Over at Jerry Coyne’s blog, there is an excellent analysis on situation in Ireland after the death of the young professional woman, Savita Halappanavar, linked directly to that country’s catholicism-inspired healthcare laws.
But of course, anti-woman activists won’t give up just because, you know, people are dying:
Irish anti-abortion groups continue to insist that the Republic’s laws were not responsible for Halappanavar’s death.
Niamh Uí Bhriain, of the Life Institute, said: “It is very sad to see abortion campaigners rush to exploit this case to further their own agenda. The tragic loss of Savita Halappanavar’s life was not caused by Ireland’s ban on abortion. We need to ensure that mothers and babies are best protected; and abortion is not part of best medical practise. It is medieval medicine.”
Ever heard of “thou shalt not bear false witness”, Niamh? If abortion is not part of modern medicine, why not leave the matter to doctors and patients? Doctors can be sued if they do something that is not standard practice, so why does the church need to be involved in this particular case? It is, on the other hand, part of the standard practice for the hypocritical church to use secular sounding arguments in an effort to confuse the issue when it tries to turn its doctrines into laws that everyone has to follow.
And no one should die of a miscarriage complication. It would have been avoidable with a routine procedure of dilatation and evacuation. THAT is what is sad here, not the fact that the ironically called “prolife” organizations are feeling the heat. Despite their rhetoric, they are incapable of feeling empathy for the victims.
The catholic church has blood on its hands. But it is not like, over the centuries, this organization has not gotten used to having blood on its hands. What it is not used to is relinquishing power voluntarily. It is up to the voters to ultimately wrest power from the bishops, as they did in the US last week.
