Family & Life

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Family & Life
PredecessorHuman Life International (Ireland)
Formation9 September 1996;25 years ago (1996-09-09) [1]
Founders
  • Peter Scully
  • David Manly
  • Eamon O Scolaidhe
  • Anthony Scully
  • Maurice Colgan
  • Michael Hogan
  • Una Nic Mhathuna
Type Anti abortion group
Headquarters Dublin, Ireland
Spokesperson
David Manly
Website ProLife.ie

Family & Life is an Irish anti abortion organisation founded in 1996.

Contents

Foundation

Family & Life were founded out of a split with the Irish branch of Human Life International in September 1996 by David Manly (1996–present), Peter Scully (1996–2001) and three other individuals over alleged interference by its American headquarters. [2] [1] HLI then sought an injunction in the High Court to seize the offices in Family and Life's headquarters. In the end, the case was settled out of court, the offices were kept and a number of directors received an undisclosed sum from Human Life International.

Work

According to its website, [3] [1] Family & Life seeks to establish what it calls a 'Culture of Life'.

The group views itself as supporting projects which promote the sanctity of all human life. Family & Life is also a supporter of the institution of marriage as the basis of family life, upholding a social conservative rather than a social liberal view of society. They say they provide support for pregnant women, although this excludes abortion counselling, and that they help children in vulnerable situations.

Family & Life fundraises direct from supporters in Ireland and the United Kingdom. It says it is not affiliated to any other organisation and does not receive state, organizational or corporate funding or engage in street collections, lotteries or the for-profit sale of goods. It is a non-profit organisation registered in Ireland and the United Kingdom. The organisation focuses on, and develops educational and research approaches to communicate its mission.

In 2013, they took 10 Irish politicians to New York City and Washington, DC, on an anti-abortion fact finding missing. These were James Bannon, Terence Flanagan, Peter Mathews, Mattie McGrath, John O’Mahony, Jim Walsh, Paul Bradford, Fidelma Healy Eames, Brian Ó Domhnaill and Paschal Mooney. They also brought Northern politicians Paul Givan, Pat Ramsey and Ian Paisley Jr. Fine Gael TD Jim Daly called for inquiry into this trip, and highlighted how some of their fundraising tactics were causing distress to elderly people. [4] [5]

SIPO ruled that this did not count as a political donation that the politicians had to declare. [6] Family & Life are registered with SIPO to receive donations for political purposes, [7] but they were not required by law to be registered at the time of the trip, [8]

Alignment

Initially, the new organisation, continuing from the stance of HLI, aligned itself with the Youth Defence wing of the anti-abortion movement in Ireland. A co-founder of Family & Life, Peter Scully was PRO for Youth Defence in 1992. [9]

However, during the 2002 abortion referendum, it supported the proposals of the Fianna Fáil government against abortion in Ireland. [10] [11] Youth Defence opposed it, claiming that it did not go far enough in protecting the unborn.

Citizens' Assembly

In 2017, they were selected as one of the groups to present to the Citizens' Assembly which is current discussing Ireland's abortion laws. [12] [13] In their presentation, they criticised the presence from British Pregnancy Advisory Service. The chair, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy, defended their inclusion on the grounds that the members of the citizens assembly wanted them included. [14]

Other campaigns

Divorce

In 1995, there was a referendum on whether to allow divorce. Human Life International (Ireland), along with Family and Life co-founder Peter Scully, campaigned against the legalisation of divorce. It was alleged that they received large amounts of free material and funding from the United States and their US parent organisation Human Life International. [15] [16] [17]

Same-sex marriage

In 2005 the Irish government held hearings about changing the constitutional definition of the family. Family & Life provided written and oral submissions opposed to any legal recognition of same-sex marriage, calling it an "oxymoron", with founder David Manly claiming it could not exist. The group also highlighted the falling birth rate in Europe. [18]

Dr Tom Finnegan, legal advisor to Family and Life, was advisor to Mothers and Fathers Matter, the main campaign group against the 2015 Irish referendum on same sex marriage. [19] [20] Tom Finnegan was a parliamentary assistant to Senator Rónán Mullen. [21] [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1983 was an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which inserted a subsection recognising the equal right to life of the pregnant woman and the unborn. Abortion had been subject to criminal penalty in Ireland since at least 1861; the amendment ensured that legislation or judicial interpretation would be restricted to allowing abortion in circumstances where the life of a pregnant woman was at risk. It was approved by referendum on 7 September 1983 and signed into law on 7 October 1983. In 2018, it was repealed by referendum.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Family & Life Movement Company Limited by Guarantee | Ireland | DueDill". DueDill.
  2. ↑ Molloy, Cian (4 October 1998). "Three Decades of Abortion Hasn't Quivered British ProLifers".
  3. ↑ "About Family & Life | Family & Life". Archived from the original on 27 November 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  4. ↑ McGreevy, Ronan (24 January 2014). "TD urges inquiry into pro-life group seeking €7,000 donations". The Irish Times.
  5. ↑ Tighe, Mark; McInerney, Sarah (3 March 2013). "Fine Gael members jet off on US pro-life mission". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "Parties should show accounts, says Sipo". The Irish Times. 8 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "Register of Third Parties". SIPO. 6 March 2018. Archived from the original on 28 May 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  8. ↑ Monaghan, Gabrielle (24 July 2016). "Pro-life group sends begging email to backers". The Sunday Times.
  9. ↑ McTerinan, Anthea (22 September 1992). "US group sends shipment of 'pro-life' materials here". The Irish Times. p. 2. Mr Peter Scully, public relations officer of Youth Defence
  10. ↑ Coulter, Carol (19 February 2002). "Bishops' Yes campaign biggest outside Government". It is an off-shoot of a group called Family and Life, which came into existence about the time of the divorce referendum, and is led by Mr Peter Scully. [...] They will send leaflets to every house, and will have door-to-door canvassers seeking a Yes vote.
  11. ↑ Family & Life (8 March 2002). ""A victory but only for the Confused"". Archived from the original on 10 September 2002. A spokesman for the Pro-Life Movement expressed profound disappointment at the rejection of the anti-abortion referendum. He described the result as a blow to pro-life movement worldwide.
  12. ↑ "17 Advocacy Groups to Address Citizens' Assembly on the Topic of Eighth Amendment". Citizens' Assembly. 21 February 2017.
  13. ↑ Family & Life (15 February 2017). "Family & Life Invited to Address Citizens' Assembly".
  14. ↑ McGreevy, Ronan (5 March 2017). "Citizens' Assembly chair defends presence of abortion advocates".
  15. ↑ "Taoiseach appeals for Yes vote to usher in tolerant society". The Irish Times. 23 November 1995. p. 1. the role they said was being played by Huamn Life International in the No divorce campaign.
  16. ↑ de Bréadún, Deaglán (27 November 1995). "President, rain and the media all take a bashing from No activists". The Irish Times. p. 8. Peter Scully, of the No Divorce Campaign
  17. ↑ Cleary, Catherine; Coulter, Carol (22 November 1995). "Shatter claims US fundamentalists fund No campaign". The Irish Times. p. 6. The fax is alleged to have been written by Mr Peter Scully of the No Divorce Campaign, who is named as executive director of HLI Ireland
  18. ↑ "Family Issues: Presentations". The All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution. 2005. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  19. ↑ "About Us | Mothers and Fathers Matter". Archived from the original on 31 October 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2017. Dr Thomas Finegan. Thomas publishes in the areas of areas of human rights law and legal and moral philosophy, and is a public policy advisor to Family & Life.
  20. ↑ Minihan, Mary (17 April 2015). "Mothers and Fathers Matter launches No referendum campaign". The Irish Times. Tom Finnegan, an adviser to the group as well as the Family and Life organisation
  21. ↑ The Secular Society (11 October 2012). "X-Case/Abortion Public Talk with Clare Daly T.D & Sen. Ronan Mullen". Facebook . Sen. Ronan Mullen has had to cancel, a last minute-cancellation. He is sending his Parliamentary Assistant Tom Finnegan. He's a PHD candidate in the area of medicine in Trinity College Dublin and will give a robust proposal of the Pro-Life Argument!
  22. ↑ "Keeping It in the Family". Broadsheet.ie. 11 April 2014. Dr Tom Finegan, was Ronan Mullen’s previous Parliamentary Assistant, as evidenced at this Facebook acknowledgement
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