The opening of a Marie Stopes clinic in Belfast, offering abortions to
women north and south of the border under certain conditions, would have
been unthinkable a few short years ago.On Saturday on RTÉ, Goretti Horgan, a lecturer who backs the opening of the clinic, said that when this was previously attempted the resistance was so great the plan had to be cancelled.
This, time, however, there appears to be much less resistance.
A handful of politicians have spoken out against it and pro-life groups are doing what they can to stop it and will protest outside the clinic.
Bishop Noel Treanor of Down and Connor, in whose diocese the clinic will be based, issued a statement expressing “great concern and dismay” about the development, but at the time of writing none of this has been enough to put a stop to the clinic.
The Northern Ireland Minister for Health, Edwin Poots, has said the clinic will be monitored to make sure it complies with the law, but he hasn’t signalled any move to prevent it from opening altogether.
So, why has it proved easier to open an abortion clinic in the North this time when it failed last time?
One reason certainly is that social attitudes towards abortion have softened.
This isn’t to say the North no longer has a very strong pro-life constituency when it clearly does.
But in the past it was strong enough to make a move like this virtually unthinkable. Now it is not unthinkable.
Indeed, an online poll (not the most reliable kind of poll admittedly) in The Belfast Telegraph showed public opinion fairly evenly divided on the matter with only a small majority opposed to the move.
It doesn’t help, of course, that the media in Northern Ireland tend towards the liberal position in these matters and are moving opinion in the North increasingly in their direction.
It also doesn’t help that the Catholic Church has been less than vigorous in opposing these developments.
At least Bishop Treanor issued a statement opposed to the opening of the clinic.
Why wasn’t there a joint statement from the bishops of Northern Ireland, and why wasn’t there a promise of action?
Why didn’t the bishops call on Catholics to contact their politicians to express their strong opposition to the move?
Will the bishops lobby their politicians themselves?
Will they write to them?
Will they call them or meet them personally?
A few weeks ago there was another sign of how fast things are moving in the North on social issues.
A private member’s motion was put down in the Assembly in favour of gay marriage. It was only narrowly defeated thanks almost entirely to the Unionist parties.
Not a single Catholic politician voted against the motion. Sinn Fein was in favour. Nine SDLP Assembly members voted in favour and five either abstained or were not present for the vote.
The Presbyterian Church contacted politicians to state its opposition to the motion, but the Catholic Church appears to have done nothing at all.
No bishop spoke against the motion. In other words, Catholic politicians in the North received no guidance from their bishops.
Of course, even if they did receive guidance there is no guarantee the Catholic politicians would have paid it any attention.
In fact, some would probably have taken pride in showing their ‘independence’ from the bishops (which is to say, they would showed their dependence on liberal, secular opinion).
Nonetheless, the silence of the Catholic Church in the North on the matter certainly sends out a signal that the bishops aren’t overly concerned about either the substance of the same-sex marriage issue or with its immense religious freedom implications.
What are politicians supposed to make of this? Indeed, what are ordinary Catholics supposed to make of this?
Perhaps one reason for the silence of the bishops is that they feel their credibility has been destroyed by the scandals. However, the damage has not been as great as it has been south of the border, and in any case, this is still no excuse for silence.
The Church in England and Scotland has also been damaged by the scandals and yet there the bishops are more outspoken in these matters than here.
For example, Cardinal Keith O’Brien is very vocal as is Philip Tartaglia (a naturally mild-mannered man), the new Archbishop of Glasgow.
The Scottish bishops are outspoken about the issue of same-sex marriage even though the odds are hugely against them politically. They speak out because they know they have a duty to do so.
In Northern Ireland, however, the odds are still much more in the Church’s favour despite the scandals and despite the drift of public opinion.
Both the abortion issue and the issue of same-sex marriage are eminently winnable if only the Catholic Church there, in tandem with the other Churches, will actually fight the fight.
If it refuses to do so, it will only have itself to blame if it loses. There is no excuse for the present almost total silence.