Pro Life Campaign (PLC) is an Irish
anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
advocacy organisation
Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...
. Its primary spokesperson is
Cora Sherlock. It is a non-denominational organisation which promotes anti-abortion views, and opposes abortion in all circumstances, including cases of rape and incest.
The Pro Life Campaign was established in 1992. Prominent members also opposed
LGBT rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Notably, , 33 ...
and campaigned against the decriminalisation of homosexuality in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
Foundation
After the
Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was ratified in September 1983, a number of those involved in that campaign, including some lawyers, decided to initiate legal proceedings through SPUC (Ireland). The targets were two pregnancy advisory agencies in Dublin. The cases started in 1985, won at the
Supreme Court of Ireland
, image = Coat of arms of Ireland.svg
, imagesize = 120px
, alt =
, caption = Coat of Arms of Ireland
, image2 = Four Courts, Dublin 2014-09-13.jpg
, imagesize2 =
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(1988) and the
Court of Justice of the European Union (1992). That same year, the
X case
''Attorney General v X'', 992IESC 1; 9921 IR 1, (more commonly known as the "X Case") was a landmark Irish Supreme Court case which established the right of Irish women to an abortion if a pregnant woman's life was at risk because of pregnanc ...
arose, and abortion in potentially wide circumstances was endorsed by the Irish Supreme Court.
The group that had planned the SPUC (Ireland) cases at once advised the setting up of the Pro Life Campaign (PLC). Within a week of the court judgement, it had set up an office in
North Great George's Street
North Great George's Street () is a street on the Northside of Dublin city first laid out in 1766 which connects Parnell Street with Great Denmark Street. It consists of opposing terraces of 4-storey over basement red-brick Georgian townhouses ...
and held its first press conference on 10 March. The chairman, and later honorary president,
was
Des Hanafin
Desmond A. Hanafin (9 September 1930 – 22 June 2017) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served for over 30 years as a member of Seanad Éireann. (1969–93 and 1997–2002). He opposed social liberalisation, particularly the legalisation ...
, who had played a central role in the 1983 campaign.
''Pro Life Campaign'' is a
trading name of VIE Ltd, a
private limited company
A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include the '' LLC'' in the United Sta ...
incorporated in Ireland in June 1993.
Its founding directors were
Joe McCarroll
Joe McCarroll is a conservative campaigner in Ireland. He has campaigned against abortion, same-sex marriage and divorce. McCarroll was a lecturer in ethics in Clonliffe College, Dublin. He also worked as an education officer with responsibility ...
, Owen Doyle, Mary Barrett, John O'Reilly, Barry Kiely,
Des Hanafin
Desmond A. Hanafin (9 September 1930 – 22 June 2017) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served for over 30 years as a member of Seanad Éireann. (1969–93 and 1997–2002). He opposed social liberalisation, particularly the legalisation ...
, Marie Vernon, Catherine Bannon, Jerry Collins, Michael Lucey and Desmond McDoland.
1992 Abortion Referendums
In 1992, in the wake of the
X Case
''Attorney General v X'', 992IESC 1; 9921 IR 1, (more commonly known as the "X Case") was a landmark Irish Supreme Court case which established the right of Irish women to an abortion if a pregnant woman's life was at risk because of pregnanc ...
, there were three abortion referendums in Ireland (
12th
12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6.
It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...
,
13th
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...
and
14th
14 (fourteen) is a natural number following 13 (number), 13 and preceding 15 (number), 15.
In relation to the word "four" (4), 14 is spelled "fourteen".
In mathematics
* 14 is a composite number.
* 14 is a square pyramidal number.
* 14 is a s ...
).
The government had proposed the 12th Amendment Bill as an attempt to rule out the risk of suicide as a ground for an abortion. It would have added the following clause to Article 40.3.3º:
The Pro Life Campaign rejected this wording as too broad, and proposed the following alternative wording:
The PLC also called for a No vote on the 14th Amendment which allowed for the provision of information on services outside the state. It was strongly opposed to the 13th, which allowed for travel outside the state, but did not call for a No vote.
Both the 13th and 14th amendments were passed. The 12th amendment bill was defeated, after a combination of liberal campaigners who did not support excluding a risk of suicide as a ground, and those in the PLC.
2002 Abortion Referendum
The Pro Life Campaign campaigned for a Yes vote on the
Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2002. A statement on their website read:
During the campaign, a member referenced the Finnish study published in the ''British Medical Journal'' which claimed women were six times more likely to commit suicide after abortion than if they went through with their pregnancies.
The Pro Life Campaign was the second largest spender during the referendum, spending €350,000. It received €200,000 of undisclosed donations during the campaign.
NGO status at UNESC
The Pro-Life Campaign has consultative NGO status at the
United Nations Economic and Social Council, granted in 2011.
It has participated in regular sessions organised by the Council to oversee the various covenants affecting Ireland, and attended and made written submissions to
Universal Periodic Reviews into Ireland.
In June 2015, the PLC participated in a General Discussion on Article 6 (Right to Life) of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedo ...
.
In February 2017, the PLC participated in the 66th Session of the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), where it advocated against any change to Ireland's abortion law.
Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013
The PLC organised a protest in
Merrion Square
Merrion Square () is a Georgian garden square on the southside of Dublin city centre.
History
The square was laid out in 1752 by the estate of Viscount FitzWilliam and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. The demand for ...
in June 2013, as the
Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 was being debated. Official figures put the crowd at 15,000 to 20,000 people, with the organisers claiming 50,000. Attendees included
GAA Tyrone football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
manager
Mickey Harte
Mickey Harte (born 1952) is an Irish Gaelic football Manager (Gaelic games), manager and former player. He has been manager of the Louth county football team, Louth county team since 2020.
Harte managed the Tyrone county football team, Tyrone ...
, Adele Best of
Women Hurt, Jennifer Kehoe,
Maria Steen
Maria Steen is an Irish conservative campaigner. She is a qualified architect and a barrister. She is a member of the Iona Institute, and campaigned against same-sex marriage, and abortion in Ireland.
Involvement in same-sex marriage referendu ...
and Íde Nic Mathúna, co-founder of
Youth Defence
Youth Defence is an Irish organisation that opposes legalisation of abortion. It was founded in 1986 (during the 1986 divorce referendum), lay dormant, and was reformed in 1992 following the ''X Case'' ruling. It shared offices with the Euro ...
. The Bill was approved in the Dáil by 127 votes to 31.
It passed its final stage in the Seanad on 23 July 2013, by 39 votes to 14.
It was
signed into law on 30 July by
Michael D. Higgins, the
President of Ireland
The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces.
The president holds office for seven years, and can ...
.
A 2014 "National Vigil" took place at Merrion Square on 3 May 2014, and was attended by about 4,500 people, with the organisers claiming 15,000. They criticised the newly passed ''Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act''. Speakers included
Cora Sherlock, Caroline Simons, and Lynn Coles of Women Hurt.
Irish General Election 2016
The Pro Life Campaign spent €40,000 during the
2016 Irish general election
The 2016 Irish general election took place on Friday 26 February to elect 158 Teachtaí Dála (TDs) across 40 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's parliament. The 31st Dáil was dissolved by Preside ...
. They produced recommendations for whom to vote for based on which politicians voted for the ''Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013.''
Citizens Assembly
In 2016 the Irish government established the
Citizens' Assembly
A citizens' assembly (also known as citizens' jury or citizens' panel or people's jury or policy jury or citizens' initiative review or consensus conference or citizens' convention) is a body formed from randomly selected citizens to delibera ...
, a group of 99 citizens, to discuss the
Eighth Amendment, and then make recommendation to the government. This is similar to the 2012
Constitutional Convention Constitutional convention may refer to:
* Constitutional convention (political custom), an informal and uncodified procedural agreement
*Constitutional convention (political meeting), a meeting of delegates to adopt a new constitution or revise an e ...
.
While the PLC criticised the Citizens' Assembly, claiming it has a pre-arranged outcome, it nonetheless participated, making a presentation to the Assembly in March 2017.
2018 referendum and Love Both campaign
In June 2017,
Leo Varadkar
Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to De ...
, who became Taoiseach following his victory in the May
Fine Gael leadership election, signaled his intention to hold a referendum in 2018 on whether to replace Article 40.3.3.º of the Constitution, which provided "an equal right to life to the mother and the unborn." The Pro Life Campaign responded by expressing its disappointment that Varadkar had announced the decision prematurely before the special Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment had submitted its findings.
The Pro Life Campaign was critical of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment’s recommendations published in January, which they claimed were “exclusively focused on taking away all meaningful protection from unborn babies.” They further criticised the Committee for failing to hear the perspectives of “families who say their children are alive today because of the Eighth Amendment." Solicitor and PLC spokesperson
Cora Sherlock echoed this argument later in January in response to an
Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
opinion poll which found 56% of people supported changing the constitution while only 29% supported retaining the Eighth Amendment. She expressed confidence that the polls would reverse due to growing discussion “about families who have been saved by the Eighth Amendment."
On 31 January, the Government formally decided to progress with holding a referendum in early summer. The date was later fixed for 24 May 2018. Reacting on 1 February to the decision, PLC spokesperson Dr Ruth Cullen stated that “what was being proposed was the removal of the legal protection from unborn babies and the provision of abortion on demand” and urged voters to reject the referendum’s proposals.
In the referendum on the
Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018
The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland (previously bill no. 29 of 2018) is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which permits the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion. The constitution had previously prohibited abortion ...
to replace the provisions of Article 40.3.3º with a clause allowing for legislation on the termination of pregnancy, which passed by a two-thirds majority, the Pro Life Campaign organised the unsuccessful Love Both campaign. Love Both described itself as a “nationwide movement” and had key spokespeople involved. Love Both was distinguished from other No campaigns as it promoted a “pro-woman anti-abortion discourse." The campaign was distinguished by its emphasis on “talk
ngpassionately about human rights”, and its presentation of young women, students, and “professionals in suits” as its public activist base, according to ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' newspaper.
From February, the PLC launched the “Love Both Roadshow”, which was described as an “information campaign”. It saw anti-abortion campaigners travel to various urban centres across Ireland until the end stages of the referendum campaign. The campaigners claimed that since 1983 approximately 100,000 people have been born who would not have been were it not for the Eighth Amendment. Many such events were held in towns during the referendum campaign and became a staple of the PLC’s public activism.
In March, PLC spokesperson Cora Sherlock condemned remarks from Fine Gael politician
Regina Doherty
Regina Doherty (; born 26 January 1971) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Deputy leader of Seanad Éireann since 2022. She was Leader of the Seanad from 2020 to 2022, and is Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad since June 2020. S ...
that the repeal campaign would “not accept a No vote in the upcoming referendum" as being “arrogant and deeply undemocratic". On 31 March spokespeople from the Love Both Roadshow in
Mullingar questioned whether “we can trust politicians to lead us on this” and complained that the No campaign were “not really getting a fair hearing” in the media.
The Love Both and wider No campaign generated significant support within the
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...
parliamentary party, with thirty-one TDs and Senators from the party appearing for a photo-call on 1 May at Merrion Square holding Love Both placards and urging the electorate to “vote No” and to “support women, protect babies, save lives." This contrasted with the pro-repeal position adopted by Fianna Fáil leader
Micheál Martin, who told the Dáil in January that whilst he was “instinctively on the pro-life side of the abortion debate”, he was influenced to support a Yes vote owing to expert opinion and by the deliberations of both the Citizens’ Assembly and the Oireachtas Committee.
Love Both launched its "official" referendum campaign at the Alex Hotel, Dublin on 18 April 2018. The event was attended by six TDs:
Peter Fitzpatrick
Peter Fitzpatrick (born 11 May 1962) is an Irish Independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Louth constituency since the 2011 general election.
He was a former soldier in the 27 Infantry Battalion and also a former man ...
,
Éamon Ó Cuív,
Kevin O’Keefe,
Declan Breathnach
Declan Breathnach (born 3 June 1958) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Louth constituency from 2016 to 2020.
Early life
A native of Knockbridge, Dundalk, Breathnach was educated at Dundalk CBS ...
,
Mattie McGrath
Matthew McGrath (born 1 September 1958) is an Irish Independent politician and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Tipperary constituency since being elected at the 2007 general election.
McGrath was first elected as a Fianna Fáil TD but he left th ...
and
Michael Healy-Rae
Michael Healy-Rae (born 9 January 1967) is an Irish Independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kerry constituency since 2016, and previously from 2011 to 2016 for the Kerry South constituency. He previously served as Chair ...
. The campaign concentrated its messaging on characterising the proposal as “extreme”, amounting to “abortion on demand” and being similar to the British abortion law.
In May, a further six regional Love Both rallies took place across the country, with a final rally in Merrion Square, Dublin attracting thousands of participants. The final rally heard speeches from Caroline Simons, legal advisor to Love Both, and from Dr Andrew O’Regan of the "Medical Alliance for the 8th" campaign. At an event hosted by Love Both’s Roadshow in
Monaghan
Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), barony.
The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7 ...
on 10 May, former
UCD Students' Union
University College Dublin Students' Union (UCDSU; ga, Aontas na Mac Léinn COBÁC) is the students' union of University College Dublin. It is the largest students' union in Ireland.
The Union was founded in 1975 as the successor of the Student Re ...
President and Love Both spokesperson, Katie Ascough, told her audience that a Yes vote would remove the obligation for the Government to go directly to the people through a referendum on issues related to abortion and “they would be free to make whatever laws they want."
On 22 May controversy was generated when the PLC spokesperson Cora Sherlock “pulled out” of an
RTÉ Prime Time debate scheduled for that evening, due to the refusal of RTÉ to swap out Sherlock for
Maria Steen
Maria Steen is an Irish conservative campaigner. She is a qualified architect and a barrister. She is a member of the Iona Institute, and campaigned against same-sex marriage, and abortion in Ireland.
Involvement in same-sex marriage referendu ...
, following the latter’s appearance on a
Claire Byrne Live
Claire Byrne (born 11 August 1975) is an Irish journalist and television presenter.
Byrne presented ''The Daily Show'' from September 2010 to March 2012. In 2013, she became an anchor on RTÉ's flagship current affairs programme ''Prime Time''. ...
debate the previous week where she “had impressed” in her performance. The controversy about the selection of No campaign debaters was described as a “Mexican stand-off” at
Montrose following Sherlock’s withdrawal. Eventually, the Sinn Féin TD
Peadar Tóibín participated in a head-to-head debate with
Minister for Health,
Simon Harris
Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael since 2024. A TD for the Wicklow constituency since 2011, he has served as a minister in the government of Ireland since 2016 and f ...
, which aired on the evening of 22 May. The following day, RTÉ’s handling of the debate was criticised by the Love Both campaign and the state broadcaster was accused of “failing to achieve balance on the panel” due to their decision to invite the pro-repeal Prof Mary Higgins onto a panel debate but failed to invite a medic from the No side. The campaign described this as “utterly unacceptable”. RTÉ defended its handling of the debate as being “fair and equitable".
In the last stages of the referendum, the PLC and Love Both concentrated on urging voters to reject the referendum on the basis that the proposed abortion legislation was “extremist".
Katie Ascough claimed on 17 May that the prospective abortion law would be “more extreme than
the law in Britain".
On 23 May, the day before the poll, Cora Sherlock described the referendum as giving the Government “a blank cheque to write whatever abortion law it wants, no matter how extreme." Following the vote on 24 May and the release of an exit poll which predicted a “landslide victory for the Yes side”, Love Both expressed the view that the result represented “a very sad day for Ireland” and called on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to include restrictions within any future abortion legislation.
In the aftermath of their referendum defeat, Love Both spokesperson in Cork, Maeve O’Hanlon, said the group would campaign “to keep the number of abortions low". PLC spokesperson Ruth Cullen pledged to hold Varadkar “to his promise that repeal would only lead to abortion in very restrictive circumstances." Following the referendum defeat, the Love Both campaign largely folded back into the Pro Life Campaign.
Love Both's social media strategy
Love Both adopted a social media strategy which produced videos that foregrounded “young women representing different Irish counties” to counteract an impression that anti-abortion voices were “restricted to older people". Social media advertising policies became a contentious aspect of the campaign, with
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
taking steps to prevent efforts to “disrupt the referendum with disinformation.” On 6 April, a Love Both spokesperson said they were “wary of Facebook introducing ‘censorship’ during the referendum". In May,
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
announced a ban on all ads relating to the referendum and Facebook banned all foreign advertising on the issue. ''The Guardian'' noted that “the most obvious difference between the two sides of the campaign” was that No campaign ads used “emotional language” compared with the more “legalistic tone” of the Yes campaign ads.
Controversies
Joe McCarroll
Joe McCarroll is a conservative campaigner in Ireland. He has campaigned against abortion, same-sex marriage and divorce. McCarroll was a lecturer in ethics in Clonliffe College, Dublin. He also worked as an education officer with responsibility ...
co-founded, and was Chairperson of the Pro Life campaign
until December 2015.
In 1993, as national secretary of
Family Solidarity Family Solidarity is an Irish conservative advocacy group run by lay Catholics. Founded in 1984 by supporters of the campaign that led to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, it campaigned against the introduction of divorce. Nor ...
, he campaigned against the
decriminalisation of homosexuality
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishment for homosexualit ...
, calling it "unnatural", In 2015, in the lead up to the
marriage equality referendum, he campaigned against it, and called for a no vote. Writing in
The Brandsma Review
''The Brandsma Review'' was a bi-monthly magazine of conservative Catholic opinion in circulation in Ireland. Its Ecclesiastical Latin masthead is ''Pro Vita, Pro Ecclesia Dei et Pro Hibernia'' 'for life, for the Church of God and for Ireland' ...
after the referendum that approved same-sex marriage), he accused the media of lying, and complained about funding from outside the State.
Des Hanafin
Desmond A. Hanafin (9 September 1930 – 22 June 2017) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served for over 30 years as a member of Seanad Éireann. (1969–93 and 1997–2002). He opposed social liberalisation, particularly the legalisation ...
, co-founder, former leader and former honorary president, accused equality campaigners in the same-sex marriage referendum of spreading a "palpable climate of fear", and called for a No vote. His son, Senator
John Hanafin
John Gerard Hanafin (born 27 September 1960) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician, who was a member of Seanad Éireann from 2002 to 2011. He was elected by the Labour Panel. Hanafin is the brother of the former cabinet minister Mary Hanafin ...
resigned from
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...
rather than vote for
civil partnerships for same sex couples in 2010.
In 2005, Pro Life Campaign members wrote to a Dáil committee arguing against legal recognition of same-sex couples. The submission from the
North Tipperary
North Tipperary ( ga, Tiobraid Árann Thuaidh) was a county in Ireland. It was part of the Mid-West Region and was also located in the province of Munster. It was named after the town of Tipperary and consisted of 48% of the land area of the t ...
branch opposed any legal recognition of same sex couples, claiming same sex relationships were an "unnatural union" and "totally unacceptable, and an attack upon the family". The Cork North West branch submission asked "why can’t they
ame-sex couplesmake their own legal arrangements distinct from marriage?" and claimed "a homosexual environment is for raising children".
See also
*
Abortion in the Republic of Ireland
*
Iona Institute
*
Youth Defence
Youth Defence is an Irish organisation that opposes legalisation of abortion. It was founded in 1986 (during the 1986 divorce referendum), lay dormant, and was reformed in 1992 following the ''X Case'' ruling. It shared offices with the Euro ...
*
Family Solidarity Family Solidarity is an Irish conservative advocacy group run by lay Catholics. Founded in 1984 by supporters of the campaign that led to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, it campaigned against the introduction of divorce. Nor ...
*
Des Hanafin
Desmond A. Hanafin (9 September 1930 – 22 June 2017) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served for over 30 years as a member of Seanad Éireann. (1969–93 and 1997–2002). He opposed social liberalisation, particularly the legalisation ...
*
Joe McCarroll
Joe McCarroll is a conservative campaigner in Ireland. He has campaigned against abortion, same-sex marriage and divorce. McCarroll was a lecturer in ethics in Clonliffe College, Dublin. He also worked as an education officer with responsibility ...
References
{{Abortion in the Republic of Ireland
Anti-abortion organisations in the Republic of Ireland
Conservatism in Ireland
Political advocacy groups in the Republic of Ireland