms Mulroy highlighted how senior members of government had promised voters before the 2018 abortion referendum that abortion would be rare in Ireland if people supported the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.

“Tragically, we have seen over the past five years how these reassurances turned out to be totally false and misleading.”

She also noted that based on recent answers to parliamentary questions regarding reimbursements made to abortion providers in 2023, it looked like the abortion figures for this one-year period would exceed 10,000, representing “a massive increase in abortions year on year” since the new law took effect.

The Pro Life Campaign believes that political decisions will determine whether or not there is a move away from promoting abortion. To help voters, the campaign has produced a Pro-Life Voter Guide on the stances of all candidates on the right to life issue.

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