DUBLIN, February 22, 2013, (HLI World Watch) – The Irish pro-life organization Youth Defence sent out a press release Friday morning detailing a “grotesque and vile” attack on their office. Late Tuesday night, vandals plastered newspaper clippings about the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar around the outside of the building using excrement.
Youth Defence says large amounts of excrement were spread on the door, locks and shutters of their building. The incident is currently under investigation by police.
“This behavior is beneath contempt, and I am saddened that such naked aggression and hatred is being displayed by abortion campaigners,” said Clare Molloy of Youth Defence, adding that the attack was “truly disgusting” and that abortion campaigners had now reached a new low.
Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Irish pro-life organization Life Institute said that the most grotesque part of the attack was that the vandals used feces to attach photos and news clippings of Savita Halappanavar to the door and the shutters.
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“It was a deplorable thing to do, especially given the tragic nature of her death,” she said. “It’s so enormously disrespectful and insulting to Savita’s memory. How they think this will further their cause is beyond anyone’s understanding.”
After the death of 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar last October, news reports surfaced that medical staff at University Hospital Galway refused to give her an abortion because Ireland is a “Catholic country.” Irish Health Minister James Reilly stated at the time there was no evidence that a Catholic ethos prevented responsible treatment. Pro-abortion activists suggested that an abortion would have saved Ms. Halappanavar’s life, and began a media campaign demonizing the Catholic Church and Ireland’s pro-life laws with the hopes that legislators would push to legalize abortion. Life Institute claims leaked excerpts from a report on the investigation of the death of Ms. Halappanavar show that a misdiagnosed and mistreated infection, not lack of an abortion, caused her death.
“It’s actually really shocking that anyone would sink this low, and think that they were making any kind of a valid point,” Niamh Uí Bhriain added. “Most people would agree that this is pretty depraved and vile, but it reveals the mindset of extreme abortion campaigners who want to attack and silence anyone who disagrees with them.”
The pro-life spokeswoman also said that the attack would not act as “any kind of deterrent to the thousands of pro-life volunteers across the country who were actively seeking a better answer than abortion for both mother and baby.”
The statement by Youth Defence indicated there was video showing several men carrying out the attack on their office which has been handed over to authorities.
Dr. Seán Ó Domhnaill, a clinical psychiatrist and advisor to the pro-life movement in Ireland was quoted in the statement saying that this type of attack “emerges from an atmosphere brought on by commentators on social media and elsewhere who preach intolerance and hatred towards pro-life advocates.”
“I know that many threats of physical violence have been made against pro-life activists on social media and elsewhere by extremists in the pro-abortion movement, and I am glad to see the [Irish police] taking this attack seriously,” Dr. Ó Domhnaill said.
“This aggression has no part in the debate about abortion,” he added.
Reprinted with permission from HLI World Watch.