Fears grow over abortion proposal

BY LUKE COPPEN
THE IRISH government is seeking to "legitimise" the use of the morning-after pill through a referendum on abortion, a British pro-life group claimed this week The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (Spuc) said that the proposed amendment to Ireland's constitution would allow the destruction of human life before implantation in a woman's womb. John Stneaton, Spuc's national director, said: "An individual human life does not begin at implantation but at fertilisation.
"This amendment is an attack on innocent human lives, not least because it will lead to the legitimisation of morning-after pills which can fatally attack early embryos by preventing them from implanting in the mother's womb."
Mr Smeaton added that if pro-lifers did riot swk to defend human embryos before implantation, then the whole pro-life argument would be seriously undermined.
'To draw the line anywhere other than at fertilisation is to succumb to anti-life arguments. The embryo is just as entitled to protection from abortion in the first eight days as it is in the first eight to nine months," he said.
Ireland's bishops are studying the implications of the 9
Protection 01 Human Life in Pregnancy Bill, which will define abortion for the fust time in Irish law.