The citizens of Ireland will vote on May 25 on whether or not to repeal the Eighth Amendment to their Constitution. This amendment protects the lives of the unborn and makes abortion illegal.
A recent campaign aimed to sway opinion in favor of repealing the amendment. As LifeNews.com reports, this campaign, called “In Her Shoes: Women of the Eighth,” involved posts of shoes by Irish women who had been forced to leave the country to get abortions elsewhere where abortion is legal.
The campaign was an attempt to show that Irish women have suffered physically and emotionally due to the country’s Eighth Amendment, but, as LifeNews.com notes, many of the testimonies from women in the “In Her Shoes” campaign reveal that the true pain came from going through with the abortion.
One woman who traveled outside the country to get an abortion, although she said aborting her child was “the right decision,” also acknowledged that she “wouldn’t wish [an abortion] on anyone.”
Another telling story was from a woman whose 21-year-old boyfriend took her to England to get an abortion when she was only 15. The woman’s post seems to ignore the fact that this was a case of statutory rape and a violation of parental consent laws for abortions.
It’s also worth noting that the campaign seems tone-deaf in that it did not post any empty shoes of the babies who would have been but were aborted. It is a common practice for couples to post pictures of baby shoes in their pregnancy announcements, and this campaign seems to ignore this tradition.
Other sad stories abound of women who believe the answer to the pain they feel is to legalize abortion. While the pain and grief these women felt and still feel is certainly legitimate, pro-life advocates believe allowing unborn babies to be killed is only piling on more pain and hurt, rather than beginning a process of healing.
Photo courtesy: ©Thinkstock/PamWalker68
Publication date: April 5, 2018
