by WorldTribune Staff, August 2, 2017
George Soros, through his Open Society Foundations, is funding pro-abortion groups that seek to repeal Ireland’s “fetal personhood” constitutional amendment.
According to documents leaked by DCLeaks.com, Soros’s foundation poured money into the pro-abortion groups in an effort to “stem, mitigate and reverse the tide of fetal personhood laws and constitutional amendments” and to generate “a robust set of organizations advancing and defending sexual and reproductive rights and injecting new thinking/strategy into the field.”
The documents show Soros’s foundation gave Amnesty International Ireland $162,000, the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) – an affiliate of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) – $156,000, and the Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC) at least $29,000.
Ireland’s Electoral Act of 1997 prohibits the use of overseas funding for political campaigns in the country. Following public outcry, Ireland’s Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) conducted an investigation into the donated funds to the Ireland-based abortion rights groups.
Niamh Ui Bhriain (pronounced Neeve O’Brien), a spokeswoman for the Life Institute in Ireland, told Breitbart News: “Following a SIPO investigation only the ARC were obliged to hand back the amount deemed to be political. The other groups argued that their campaign was not political, which is preposterous given they want to push through a change to our Constitution.”
Ui Bhriain said that Planned Parenthood has described Ireland as the “jewel in the crown of the pro-life movement.”
“That’s because Ireland’s experience shows that you could ban abortion and protect women’s lives,” Ui Bhriain said. “We have one of the lowest maternal mortality rates and some of the best maternal healthcare in the world according to the UN. So abortion campaigners are focused on smashing Ireland’s laws because they know pro-lifers the world over can look to Ireland as a real, proven example of why abortion is never necessary.”
Ui Bhriain said the Life Institute actually has “no idea exactly how much more has come in from Soros’s foundation or any other source to abortion campaigners. What’s reported could just be the tip of the iceberg. The media in Ireland are not remotely interested in investigating the millions coming in to push for abortion – most of them roundly ignored the WikiLeaks revelations, and barely covered the SIPO investigations which saw a fraction being returned. Had Soros been giving millions to pro-life groups it would have made news headlines for a week or more.”
Ui Bhriain added: “It’s all part of a media strategy which demands no transparency or accountability from abortion campaigners but holds pro-life people to a completely different set of standards.”
The Irish Times reported that a recent poll showed 67 percent of respondents believe abortion should not be available on request.
The report said that those polled “believe that Ireland’s abortion laws should be changed, for sure: there are solid majorities for legalizing abortion in cases of a serious physical or mental risk to the women’s health, in cases of rape, or a foetal abnormality that makes death likely.”
But, “the evidence” of the poll “suggests that Irish voters do not share the views of the assembly on the extent of liberalization” of abortion laws, the report said.
Ireland could hold a referendum to change its abortion rules as early as next year after a parliamentary advisory group in April voted overwhelmingly for constitutional change.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump’s expansion of the pro-life Mexico City policy, which bars U.S. funds to non-governmental organizations that promote or perform abortion, “is a positive influence,” Ui Bhriain said.
“Organizations like Planned Parenthood and Center for Reproductive Rights are determined to see abortion on demand available everywhere,” she told Breitbart News.
“The expansion of the Mexico City policy and changes to laws in the U.S. does mean that these might be seeking to spread resources around a little more. However, because they understand the huge significance of Ireland’s pro-life laws, they will do all they can to push abortion here.”
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