This September, the National University of Ireland (NUI) Maynooth is
offering a series of “masterclasses” on counseling women in crisis
pregnancies that includes a course on the subject, “Termination of
Pregnancy: a lawful choice.”
The program will consist of a presentation
by Sherie de Burgh, a former employee of the Irish Family Planning
Association, an affiliate of International Planned Parenthood.
Pro-life campaigners have pointed out that while the program is being
co-sponsored by the government-run Crisis Pregnancy Program, it
directly contradicts the law, since abortion remains a criminal act in
Ireland under the Constitution.
“This is a travesty that must be challenged immediately,” said Pat
Buckley of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).
Niamh Ui Bhriain of the Life Institute, told LifeSiteNews.com that
the program is part of a deliberate plan to undermine Ireland’s pro-life
laws and shut pro-life people out of crisis pregnancy counseling.
The
Crisis Pregnancy Program, sponsored by the country’s Health Services
Executive, has been “pushing the boundaries further and further” every
year, to try to legalize abortion, she said.
The next step, Ui Bhriain said, is to make the diploma course
compulsory for people wanting to help pregnant women.
A similar system
is already in place in the medical establishment throughout Europe, in
which those seeking qualifications in obstetrics, midwifery, nursing and
pharmacy must participate in, or at least approve, abortion.
The government’s Crisis Pregnancy Program is also “enabling” abortion by
referring women in unexpected pregnancies to abortion facilities such
as Marie Stopes International in the UK, Ui Bhriain said.
Established as a Catholic university for lay people in 1795, the NUI
maintains ties with the Catholic Church in Ireland and functioned
exclusively as a seminary for aspirants to the priesthood for 150 years.
It was granted a pontifical charter in 1896.
The university is now
formally separated from the Pontifical University of St. Patrick’s
College Maynooth that operates as Ireland’s last functioning national
Catholic seminary.