IRELAND, December 13, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – A pro-abortion group in Ireland is appropriating the pre-Christmas season of advent for its campaign to drum up support for repeal of the country’s constitutional amendment that bans abortion.
While the #AdventforChoice campaign has garnered praise from abortion supporters, others have deemed it contemptuous, grotesque, awful, and blasphemous.
The thought that the campaign was vulgar wasn’t limited to people on the pro-life side of the issue.
“Disgusting,” was one response on Twitter, while another said, “i can't think of anything more crass.”
“To usurp Advent to further a murderous despicable cause in the name of choice is beyond utter contempt,” another tweet said. “SHAME ON YOU.”
“Just when you think they can't sink any lower,” said another. “You probably would have encouraged Mary to abort.”
Awful, awful, awful, beyond blasphemy
— Adrian Grenham (@GrenhamAdrian) December 1, 2017
The advent season is a time when Christians prepare spiritually to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas. It is a season of hope and expectation that is often marked by special songs, spiritual readings, and acts of service.
A few responses also picked up on the irony that following shortly after Christmas on December 28 is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorating the slaughter of children by King Herod’s order to kill the infant Christ child.
“Who is your patron? King Herod!?” asked one Twitter user. Another tweeted, “Can't wait for you[r] celebration of King Herod's slaughter of the innocents after Christmas.”
The Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution was introduced in 1983 to protect the right-to-life of unborn children from abortion, having received approval from 67-percent in a referendum from the Irish people. An estimated 100,000 lives have been saved by the amendment.
The amendment states: “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”
Ireland will hold a referendum next summer that will challenge its Constitutional recognition of the right to life of the unborn.
The Irish government and pro-abortion forces have pushed for legalized abortion in Ireland despite it not having the support of the majority of the public.
Catholics, along with pro-life and family advocates have continually fought a creeping tide of secularism that has brought Ireland to the brink of legally accepting abortion.
Tens of thousands of Irish Catholics gathered in some 300 locations throughout both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on November 26 to pray the rosary to uphold the Catholic faith and to protect the country from abortion.
Pro-life advocates also canvassed door-to-door across Ireland in November to urge fellow citizens to support retention of the 8th Amendment, a report from Breitbart’s Thomas Williams said.
An estimated 70,000 people participated in the All Ireland Rally for Life back in July with the theme “Save the 8th.” The rally, which is an annual event, drew record numbers this year due to the amendment issue.
Parents for Choice in Pregnancy and Childbirth in Ireland is behind the social media hashtag that uses an “Advent for Choice Calendar” spanning the 24 days of December leading up to Christmas.
It uses photos of “wonderful pro-choice parents’ employing decidedly pro-abortion language in testimonies geared to tie into the number of the day on which they appear.
Voice of the Family has a campaign of prayer and fasting in progress with the intention to preserve Ireland’s 8th Amendment. Click HERE for more information on the campaign – also ending on December 24.