The leaders of the Catholic Church need to condemn anti-abortion
groups that are disseminating “vile and vitriolic” flyers and issuing
violent threats to TDs, said the chair of the Oireachtas committee.Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer, who chaired the hearings on abortion legislation, said he received emails threatening to assault him “from neck to naval and lower” and warning he will “burn in hell” if the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill becomes law.
Earlier this week, flyers likening abortion to the Holocaust were sent to householders in his constituency. Recipients were asked to make their views known to Mr Buttimer.
“If the Church are leaders, they must stand up and criticise the section of the movement that are engaging in these vile and vitriolic tactics,” said Mr Buttimer.
“These people purport to be Christian, but they are not Christian by their deeds. They are not doing their cause any good and are nothing but cowards, as none of them put their name to these leaflets and emails. It is despicable, disappointing, and upsetting that these tactics are being used, that these people must resort to this,
“Eamon Martin, coadjutor archbishop of Armagh, also should not be playing politics with the Eucharist and I very much regret that he is doing this. This has no legitimacy in a democracy.
“I have always considered that any discussion around abortion should be moderate and temperate, but some of what they have done doesn’t merit comment.”
Mr Buttimer is to refer the emails and leaflets to the gardaí and the Data Commissioner.
The Holocaust flyers distributed in the suburbs of Cork city last weekend showed a picture of bodies in a concentration cap alongside a graphic picture purported to be of an aborted foetus, and state: “The German people let this happen because they didn’t speak out. Are you and I going to let this happen?”
Maayan Yolzari, a Cork woman from a Jewish background, told the Irish Examiner “this propaganda [is] completely offensive”.
A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops Conference said that, when attending the Oireachtas committee in January, Bishop Christopher Jones had called for “calm and reasonable debate” on the issue.
“The reality also is that those who are pro-life are many and varied and while some are of faith, others are not of faith and all are responsible for their own actions,” said the spokesman. “It is also important for policy-makers to know that all Catholics have a responsibility to accurately and compassionately promote the Gospel of Life.”