Irish Pro-Choice Advocates Try to Silence Victims of Rape by Sarah St. Onge

Irish Pro-Choice Advocates Try To Silence Rape Victims, by Sarah St. Onge

A fierce battle is being waged in Ireland over the “8th Amendment”. Unlike the US, and most of its European neighbors, Ireland formally recognizes the preborn child as a human being with his/her own inherent value and right to life.  The 8th amendment prohibits abortion from conception and through all 9 months of pregnancy, under any circumstances save when the life of the mother is threatened.

While we’re mourning the death of a dissolute human trafficker, and feigning outrage over the latest NFL decision, Ireland is deciding whether to continue protecting its most vulnerable citizens or join the  21st century abortion death-cult led by Planned Parenthood.

Irish pro-lifers (ie the majority of rational Irish citizens) have come out en force. They have spent months knocking on doors to inform the public about the issue. They’ve secured television and print ads, as well as held rallies. Their rallying cry- "Love them Both" is one of compassion and understanding.

However- they’ve been met with fierce opposition by radical pro-abortion groups who have decided to use the most aggressive of tactics to silence them.

“I knew this campaign was going to be divisive, that there would be nastiness and vitriol battered at prolifers. The level of abuse is truly off the scale though. Is this still Ireland?? Or have we woken up in another country? Frightening is an understatement, women who have been pregnant through rape or conceived through rape are reduced to standing on the street to deliver their stories? Is this some Soviet state where freedom of speech is punishable? Is this what freedom was fought and won for in Ireland?  Absolutely terrifying and sickening, and no date as yet set for an actual referendum, all of this from a minority of rabble rousers and anarchists allowed to screech and bully...we've been funding these miseries for much too long.”

This statement from an Irish pro-life activist, who wishes to remain anonymous, in response to the numerous threats and intimidations visited on American pro-life speaker Rebecca Kiessling of Save the 1. She traveled to Ireland this week as part of the “Unbroken- Life Beyond Rape” tour, arranged by Life Institute. She was scheduled to speak on the realities of pregnancy and abortion after a sexual assault in two separate venues.

Instead, pro-choice activists decided to silence her, publicly bragging about removing posters, which were placed to advertise the event. In addition, they began a campaign of harassment- including sending death threats to individuals they identified through social media who were staff at the hotels where their speaking engagements were to be heard, causing both hotels and a third alternate, to rescind their contract with the Unbroken –Life Beyond Rape group.

Ms. Kiessling and others were instead forced to stand out in the street to deliver their message- a message which, unlike that of the Repeal Movement, was one of love, strength, unity and hope. Ms. Kiessling spoke boldly about her own situation as the child conceived in rape, stating the facts in passionate and practical detail:

Women are naturally inclined to love and protect their offspring. They must be conditioned by external forces to despise them.

The abortion lobby teaches women to view their children as invaders or aggressors, instead of victims of circumstance, especially in cases where a sexual assault has occurred.

Children conceived during an assault have the same inherent value as those who are conceived during a consensual act of passion. They are human beings.

Women who have been assaulted deserve better than an abortion. They need help to integrate their violation into their lives. We don’t need to become destroyers of life in order to regain power over our own lives.

Unfortunately the vitriol continued, with gruesome comments left on Save the 1’s Facebook page- there were threats of violence aimed at both women, and no attempts to excuse the threats and destruction of pro-life property. In fact, those responsible for doing so were proud of their actions. Their official responses delivered with flippancy. We’re not linking to their sites or pages. We won’t give them the satisfaction of sharing.

The truth is- the Repeal movement really doesn’t care about women. If they did, they wouldn’t send their men out to re-violate a rape survivor, by in essence telling her that her story doesn’t matter and her right to speak her truth is subordinate to others. They wouldn't tell a woman conceived in rape that her mere image offends them, if they cared about women.

Ms. Kiessling did not travel to Ireland to bring an American viewpoint to the debate. They all came to offer their testimony in the court of opinion- their personal and traumatic testimony- in hopes of letting Irish women who may have been through similar circumstances, that they aren’t alone. Their stories matter. One Irish woman wrote, after meeting them, “I felt that I belonged yesterday and was not ashamed to say I was raped and I could never talk to anyone about it in Ireland until yesterday. You helped me cry out openly...”

They also went to create a dialogue with those who may be on the fence, or even those who oppose them, in hopes of changing hearts and minds and bringing them to a place of love.

Unfortunately the Repeal movement has decided to offer them only threats of violence in response...... just like with the men who violated them, these women have been told to "keep quiet or else." Fortunately these women are much stronger than those who try to silence them will ever be. And for Ireland's children, women like them may make all the difference.

Sarah St. Onge is a wife, mother of 4, step-mother of 2, and pro-life blogger for Save The 1.  She blogs on grief, loss, and pro-life issues pertaining to continuing a pregnancy after a lethal anomaly has been diagnosed, at www.shebringsjoy.com.