Abortion, Ireland and Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch Report on abortion and Ireland - a lecture on political ideology and a mockery of human rights

It is not difficult to criticise the report issued by the increasingly controversial Human Rights Watch, a US based advocacy group which seeks to attack Ireland’s pro-life ethos.

By criticising Ireland’s law which protects the life of the unborn child and which ensures that Ireland is one of the safest countries in the world for pregnant women and their unborn children, this group has damaged its own credibility and is making a mockery of the concept of human rights.

However one need not be surprised by this report. Human Rights Watch has become an abortion advocacy group and this report is part of an ongoing co-ordinated campaign to push an abortion regime on Ireland. One only has to look at this group’s almost complete lack of interest in other serious women’s rights abuses. For example they appear to have little concern about China’s one child policy -where Chinese women are forced to undergo abortions and sterilisations by the Chinese state.

The Women’s Rights Advocacy Director for this organisation is on record for stating that she doesn’t believe in banning sex selective abortion – which results in the abortion of baby girls because they are girls. This practice is widespread in countries such as China and India. These views are extreme.

It should be noted that because of the lobbying of this organisation and others and their demands for government funding of abortion in the US, a large portion of the US population may well continue to be denied access to universal health care. This is profoundly disappointing.

The Irish public should see this report for what it is. A statement of political ideology rather than a genuine report on human rights.