May 28, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – As I predicted in my eulogy for pro-life Ireland on Saturday, the autopsies—both mournful and gleeful—are spilling onto the pages of newspapers across the West. But one staggering fact is being consistently ignored: Every single political party in the Republic of Ireland campaigned for abortion on demand. Right across the country, signs with the faces of politicians and an enormous “YES” hung on sign-posts. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who ran on a pro-life platform with a long history of very pro-life statements, released an emotive video just before the vote urging people to check the box for “Yes.” And Health Minister Simon Harris (who also campaigned for office as a pro-lifer) plugged for abortion like his life depended on it. As Melanie McDonough noted in The Spectator, it is almost surprising that the pro-life side managed to secure more than a third of the population considering that they had no political representation whatsoever.
And so the question is why? Why did politicians who campaigned on pro-life platforms—and in the case of Leo Varadkar, gone on the record in the past as a medical professional explaining how lethal and damaging abortion is—all simultaneously flip and become abortion activists? And why did they become so passionate about “modernizing” Ireland and bringing feticide to the Emerald Isle so suddenly? Was it their plan all along? Were they paid off by those in the international abortion industry who stand to profit enormously from the “Yes” vote on Friday? All of these have an element of truth to them.
But to understand why Ireland’s politicians turned on Ireland’s pre-born children so decisively, look no farther than the reactions of foreign politicians to Friday’s “Yes” vote. UK Prime Minister Theresa May, the leader of Great Britain’s pathetic Tory party, called the choice an “impressive show of democracy” and congratulated “the Irish people on their decision and all of #Together4Yes on their successful campaign.” Anyone think she would have tweeted her congratulations if the “No” side had prevailed? Of course not. Leaders of countries with liberal abortion regimes around the world were waiting with bated breath, hoping against hope that Ireland would join them in the bloody business of offing their offspring. Misery loves company, after all.
The simple fact is that Leo Varadkar and his crew desperately wanted the approval of the European and progressive elites. Varadkar has been mocked for attempting to imitate Canada’s abortion-obsessed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, even sporting silly socks in an attempt to be hip (one news outlet actually compiled a list of “11 times Leo Varadkar really tried to be like Justin Trudeau.”) But unfortunately for Varadkar, he could never really be accepted at the cool kids’ table at Davos until he rectified the mortifying fact that Ireland did not permit the killing of babies in the womb. To the progressive elites, Varadkar was the leader of a medieval country that had not yet caught up to them, and Varadkar was frankly embarrassed of Ireland when he was jogging with Justin and sipping champagne with the EU bigwigs.
Trudeau took advantage of that fact, as well, urging Varadkar last year to legalize abortion. “On the issue of reproductive rights,” Trudeau somberly told the media, “I shared our perspective that such rights are integral to women’s rights and they are human rights and I asked him to look at it as a fundamental human right and we had a good discussion.” Varadkar was once pro-life, but he has morphed into a man that would make his pal Justin proud—as the results of the referendum came in, he stood with other politicians at Dublin castle, waving proudly to a celebratory shrieking crowd like it was a Royal Wedding rather than the start of a Herodian massacre. Justin Trudeau had just tweeted him, writing, “What a moment for democracy and women’s rights. Tonight, I spoke with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his team and congratulated them on the Yes Side’s referendum legalizing abortion in Ireland.” How grand, Varadkar must have been thinking. Finally, they’ll let me sit at the cool kids’ table.
