#Stand4Life, Stand with Ireland

You know when you're in a period of transition and everything feels in flux? Right. I'm working on some new posts and thinking about what I want for this blog. In the by and by, this issue came to my attention after I learned the pink sneakers of Wendy Davis have unfortunately led to a bus tour. Read it, follow it, and pass it around. Thanks!

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In the weeks following the infamous 13-hour filibuster by State Sen. Wendy Davis (D) over a Texas abortion bill, she quickly became the new (for now) face of pro-choice America. She's everywhere, capturing the attention of the deep-pocketed Planned Parenthood president, Cecile Richards, enough for the two to unite in a statewide bus tour called, "Stand with Texas Women!". The Democrats' new "rising star" she's set strategic minds spinning and seems to have secured for herself a shiny political future.

But the ugliness that has emerged along the pink-shirted, elaborately-marketed Wendy Davis Texas tour has been disheartening at best, grotesque and downright scary at worst. Hail Satan, anyone?

Yes, these are actual Texas lawmakers with actual coat hangers.

In Ireland, a similar drama is unfolding.

Over the last few weeks Fine Gael, Ireland's largest political party and the lead in the coalition government, has proposed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013 which would legislate--for the first time--legal access to abortion in limited circumstances.

Lucinda Creighton, a Minister of State, has led the resistance to this bill. In a remarkable speech to the Dáil (a House of Parliament), she lays out why she's voting against the bill. 

In it, she calls out the "groupthink" behind the Bill, the irony that abortion has actually become a tool of oppression for women because of sex selection. She asks what the difference is between abortion and killing a baby after delivery, since the net effect is the same: an innocent baby, a human life, is wiped out.

She even throws out the idea that the unborn should have the right to legal representation, since babies as young as 1 day old are sometimes assigned court-appointed guardians ad litem. Ultimately, she argues abortion will irrevocably change the "compassionate culture of care for mothers and babies" in Ireland. Ultimately, abortion solves nothing.

Lucinda Creighton and the other ministers who will vote against this bill do so knowing that they will lose their jobs, be expelled from the Fine Gael party, and will, most likely, lose their careers. They've been told by other ministers to check their consciences at the door, but have refused. The central question they've proposed is this: "Is a fetus/baby defined from one moment to the next on the basis of whether it is wanted or not?"

In Dublin, on July 6, there was a massive Rally for Life which brought out over 50,000 people. The last few nights, vigils have been held for life. This could very well be Ireland's Roe v. Wade moment.

 On Wednesday, when the vote was supposed to take place, the Dáil debated past the 5 a.m. deadline. They had been debating for 24 hours. 24 hours. And the debates are scheduled to continue in the evening. Over 100 pro-life protesters vowed to spend a second night kneeling outside Parliament in prayer.

It's a foregone conclusion that the bill will pass, with the majority of ministers pledging their votes. And yet, the fight continues, because it's worth it. This Thursday, I'll be praying for and with the Irish people. Keep following this issue, and keep praying!