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LONDON, May 21, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – British musician Ed Sheeran has disavowed any association with the campaign to preserve Ireland’s constitutional ban on abortion, after pro-life activists have allegedly taken to playing his 2012 song about miscarriage at events.

Sheeran’s song “Small Bump” is sung from the perspective of a father expressing his love for a child still months away from birth.

“I’ll hold your body in my hands, be as gentle as I can,” the lyrics say. “But for now you’re a scan of my unmade plans, a small bump in four months you brought to life.”

The song goes on to detail the baby’s tiny fingers, smile, and eyelids, promising “I can keep you safe, ’cause you are my one and only.” But it closes with the revelation that the child miscarried. “‘Cos you were just a small bump unborn for four months, then torn from life,” Sheeran sings. “Maybe you were needed up there but we’re still unaware as why.”

Sheeran explained in a 2011 interview that the song was about a friend’s miscarriage.

“It was quite a difficult subject to tackle,” he said, so “I wrote it from their perspective.”

The Ireland-based Pro-Life Campaign praised Sheeran at the time for the song’s “beautiful life-affirming lyrics.” But despite “Small Bump’s” obvious recognition of preborn human life, Sheeran now denies it has any applicability to Ireland’s May 25 referendum on whether to repeal the 8th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection for preborn babies’ right to life.

“I’ve been informed that my song Small Bump is being used to promote the pro-life campaign, and I feel it’s important to let you know I have not given approval for this use, and it does not reflect what the song is about,” the singer announced on Instagram.

Sheeran did not specify where or by whom the song was used, though The Guardian suggested that pro-lifers played it while campaigning in Dublin’s city center. Save the 8th spokesman John McGuirk denied his group has done so, saying, “we certainly haven’t used unauthorised music in our campaign.”

Pro-life fans criticized Sheeran for failing to carry his own lyrics to their logical conclusion.

“Dear Ed, in a miscarriage a baby dies and is lost (very sad), in an abortion a baby is cruelly killed and is thrown away. You should weep for them,” one observer tweeted. Another noted that the message of “Small Bump” was “clearly not a ‘clump of cells’ sentiment.”

Another Twitter user chided Sheeran for failing to anticipate that pro-lifers would flock to a song that “humanized baby humans.”